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The Nuba people are indigenous inhabitants of central
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
. Nuba are various indigenous
ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
s who inhabit the
Nuba Mountains The Nuba Mountains ( ar, جبال النوبة), also referred to as the Nuba Hills, is an area located in South Kordofan, Sudan. The area is home to a group of indigenous ethnic groups known collectively as the Nuba peoples. In the Middle Ages ...
of South Kordofan state in
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, encompassing multiple distinct people that speak different languages which belong to at least two unrelated
language families A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hi ...
. In 2011 when Southern part of Sudan become independent State as a country with Sovereignty, Nuba is currently living in the Southern part of Sudan. Estimates of the Nuba population vary widely; the Sudanese government estimated that they numbered 2.07 million in 2003. The term should not be confused with the
Nubians Nubians () ( Nobiin: ''Nobī,'' ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the region which is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt. They originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley, believed to be one of the earliest cradles of ...
, an unrelated ethnic group speaking the
Nubian languages The Nubian languages ( ar, لُغَات نُوبِيّة, lughāt nūbiyyah) are a group of related languages spoken by the Nubians. They form a branch of the Eastern Sudanic languages, which is part of the wider Nilo-Saharan phylum. Initiall ...
living in Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt, although the
Hill Nubians Hill Nubians are a group of Nubian peoples who inhabit the northern Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state, Sudan. They speak the Hill Nubian languages. Despite their scattered presence and linguistic diversity, they all refer to themselves as ...
, who live in the Nuba Mountains, are also considered part of the Nuba peoples.


Description


Dwellings

The Nuba people reside in the foothills of the Nuba Mountains. Villages consist of family compounds, and the men's (''Holua'') in which unmarried men sleep. A family compound consists of a rectangular compound enclosing two round mud huts thatched with sorghum stalks facing each other called a ''shal''. The ''shal'' is fenced with wooden posts interwoven with straw. Two benches run down the each side of the ''shal'' with a fire in the middle where families will tell stories and oral traditions. Around the ''shal'' is the much larger yard, the ''tog'' placed in front. The fence of the ''tog'' is made of strong tree branches as high as the roof of the huts. Small livestock like goats and chickens and donkeys are kept in the tog. Each compound has tall conical granaries called ''durs'' which stand on one side of the ''tog''. At the back of the compound is a small yard where maize and vegetables like pumpkin, beans and peanuts are grown.


Languages

The Nuba people speak various languages not closely related to each other. Most of the Nuba people speak one of the many languages in the geographic
Kordofanian languages The Kordofanian languages are a geographic grouping of five language groups spoken in the Nuba Mountains of the Kurdufan, Sudan: Talodi–Heiban languages, Lafofa languages, Rashad languages, Katla languages and Kadu languages. The first four g ...
group of the
Nuba Mountains The Nuba Mountains ( ar, جبال النوبة), also referred to as the Nuba Hills, is an area located in South Kordofan, Sudan. The area is home to a group of indigenous ethnic groups known collectively as the Nuba peoples. In the Middle Ages ...
. This language group is primarily in the major Niger–Congo language family. Several Nuba languages are in the
Nilo-Saharan language family The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50–60 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. T ...
. Over one hundred languages are spoken in the area and are considered Nuba languages, although many of the Nuba also speak Sudanese Arabic, the common language of Sudan.


Culture

The Nuba people are primarily farmers, as well as herders who keep cattle, chickens, and other domestic animals. They often maintain three different farms: a garden near their homes where vegetables needing constant attention, such as onions, peppers and beans, are grown; fields further up the hills where quick growing crops such as red millet can be cultivated without irrigation; and farms farther away, where white millet and other crops are planted. A distinctive characteristic of the Nubas is their passion for athletic competition, particularly traditional wrestling. The strongest young men of a community compete with athletes from other villages for the chance to promote their personal and their village’s pride and strength. In some villages, older men participate in club- or spear-fighting contests. The Nubas’ passion for physical excellence is also displayed through the young men’s vanity—they often spend hours painting their bodies with complex patterns and decorations. This vanity reflects the basic Nuba belief in the power and importance of strength and beauty.


Religions

The primary religion of many Nuba people is
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
, with some
Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...
, and traditional
shamanistic Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...
beliefs also prevailing. Men wear a sarong and occasionally a skull cap. Young men remain naked, while children wear only a string of beads. Older women and young women wear beads and wrap a sarong over their legs and sometimes a cloak tie on the shoulder. Both sexes practice scarification and
circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Top ...
for boys and
female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...
for girls. Men shave their heads, older men wear beards, women and girls braid their hair in strands and string it with beads. The majority of the Nuba living in the east, west and northern parts of the mountains are Muslims, while those living to the south are either Christians or practice traditional animistic religions. In those areas of the Nuba mountains where Islam has not deeply penetrated, ritual specialists and priests hold as much control as the clan elders, for it is they who are responsible for rain control, keeping the peace, and rituals to ensure successful crops. Many are guardians of the shrines where items are kept to insure positive outcomes of the rituals (such as rain stones for the rain magic), and some also undergo what they recognize as spiritual possession.


