A Brief History of SSSUK

The Sudan Studies Society of the United Kingdom (SSSUK) was established in 1986. The Anglo-Sudanese Association (ASA) - largely composed of former officials of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan - had effectively died out, and a few of us from academia thought that something should replace it, especially since the Sudan Studies Association (SSA) in the United States was developing strongly.

The four at the founding meeting of SSSUK were Lesley Forbes, then at Durham, Tony Trilsbach, also Durham, G N ‘Sandy’ Sanderson and myself. The name was chosen for the acronym (obviously); Sandy was our first chairman; and Tony the first secretary. Paul Wilson was another early member and became the long serving editor of Sudan Studies. Partly for continuity from ASA, Sir Gawain Bell, once of the Sudan Political Service, was our first President. The early members were mainly survivors from the defunct ASA, British academics and the then numerous teachers of English and NGO workers with experience in Sudan. Early annual symposia were held in the old Sudan Cultural Centre in Rutland Gate.

By the 1990s the situation was changing and SSSUK was shrinking. ASA members were fading out, including Gawain Bell who was replaced as President by Sandy Sanderson; the anti-Western character of the new regime in Sudan led to a diminution in the number of returned teachers and aid workers; and instead of Rutland Gate the society became somewhat peripatetic in its annual venues. However later in the 1990s came a recovery, though not entirely for the most desirable of reasons. The policies of the government in Sudan were forcing many into exile, including many of Sudan’s leading intellectuals. SSSUK was able to develop a much more Sudanese membership; and the novelist Tayeb Salih succeeded Sandy Sanderson as President.

In addition to the journal and the symposia, SSSUK has also been a part of the international network (with SSA and the Institute of African and Asian Studies, University of Khartoum) that has staged a triennial International Sudan Conference since 1988. SSSUK has twice hosted it, in 1991 and 2000, thanks to the hospitality of the University of Durham. With the Sudan Archive located there, Durham is central to Sudan studies in UK.