Political Ecology in the Upper Nile: The Twentieth Century Expansion of the Pastoral "Common Economy"

This chapter suggests that the historical pattern of flooding in the region has been a significant factor in the expansion of the Nilotic common economy throughout the twentieth century. The environment of the clay plains of the Upper Nile region in the Sudan is peculiarly harsh, imposing considerable restraints on its inhabitants, who almost all survive through mixed cultivation and herding. The combination of erratic flooding, "unreliable rainfall and uncompromising soil" has forced the development of a mainly pastoral economy, which has been well established throughout the region for at least a millennium. The political independence of the Nuer came to an end in the 1920s, following a series of military campaigns intended to bring them under closer administrative control. The historical study of changing ecological and social relationships - the "political ecology" of the region - reveals a far more complex picture. Underlying ethnic, linguistic and political differentiation is a dynamic response to changes in the environment.