The Women's Movement in Sudan from Nationalism to Transnationalism: Prospects for a Solidarity Movement

Abstract This dissertation is a study of the effects of nationalism and transnationalism on the evolution of the women’s movement in Sudan, also known as North Sudan. The women’s movement in Sudan is an urban movement that mainly functions in Khartoum city -the capital of Sudan. Khartoum is a meeting ground for women activists coming from different parts of the country: South, West, North and East. This study highlights the heterogeneity of the movement and indicates how women negotiate their differences and create alliances across the divides of ethnicity, religion and region. It also explores how women have succeeded in changing the meaning of gender relations over time and enacted these changes through their continued resistance to the patriarchy of nationalist projects, the postcolonial state, and society. This research aims to provide an understanding of women’s activism as part of the nationalism in Sudan. I also, analyze the new era of women’s activism during the 1990s & 2000s, and how women’s groups, under the banner of transnationalism, have managed to build solidarity with each other, which enabled them to achieve some of their goals. I argue that from nationalist to transnational influences, women’s activism in Sudan has evolved through a long journey of struggle to change the meaning of gender relations, in both public and private spheres, and over time. This journey demonstrates that Sudanese women are not merely passive constituents of society but active agents, often working on their own, bargaining to enact changes on gender relations, surpassing the obstacles posed by their differences, and extending alliances and networks to advance their cause. Overall, the dissertation contributes to feminist debates on the meaning of feminism in different contexts; the relationship between nationalism and feminism; the dialectical relationship between difference and solidarity; and the meaning of transnationalism in the local context of Sudan (i.e. transnationalism localized). The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a connection between knowledge and activism and to explore new possibilities for women’s resistance and struggle to enact social change.