o - Aceh Books website

562 NUBIANS
pronounced in this area. Named kin groups—families, or nogs—were in fact
bilateral descent groups in which both male and female ancestry were of consequence,
particularly when the property and date palm ownership were part of
the inheritance. One belonged to a descent group as long as one appeared, it
was said, for divisions of the dates and for each other's weddings and funerals.
In addition, the remnants of the stratified social patterns which seemed to have
prevailed here during the Christian period were to be found in the existence of
the Kashafs. These people were descendants of Turkish rulers who were established
during the Ottoman period, when southern Nubia was a frontier area and
soldiers from throughout the Ottoman Empire were stationed in the garrisons of
the region. Many of the soldiers married and remained in Nubia; resentment
over the way in which this aristocracy expropriated lands and forced marriage
to gain access to property still prevailed in the 1960s. However, little in the way
of difference in standards of living could be seen which might distinguish these
families from other Nubian groups.
The total conversion of Nubia to Islam, in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, was of overwhelming importance to the Nubians, ending forever the
dangers of slavery from which the region had both profited and suffered in the
past. Movements of Islamic conservatism were still evident throughout Nubia
in the 1960s and continue to the present. These movements have ended many
customs from the pre-Islamic period in villages. Even the songs and dances
which were distinctive in style and form have come under attack from members
of the Marghaniyya brotherhood, which is popular among many Nubian men.
By the 1960s the Nubian past could best be found in the stories and tales
which Nubian women told their children of the spirits which were believed to
inhabit the Nile and which formed a part of the supernatural world of Kenuzi
men and women and in the frightening beings believed to inhabit the forbidding
deserts and rocks behind the villages. Among some Nubians, these ancient beliefs
coexisted with the experience of sophisticated city life as lived among the wealthiest
Egyptians and foreigners. The two "styles" seemed to be well accommodated
by the Nubians of this century in a pattern of life which granted full
value to the advantages of both city and country while recognizing the dangers
of too great dependence on either mode of existence.
Today, not only are New Nubia in Egypt and Khashm al-Ghurba in Sudan
much closer to the urban centers where many Nubians live and work at least
part of the time, but also foreign labor migration to the oil-rich countries of the
Middle East has recently become of great economic importance. In New Nubia,
there is much evidence of prosperity. New brick homes are found among the
older government-built houses, most of which have been radically remodeled
and decorated. TV antennas are a common sight. Many homes have electric
refrigerators and other appliances. As experienced migrants, Nubians have modified
old patterns of adjustment to new circumstances and have formed their own
recruitment networks across national boundaries. Only inexperienced young men
have trouble finding work and are of concern to the adults.