Khartoum at Night: Fashion and Body Politics in Imperial Sudan

by Marie Grace Brown

In the first half of the twentieth century, a pioneering generation of young women exited their homes and entered public space, marking a new era for women's civic participation in northern Sudan. A provocative new public presence, women's civic engagement was at its core a bodily experience. Amid the socio-political upheavals of imperial rule, female students, medical workers, and activists used a careful choreography of body movements and fashion to adapt to imperial mores, claim opportunities for political agency, and shape a new standard of modern, mobile womanhood.

Khartoum at Night is the first English-language history of these women's lives, examining how their experiences of the British Empire from 1900–1956 were expressed on and through their bodies. Central to this story is the a popular, modest form of dress that wrapped around a woman's head and body. Marie Grace Brown shows how northern Sudanese women manipulated the tucks, folds, and social messages of the tobe to deftly negotiate the competing pulls of modernization and cultural authenticity that defined much of the imperial experience. Her analysis weaves together the threads of women's education and activism, medical midwifery, urban life, consumption, and new behaviors of dress and beauty to reconstruct the worlds of politics and pleasure in which early-twentieth-century Sudanese women lived.

Genres: Sudan, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Africa, Academia

241 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 22, 2017

Reviews

[Letitia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating title unfortunately doesn't pan out to be quite as fascinating of a book. It is neither as accessible nor as subversive as I was hoping, and reads very much like a dissertation. I started skimming in the way you do with textbooks, until I got to about page 160, when suddenly what I had wanted the book to be about appeared. If you're just interested in reading a summation of the political identities embodied in the Sudanese tobe, this is where I would direct you. Everything prior to this is a heavily detailed history of English imperialism, and amounts to more a summary of midwifery and the fight to educate girls that will be familiar to anyone who has read about colonized Africa.

Fashion is always political. Fashion is always class. Fashion is also subversive. This finally comes through in the last few pages, as what has been intimated about the political identities and shifting of fashion as female bodies become more visible under English rule finally becomes the main thrust of the text. I loved learning about the names of tobes and what they signified. What seems a simple white garment to an outsider is rife with variation and meaning to the women who wear them. Would have preferred the book be just about this, and less about British attempts to Anglicize Sudan.

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic and incredibly readable. The book is comprised of tying together first hand evidence in the form of diaries, photographs, books and report both from Sudanese writers and British. It looks at the Imperial control of Sudan by Britain and Egypt at the turn of the 20 th century through its treatment of Women - particularly their bodies. This book looks at female genital mutulation, societal expectations, wealth structures, education of women as individuals vs as wives and female autonomy both in the eyes of the Arabic world and the British Empire. It looks at the toba as a form of dress and the way in which it allowed Women at this time to navigate the space between tradition and the modern world - both as they embraced it no s the British Empire pushed it upon them. The toba was a social signifier of wealth, status and political stance via the name ps given to the fabric and the way in which it was worn. The topic is niche but the execution is fantastic!!!!

[Raymond Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book looks at the role of gender in the modernization process in Sudan under the influence of colonialism. The author discusses the role of women as part of Sudanese society in the course of history, starting with the progressive movement to improve circumcision, the development of the modern education system, and the changes in marriage and dress, in a broadly chronological manner. If the body was the place where government policy played out, it was also the place where imperial power reached its limits and where colonial voices tried to make their voices heard. Moreover, these asymmetrical relationships between sex and sexuality are the basis for establishing and maintaining power (or authority). The book contains several interesting and noteworthy references to the internal and external boundaries of the Muslim harem, the struggle over the limited educational rights of Sudanese women, and traditional marriage to display masculinity.

[Jess :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses specifically on the history of women in Sudan, and does so by analyzing the fashion of women throughout many different historical events. It also discussed how the “modernity” of Sudanese women was used as a measure of how “civilized” a country was. And only when colonized countries have become “civilized” enough (or have greatly adopted Westernized societal norms), would they qualify for independence. I was worried this would be very difficult read, but l was able to understand the different concepts introduced.

[Marycatlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who like to feel the fashion of your history, read this wonderful, relatable book. It takes place at the turn of the last century in Northern Sudan, telling how women navigated the end of British colonialism. Clothing choices armoured them as they ventured out as midwifes and teachers to new worlds. You will never look at the tobes, women's cloth garments with the same eyes. I can easily see this book on Beyonce's bookshelf as a primer to beauty, self-determination and power.

[Aylin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have said this before and I will say it again: women are at the forefront of every revolution, every rebellion, every act against authoritarian regime, because we always had to fight for our place in the world.

[Enrica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book on the history of North Sudan from the late 1800s to the 1960s. There are a lot of interesting observations, but not enough about fashion. Either way, I'd recommend it for a fashion studies reading group.

[Rhonda Hankins]

Original approach to research allows the author to share insights about particular women in a particular era in a particular area of Sudan that we otherwise wouldn’t know about. I really admired the author's willingness/ability to go beyond the usual archives and newspaper clippings to let us gain an appreciation for this complex topic.

The book reads easily enough though the text can sometimes have the feel of a dissertation (ie dry academic).

[Savannah Pine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Read this now.