Politics

In the 1986 elections, the
National Umma Party The National Umma Party ( ar, حزب الأمة القومي , translit=Hizb al-Umma al-qawmmy; en, Nation Party) is an Islamic political party in Sudan. It was formerly led by Sadiq al-Mahdi, who served twice as Prime Minister of Sudan, and ...
lost several seats to the Nuba Mountains General Union and to the Sudan National Party, due to the reduced level of support from the Nuba Mountains region. There is reason to believe that attacks by the government-supported militia, the Popular Defense Force (PDF), on several Nuba villages were meant to be in retaliation for this drop in support, which was seen as signaling increased support of the SPLA. The PDF attacks were particularly violent, and have been cited as examples of
crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
that took place during the
Second Sudanese Civil War The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originated ...


Nuba Mountains

The Nuba people reside in one of the most remote and inaccessible places in all of Sudan, the foothills of the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan. At one time the area was considered a place of refuge, bringing together people of many different tongues and backgrounds who were fleeing oppressive governments and slave traders. The Nuba Mountains mark the southern border of the sands of the desert and the northern limit of good soils washed down by the Nile River. Many Nuba, however, have migrated to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to escape persecution and the effects of Sudan’s civil war. Most of the rest of the 1,000,000 Nuba people live in villages and towns of between 1,000 and 50,000 inhabitants in areas in and surrounding the Nuba mountains. Nuba villages are often built where valleys run from the hills out on to the surrounding plains, because water is easier to find at such points and wells can be used all year long. There is no political unity among the various Nuba groups who live on the hills. Often the villages do not have chiefs, but are instead organized into clans or extended family groups with village authority left in the hands of clan elders.


War in the Nuba Mountains


Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005)

After some earlier incursions by the SPLA, the Second Sudanese Civil War started full scale in the Nuba Mountains when the Volcano Battalion of the SPLA under the command of the Nuba Yousif Kuwa Mekki and Abdel Aziz Adam al-Hillu entered the Nuba Mountains and began to recruit Nuba volunteers and send them to SPLA training facilities in Ethiopia. The volunteers walked to Ethiopia and back and many of them perished on the way. During the war, the SPLA generally held the Mountains, while the Sudanese Army held the towns and fertile lands at the feet of the Mountains, but was generally unable to dislodge the SPLA, even though the latter was usually under supplied. The Governments of Sudan under
Sadiq al-Mahdi Sadiq al-Mahdi ( ar, الصادق المهدي, aṣ-Ṣādiq al-Mahdī; 25 December 193526 November 2020), also known as Sadiq as-Siddiq, was a Sudanese political and religious figure who was Prime Minister of Sudan from 1966 to 1967 and again f ...
and Omar al-Bashir also armed militias of
Baggara Arabs The Baggāra ( ar, البَقَّارَة "heifer herder") or Chadian Arabs are a nomadic confederation of people of mixed Arab and Arabized indigenous African ancestry, inhabiting a portion of the Sahel mainly between Lake Chad and the Nile ri ...
to fight the Nuba and transferred many Nuba forcibly to camps. In early 2002 the Government and the SPLA agreed on an internationally supervised ceasefire. International observers and advisors were quickly dispatched to Kadugli base camp and several deployed into the mountains to co-located with SPLA command elements. The base camp at Kauda for several observers included Swiss African advisor, French diplomat, an Italian and an American former US Army officer. At that time, Abdel Aziz Adam al-Hillu was the governor of Nuba Mountains. During the course of the following months, relief supplies from the UN were air dropped to stem the starvation of many in Nuba Mountains. The ceasefire in Nuba Mountains was the foundation for the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA, ar, اتفاقية السلام الشامل, Ittifāqiyyah al-salām al-šāmil), also known as the Naivasha Agreement, was an accord signed on January 9, 2005, by the Sudan People's Liberation Movem ...
(CPA) signed in January 2005. This fragile peace remains in force, but infighting in the south, plus the Government of Sudan involvement in Darfur have resulted in issues which may break the peace agreement.


Secession of South Sudan (2011)

Southern Sudan voted for secession from Sudan in the
Southern Sudanese independence referendum, 2011 A referendum took place in Southern Sudan from 9 to 15 January 2011, on whether the region should remain a part of Sudan or become independent. The referendum was one of the consequences of the 2005 Naivasha Agreement between the Khartoum centr ...
. This provision was agreed to in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The secession victory established the formation of a new country,
South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of th ...
, from the southern portion of Sudan. However, conflict between Northern and Southern forces, and against the Nuba peoples, renewed again in the region in 2011 — see Sudan–SPLM-N conflict (2011) for detailed information.


