ABSTRACT
All over the world, nomadic people are under continued pressure to maintain their way of life. This chapter looks at the experience of sedentarization in the cross-border context of Eastern Sudan and Western Eritrea. Based on the story of the pastoralist Mohammed, the reader gains an understanding of a sedentarization trajectory in the region. Mohammed’s experience is then connected to further voices of pastoralists and embedded into the wider context of Eastern Sudan. The research reflects the formation of the identity of a cross-border tribe and discusses the notions of borders and international migration in the Sudanese context. By doing so, the research sheds light on the tension field in which the pastoralists live: torn between forced assimilation and impeded participation, while encountering the sedentary community under a state-seeking expansion via nation-building.
