Feasting on Famines Food Insecurity and the Making of the Anglo
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Feasting on Famines Food Insecurity and the Making of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1883-1956 Steven Serels Department of History, McGill University, Montreal April 2012 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Steven Serels 2012 Abstract The cycle of famine and food insecurity that afflicted much of Northern, Central and Eastern Sudan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was part of an inter-generational process that fundamentally altered indigenous economic, political and social structures and, in so doing, allowed British imperial agents to conquer the Sudan and, subsequently, to seize key natural resources, including the Nile and fertile regions in the Jazira and Eastern Sudan. This cycle was triggered by British military policies pursued in the 1880s to contain the Mahdist Rebellion (1883-1898). These policies eroded the food security of indigenous communities in Dunqula, Eastern Sudan and the Red Sea Hills and precipitated a series of famines that destabilized the Mahdist state. Though British-led forces were unaffected by these nineteenth century food crises, the British-controlled Anglo-Egyptian government was, in the years following its establishment in 1898, weakened by a prolonged period of food insecurity during which indigenous communities exerted their right to control their slaves, land and produce. Subsequent innovations in the colonial economy, notably the development of a common grain market, precipitated a number of early twentieth century famines that impoverished many indigenous communities and, thereby, prevented indigenous resistance to state efforts to develop Sudanese resources for the benefit of British industry. At the same time, the Anglo-Egyptian government actively promoted the economic interests of a select group of indigenous elites by allowing them to invest in the resources seized by the state during food crises and, after independence, these elites maintained many of the agricultural policies that had failed to assure food security. Résumé Le cycle de la famine et l’insécurité alimentaire qui a affligé plusieurs peuples dans les régions du Nord, du Centre et de l’Est du Soudan vers la fin du dix- neuvième et le début du vingtième siècle était à cause d’un processus intergénérationnel qui a changé les structures économiques, politiques et sociales des communautés soudanaises et qui a permis aux agents impériaux britanniques de conquérir le Soudan et, par la suite, s’emparer de ressources naturelles importantes, incluant le Nil et des régions fertiles dans le Jazira et l’Est du Soudan. Ce cycle fut déclenché par des politiques militaires britanniques poursuivis dans les années 1880 pour contenir la Rébellion mahdiste (1883-1898). Ces politiques ont érodé la sécurité alimentaire des communautés indigènes à Dunqula, à l’Est du Soudan et aux Massifs de la Mer Rouge et ont précipité une série de famines qui ont déstabilisé l’État mahdiste. Bien que les armées dirigées par les Britanniques ne fussent pas affectées par ces crises alimentaires du dix- neuvième siècle, l’État anglo-égyptien, qui était contrôlé par les Britanniques, a été affaibli pendant les années suivant sa fondation en 1898 par une longue période d’insécurité alimentaire qui a permis aux communautés indigènes de maintenir le contrôle de leurs esclaves, leurs terrains et leurs produits agricoles. Des innovations dans l’économie coloniale, notamment le développement d’un marché commun des grains, a précipité des famines au début du vingtième siècle qui ont démuni plusieurs communautés indigènes et ont ainsi empêché la résistance indigène contre le développement des ressources soudanaises au profit de l’industrie britannique. En même temps, l’État anglo-égyptien a encouragé les intérêts économiques d’un groupe d’élites indigènes en leur permettant d’investir dans les ressources saisis par l’état pendant les crises alimentaires. Après l’indépendance, ces élites ont maintenu plusieurs des pratiques agricoles qui avaient échoué à assurer la sécurité alimentaire. Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. i Note on Transliteration ...................................................................................................... iv Glossary of Foreign Terms ..................................................................................................v List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Chapter 2. Famine on the Nile; War, Depopulation, and the Making of Sudan’s Northern Frontier, 1883-1896 ...............................................................................37 Chapter 3. The War on Grain; Anglo-Egyptian Defensive Strategies in Eastern Sudan and the Red Sea Hills, 1883-1889...............................................................86 Chapter 4. Famine as a Weapon; The Grain Market and Indigenous Collaboration in Eastern Sudan and the Red Sea Hills, 1889-1904 ...................135 Chapter 5. Plenty of Want; Slavery and the Making of the Common Sudanese Grain Market, 1896-1913 ....................................................................................178 Chapter 6. The Era of Cheap Dhura is Over; Economic Development, Cotton and the Common Sudanese Grain Market, 1913-1940 ...............................................243 Chapter 7. Uncooperative Tenancies; Food Insecurity and the Transition to Independence, 1940-1956 ....................................................................................291 Chapter 8. Conclusion ......................................................................................................314 Appendix – Maps .............................................................................................................325 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................331 Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful for the support that I received from a number of individuals and institutions while researching and writing this dissertation. First, I would like to thank my co-supervisors, Gwyn Campbell and Elizabeth Elbourne, for their assistance and guidance and for reading and commenting on earlier drafts. I would also like to thank Gwyn Campbell for allowing me to use the resources of the Indian Ocean World Centre, McGill University. I would like to thank Janice Boddy (University of Toronto) for discussing my work and reading drafts of some early chapters. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the rest of the students and staff in the Indian Ocean World Center, as well as to the faculty and staff in the Department of History, McGill University. I would also like to thank the staff of the McGill University Library System. Researching and writing this dissertation was facilitated by a number of grants including a Research Fellowship from the Indian Ocean World Centre, McGill University (2007-2010) and a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Studies and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2010-2011). A travel bursary from the Indian Ocean World Center financed my research at the National Archive in London. Research in the Sudan was funded by an Arts Graduate Research Travel Award and an Arts Graduate Student Travel Award, both from the Faculty of Arts, McGill University. Early research was supported by a McCall/MacBain Graduate Award and the Daisy A. Lartimer Memorial Prize in History, both from the Department of History, McGill University, as well as by a i Graduate Fellowship from the Centre for Developing Area Studies (now the Institute for Studies in International Development), McGill University (2007- 2008). A Graduate Excellence Fellowship from the Department of History, McGill University (2012) supported the final stages of writing this dissertation. In the Sudan, I would like to thank the Institute for Africa and Asian Studies, University of Khartoum and, especially, Abdelrahim Mugaddam, its director, for providing me with academic affiliation and allowing me to use the institutes facilities. I am greatly indebted to the staff of the National Records Office in Khartoum and, particularly, to Ms. Awatif and Dr. Bashir for allowing me access. I would also like to thank ‘Abd al-Mun‘im, in the archive’s public relations office, for his hospitality and friendship. I am also very grateful to my good friends, Muhammad and al-Tarayfi for making me feel at home in Khartoum. In the United Kingdom, I would like to thank the staff of the National Archive, in London. I also would like to thank the staff of the Palace Green Library of Durham University. I am especially thankful to Jane Hogan for her assistance in navigating Durham University’s wonderful Sudan Archive. In addition, I am grateful to Diane and Graham Adams for the hospitality that they showed me while I was undertaking research in Durham in 2010 and in 2011. Draft sections of this thesis have been presented as lectures to the Indian Ocean World Centre’s Visiting Speaker Series, the Montreal British History Seminar and the Kulturpsychologisches Kolloquium at the Technische Universität (Berlin). They have also been delivered as papers at a number of conferences held ii at the Indian Ocean World Centre, including its annual Graduate