Sudan archives and Nubiology in times of war

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the collaboration between the University of Bergen and the University of Khartoum. The humanities have been a central part of this collaboration, and historians, archaeologists, and philologists alike have worked in the field of Nubiology—the study of Nubia.

Roughly speaking, Nubia is the stretch of the Nile between Khartoum and the southernmost regions of Egypt, which has historically been inhabited by people speaking a Nubian language.

In Bergen, the study of these people’s past has resulted in the most complete corpus of written sources concerning ancient Nubia, the Fontes historiae Nubiorum.

Rich archival material has been assembled as part of the Sudan Collection at the University of Bergen. Such archives play a crucial role in protecting historical material, given the situation on the ground in Sudan and the risk of the loss of cultural heritage.

We have gathered a panel of Nubiologists who will discus the Sudan archives and Nubiology both in the past, the present and in the future, in light of the 2019 revolution and the 2023 war.

Cornelia Kleinitz, Research Associate for sub-Saharan Africa at the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures (KAAK) of the German Archaeological Institute, Guest researcher at Humboldt University, Co-Director of the Humboldt University Archaeological Mission to Musawwarat es-Sufra, and Curator of the Sudan Archaeological Collection and Archive at Humboldt University, Berlin.

Sami El Amin, director of antiquities of Sudan’s Northern Province, responsible for the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums archive.

Artur Obłuski, professor at Warsaw University, president of the International Society for Nubian Studies, director of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology.

Mohamed Farouq Abdelrahman Ali, Chief Executive Officer of the American Sudanese Archaeological Research Center, Okwui Enewzor postdoctoral fellow at the Africa Institute in Sharjah, UAE.

Henriette Hafsaas, head of research, Volda University College.

Chair: Alexandros Tsakos, senior academic librarian, University of Bergen.