Saviours and Survivors

Acknowledgments
Map
Introduction
Part I: The Save Darfur Movement and the Global War on Terror
1 Globalizing Darfur
2 The Politics of the Movement to Save Darfur

Part II: Darfur in Context
3 Writing Race into History
4 Sudan and the Sultanate of Dar Fur
5 A Colonial Map of Race and Tribe: Making Settlers and Natives
6 Building Nation and State in Independent Sudan
7 The Cold War and Its Aftermath

Part III: Rethinking the Darfur Crisis
8 Civil War, Rebellion, and Repression
Conclusion: Responsibility to Protect or Right to Punish?
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Mahmood Mamdani is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, and a member of the Anthropology and Political Science departments and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He was previously the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Makerere University and the founding director of the Centre for Basic Research in Kampala. He has also taught at the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Cape Town. Mamdani is a past president of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). His previous books include Citizen and Subject (recognised as ‘one of Africa’s 100 best books of the 20th century’ in Cape Town 2001 and awarded the Herskovitz Prize of the African Studies Association of USA for ‘the best book on Africa published in the English language in 1996’), When Victims Become Killers, Scholars in the Marketplace and Good Muslim, Bad Muslim. He lives in New York City and Kampala.

“The importance of the book is not only that it provides a context for the violence in Darfur – it is also the first work to critically conceptualize the shape of the post Cold War international order . . . the critique of humanitarian interventionism and the difference between ‘survivors’ justice’ and the justice of revenge is particularly important . . . This is a work of incredible political courage.”
—Amitav Ghosh, former Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University, and internationally acclaimed author

“Mamdani traces the path to the Darfur tragedy through its historical and colonial roots to the current situation, where drought and desertification have let to conflict over land among local tribes, rebellion, and finally to the brutal involvement of the forces of the state and to the efforts of the United Nations and others to help the victims and stop the violence. His radical reevaluation of the Darfur problem is a major contribution to understanding and, it is to be hoped, to ending a shocking human disaster.”
—Sir Brian Urquhart, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

“Saviours and Survivors is an incisive and challenging analysis. Framing both Darfur's war and the ‘Save Darfur’ movement within the paradigm of the west's historic colonial encounter with Africa, Mahmood Mamdani challenges the reader to reconsider Darfur's crisis as ‘genocide’ warranting foreign military intervention.”
—Alex de Waal, Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and author of War in Darfur

“Mahmood Mamdani has turned his fearless independence of mind on Darfur, Sudan and the so-called ‘War on Terror’, producing a book that is as passionate and well-informed as it is intelligent and (for those used only to surface orthodoxies) challenging.”
—Conor Gearty, Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at the London School of Economics

“SAVIOURS AND SURVIVORS is a brilliantly argued and profoundly challenging critique of liberal support for humanitarian intervention in Darfur. Beyond this, Mamdani sets forth an alternative approach to such catastrophic situations. This book should be required reading for the Obama foreign policy team.”
—Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur and Professor Emeritus, Princeton University

“A bold, near brilliant reexamination of the conflict in Darfur….Essential reading for those interested in the topic.”—Publishers Weekly

“A necessary contribution to the literature surrounding both humanitarian aid and African geopolitics.”—Kirkus Reviews

“By providing broader context, Mamdani brings fresh perspective to conflict in this troubled region.”—Booklist

Click on the links below to read the reviews:

Saviours & Survivors / The Weekender Weekend Review 27 June 2009

Saviours & Survivors / Mail & Guardian 26 June 2009

Saviours & Survivors / City Press 05 July 2009

Saviours & Survivors /Pambazuka