A Forgotten Genocide?: The Elimination of the Nuba of Sudan.

Genocide began as an overarching concept that denotes more than just mass murder. It involved removing a culture from existence. It entails a serious of actions taken by a government in eliminating a particular culture. It requires a certain mindset by the perpetrating government or group that justifies the extermination. Women typically and consistently have been principally affected in past genocides though rape, artificial famine, and displacement. Women are the ones who carry culture; thus they become primary targets. Focusing on root and branch genocide, the concept of the interconnection of women, culture and blood helps to explain why women are primary targets by analyzing the relationship between these three aspects. Since the war began between the Sudanese government in Khartoum and the SPLA in the south, the Nuba, who make their home in the mountainous region in Central Sudan, have lived in fear. While most Nuba support the SPLA, they still reside in the territory controlled by the Khartoum government. This has left them, especially the women, susceptible to policies of terror and destruction carried out by the Khartoum government, including 'peace camps' and artificial famine. Through the feminist concepts of the interconnection of women, culture and blood, and the feminized "Other", this paper intends to re-establish Lemkin's definition of genocide taking into account the effects of policies of rape, artificial famine, and assimilation, and to prove that genocide has and still is occurring in the Nuba region of Sudan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]