In Whose Image? Political Islam and Urban Practices in Sudan (review)

Book Reviews 143 Kilgour's "Refugees and Development." Lastly, Stephen Kontos's "Farmers and the Failure of Agribusiness" explains the reasons why Sudan's enormous agricultural potential has not been realized. Among important factors he cites are the adverse effects of government intervention, farmers' apathy and self-interest, and crucial demographic changes ("the thread of common identity and purpose was broken," p. 155). One of Kontos's conclusions speaks for the entire volume when he states that fresh capital is not needed so much as "the creation of an environment that will promote its effective use" (p. 157). For indeed all authors assert that without domestic reconciliation, stability and governance—to say nothing of development—is unobtainable. If this is an obvious observation, it is one that in light of Sudan's recent history warrants repeating, nonetheless. Robert S. Kramer St. Norbert College In Whose Image? Political Islam and Urban Practices in Sudan T. Abdou Maliqalim Simone Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. Pp. ix, 273. It is rare that one comes across a full-length book offering entirely fresh insights into Sudan's ongoing national catastrophe. Maliqalim Simone's In Whose Image? is one such book, and although it is not without its flaws, it is worth wading through the author's sometimes murky prose to reach the more lucid passages, where provocative and even profound analyses await the determined reader. The author, an American Muslim professor of clinical and social psychology, spent nearly two years in Khartoum in the 1980s as a consultant to the Islamic Movement (now the ruling National Islamic Front). He acknowledges that his agenda there was "ambiguous" (p. 24) and "problematic from the outset. I was in Khartoum to buttress a marginal aspect of the Islamic movement that my hosts believed had to be maintained as marginal. The movement was sufficiently perspicacious to realize that it needed a cutting edge . . . [but] this cutting edge was never to challenge the precepts of the movement itself" (p. 205). If the author's efforts at meaningful collaboration ultimately failed, he nevertheless witnessed enough of the daily struggle for survival in Khartoum to form 144 Book Reviews acute observations of Sudan's condition, and these he renders compellingly. The brunt of this book explores the dynamics of identity in Sudan: who the Sudanese peoples believe themselves to be, and in what contexts. Social, economic, and political factors are of course considered, within both their domestic and international spheres. Most original is the author's social-psychology analysis of events. This can occasionally appear bizarre, as is the case, for example, in his evaluation of the Dinka-Baqqara competition in Bahr al-Ghazal as "a volcanic hatred in which sex, death, food, gender, and god are brewed into a wild intoxicant" (p. 56); however, more often, as in his assessment of the Sudanese people's internalization of their dilemma as intractable (p. 74), it seems highly novel and insightful. The three chapters of part one, "Struggles for the Familiar," provide a background to the main study, addressing such topics as the Islamist agenda and Islamist assumptions; the appeal of the NLF and their understanding of Shariva; and the historical and contemporary dimensions of the North-South conflict and what the debates about Islamic and Arab identity really reveal. Part two, "Out of Bounds: Islam and Transformation," is the heart of the work and provides a detailed account of the Islamist effort to transform Sudanese society. Islam as an indigenous solution to post-colonial identity is described as "a work in progress" (83), and amid a discussion of the hudud (penal codes), the author raises the issue of creating "Islam" in a setting of great diversity. The specifically urban dimension to the Islamist agenda receives much attention, with the author providing valuable case studies on the intra- and interpersonal dilemmas of Khartoum youth. A valuable chapter on Islamist discursive practices follows, with particular emphasis on notions of tawhid (oneness of God) and its ramifications for North-South dialogue. After considering the politics of authenticity, the author then provides a thoughtful treatment of the complex race issue in Sudan. A final section, "A Reference from Another Africa," offers the example of...