'The Evolution of Modern Medicine in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1924-1956', by Dr Tarik Elhadd

A full recording of the event at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where Dr Tarik Elhadd's book was launched, on 9 December 2023.

Dr Elhadd’s book is about the evolution of modern medical practices in the Sudan including curative medicine, public health, medical research, and education. It covers an important era from 1924, when the first medical school in the country was inaugurated, up until the Independence of Sudan in 1956. The Sudan, known during this period as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was not officially a British colony. The British came during zenith of the 'Great Scramble for Africa' and Kitchener's appeal for the Gordon Memorial College set the platform for modern education in the Sudan, and following his demise, his call to establish a medical school in the country was heeded. The medical school inaugurated in 1924 became the third of its kind in Africa, which helped the mesh of expanding the service to remote parts of the country. The author and translator of more than seven books on the history of Sudanese medicine walks us through a comprehensive and authoritative description of the formative years of the Kitchener School of Medicine, events, dates, progress, and role in the foundation of almost all healthcare institutions. In addition, the book analyses the evolution of Sudan's medical services, teaching, training, and research. - Professor Ahmed El Safi, Sudan Medical Heritage Foundation

From Christian missionaries working within the colonial project of civilizing the natives, to the training of doctors, nurses and midwives who came after them, the author, a medical doctor himself, offers a coherent narrative supported by detailed historical events, and punctuated by gripping life histories of both pioneer European and Sudanese doctors.

'River Spirit', by Leila Aboulela. Book launch, with Lutz Oette and Fergus Nicoll

Monday, 5.00-6.30 on 6 March 2023 at DLT, Main Building, SOAS. Free admission.

Leila Aboulela, hailed as “a versatile prose stylist” (New York Times) has also been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith, and Ben Okri, among others, for her rich and nuanced novels depicting Islamic spiritual and political life. Her new novel is an enchanting narrative of the years leading up to the British conquest of Sudan in 1898, and a deeply human look at the tensions between Britain and Sudan, Christianity and Islam, colonizer and colonized. In River Spirit, Aboulela gives us the unforgettable story of a people who - against the odds and for a brief time - gained independence from foreign rule through their willpower, subterfuge, and sacrifice.

When Akuany and her brother Bol are orphaned in a village raid in South Sudan, they’re taken in by a young merchant Yaseen who promises to care for them, a vow that tethers him to Akuany through their adulthood. As a revolutionary leader rises to power - the self-proclaimed Mahdi, prophesied redeemer of Islam - Sudan begins to slip from the grasp of Ottoman rule, and everyone must choose a side. A scholar of the Qur’an, Yaseen feels beholden to stand against this false Mahdi, even as his choice splinters his family. Meanwhile, Akuany moves through her young adulthood and across the country alone, sold and traded from house to house, with Yaseen as her inconsistent lifeline. Everything each of them is striving for - love, freedom, safety – is all on the line in the fight for Sudan.

Through the voices of seven men and women whose fates grow inextricably linked, Aboulela’s latest novel illuminates a fraught and bloody reckoning with the history of a people caught in the crosshairs of imperialism. River Spirit is a powerful tale of corruption, coming of age, and unshakeable devotion – to a cause, to one’s faith, and to the people who become family.