Media

* Film maker Roopa Gogineni documented ''Bisha TV'', a satirical muppet show popular throughout the Nuba lands, which serves as an "example of how people use comedy to deal with authoritarian rule." The show mocks Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, depicting him as the killer of children and bomber of hospitals. A short documentary by Gogineni includes apparent bombing of Kauda by a Soviet-made
Antonov Antonov State Enterprise ( uk, Державне підприємство «Антонов»), formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov (Antonov ASTC) ( uk, Авіаційний науково-технічни� ...
airplane. It shows a public screening of ''Bisha TV'' in front of dozens of local residents. * '' Eyes and Ears Of God – Video surveillance of Sudan'' (2012) film by peace activist Tomo Križnar on YouTube. The documentary film shows the ethnic Nuba civilians defending themselves with the help of over 400 cameras distributed by himself and Klemen Mihelič, the founder of humanitarian organisation H.O.P.E., to volunteers across the war zones in the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, and Darfur, documenting the (North) Sudan military's war crimes against local populations. *
Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...
, better known for her films ''
Triumph of the Will ''Triumph of the Will'' (german: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; hi ...
'' and '' Olympia'' of Nazi Germany, published two collections of her photographs of Nuba peoples, entitled '' The Last of the Nuba'' (1973) and ''
The People of Kau ''The People of Kau'' is the title of the 1976 English-language translation of German film director Leni Riefenstahl's ''Die Nuba von Kau'', an illustrated book, published in the same year in Germany. The book is a follow-up to her earlier succes ...
'' (1976). * ''
Nuba Conversations ''Nuba Conversations'' is a 2000 documentary and ethnographic film directed by Arthur Howes. Synopsis Ten years after shooting Kafi's Story British filmmaker Arthur Howes reentered in Sudan clandestinely to find out what had happened to the Nub ...
'' (2000), a documentary and
ethnographic film An ethnographic film is a non-fiction film, often similar to a documentary film, historically shot by Western filmmakers and dealing with non-Western people, and sometimes associated with anthropology. Definitions of the term are not definitive. ...
directed by
Arthur Howes Arthur Joseph Christopher Howes (15 July 1950 – 29 November 2004) was a documentary film maker and teacher. Life Howes was born in Gibraltar on 15 July 1950, and moved to London as a teenager. He was married to Amy Hardie and had one son. He ...
.


See also

*
Dilling people The Dilling are an ethnic group of the Nuba peoples. The Dilling number several thousand and live mainly in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state, in southern Sudan. Language The Dilling language is one of the Nubian languages of the Nilo-Sa ...
*
Heiban Nuba The Heiban Nuba are a people of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state, in southern Sudan. There are less than 50,000 Heiban, many of whom are Christian. Language The Heiban languages belong to Kordofanian languages group, of the Nuba Mountai ...
* Ghulfan people *
Kadaru people The Kadaru are a sub-ethnic group of the Nuba peoples in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state, in southern Sudan. They live in the Kadaru Hills between Dilling and Delami in South Kurdufan. Most of its members are Muslims. The number of ...
* Katla people *
Kanga people Kanga is an ethnic group of Sudan. They number about 10,000 persons. They live in Northern Sudan in the Nuba Mountains and are one of the people called " Nuba". The Kanga speak Kanga, a Nilo-Saharan The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed fam ...
* Karko people * Keiga people * Keiga Jirru *
Koalib Nuba Koalib Nuba is an ethnic group of the Nuba peoples in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan, South Kordofan state, in southern Sudan. It numbers more than 150,000 persons. They speak Koalib language, Koalib of the Kordofanian languages group, in the ...
* Krongo Nuba * Logol people * Moro Nuba *
Nuba fighting Nuba fighting refers to traditional sports of the Nuba peoples in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state, in southern Sudan. It involves both stick fighting or wrestling. Techniques The goal of Nuba wrestling is to slam the opponent to th ...
*
Nyimang The Nyimang are an ethnic sub-group of the Nuba peoples in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan in Sudan. Their population may exceed 100,000. Most are Muslims. Culture Communication They speak Nyima languages, also known as Ama language of the ...
* Otoro Nuba * Tagale people *
Talodi people The Talodi are a sub-ethnic group of the Nuba peoples in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state, in southern Sudan. They likely number more than 1,000 people. The area's city and district, Talodi, are named for them. Language The Talodi peo ...
*
Tira people The Tira are a sub-ethnic group of the Nuba peoples in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state, in southern Sudan. The population of this group exceeds 100,000. Language They speak Tira of the Kordofanian languages group, in the major Niger� ...
:* Index: Nuba peoples *
Languages of the Nuba Mountains The Nuba Mountains, located in the West Kordofan and South Kordofan states in the south of Sudan, are inhabited by a diverse set of populations (collectively known as Nuba peoples) speaking various languages not closely related to one another. T ...


Footnotes


Further reading

* * * * * Stevenson, R.C., ''Adjectives in Nyimang'' offprint, as above * * * * * *


External links

* - A Slovenian peace activist in Sudan, helping the Nuba peoples * Nuba indigenous rights organization * * *
The Nuba Mountains HomepageThe Linguistic Settlement of the Nuba MountainsNuba People by Fr. Yousif William Full documentary about the sufferings of the Nuba
{{Authority control Ethnic groups in Sudan