C.A.E. Lea, On Trek in Kordofan: The Diaries of a British District Officer in the Sudan 1931-1933 edited by M.W. Daly, Published for The British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1994.
by Michael Kevane
While this book was published some five years ago, it seems timely to review it given current concerns about the resurgence of slavery in the Sudan. For perhaps the most striking feature of Lea=s diaries (and indeed other diaries and notes of colonial officials, see for instance R. Davies= On the Camel=s Back) is the pervasiveness of slavery. Almost every day while he is on trek, over the three years covered in the diary, Lea had to decide on slave matters. One day it was a complaint of harsh treatment, the next a claim that someone had been kidnaped into slavery, and another saw slaves and masters disputing the parentage (and hence ownership) of children. British official policy, reflected completely in Lea=s actions, was as usual dictated by convenience. The slaves and masters were supposed to try to Awork it out@. Only if the slave insisted was a certificate of freedom to be given out. (Lea never mentions what might happen to an individual wandering about without a certificate, but the authority of the native administrators and district officers to simply apprehend any individual and ship them off hundreds of kilometers to another district seems to have been unquestioned.) Even then, the freed slaves were to be encouraged to remain Awith the tribe.@ The worst outcome was a slave who wanted to go to town; there simply Aweren=t enough jobs@. Lea=s experiences in deciding slave matters are sobering, and provide insight into how individuals can easily forget the moral and human dimensions to slavery. Something similar must be happening today.
Lea=s diaries are of interest because they also provide a >raw= look into the thinking and actions of the colonial administrator on other matters besides slavery, such as indirect rule, land tenure, and >tribal= identity. For arguments about the nature of Indirect Rule, especially in comparison with the French Direct Rule, many passages are instructive. The problem of Ali al-Tum=s leadership of the Kababish naturally dominates the book; as Daly points out in a brief introduction, Athe impression is inescapable of the Sudan Government=s negotiating with the powerful nazir, not dictating to him.@ But it is also clear that Lea dealt with an entire Kababish hierarchy, from Ali el Tom=s brother Muhammad al-Tum and his son Al-Tum Ali and others with delegated authority. In fact, Lea mentions several occasions where nazirs tried to pin him down on the authority of their delegates. Lea hardly knew how to respond; British policy had been constructed with such broad strokes that the details of administration were left to be worked out in the field. Rule really was quite indirect. On the issue of land tenure, Lea makes it clear that sheikhs, omdas and nazirs were taking substantial fractions of the crops and gum arabic. Disputes were frequent regarding the authority of a particular person to be collecting the ushur or other fees for the right to use land. But unfortunately Lea offers little on the nature of >private= land transactions or rights; that is, among ordinary villagers. Whether individuals regarded their lands as private property or as communal remains somewhat mysterious. Finally the issue of >tribal= identity crops up frequently in interesting discussions of the problem of paying diya or >blood money=. The Nuba of the hills around Soderi were divided on this question, with many of them wanting to pay with the Kababish and each other, others insisting on separate payments for the people of each jebel.
Personally, Lea comes across as not unlike the anthropologist of today: his only interests seemed to be reading books, hearing stories from >informants= and writing reports. The joy of coming across a garrulous informant is familiar to every fieldworker. He had no interest in commercial ventures, and generally displayed contempt for the Greek, Syrian and Dongolawi traders encountered in the villages of Kordofan. The unfortunate Hasan Ahmed Nagila, the town-educated personal tutor of the children of the Kababish leaders, never seemed to be able to impress Lea. One wonders what Nagila thought of Lea... or even mentions him in his memoirs. Perhaps Heather Sharkey can answer this question?
M.W. Daly should be credited with a fine editorial job, with minimal but interesting footnotes, and a concise introduction. The book is a valuable and readable addition to the corpus of primary material on the colonial period in the Sudan, and is highly recommended for anyone from Kordofan or who has traveled through the region.