Suad Musa's Hawks and Doves in Sudan's Armed Conflict is a welcome study of the institution of al-Hakkamat (plural of al-Hakkamah): gifted women from Sudan's Darfur and Kordofan regions who, by composing and reciting poetry in songs, articulate significant social and political commentary. Al-Hakkamat hold tremendous power and authority, given the value that their communities accord to wisdom, orality and spoken word. The author argues that this power, which is an extension of women's leadership in African systems of traditional authority, emanates from the involvement of al-Hakkamat ‘in the political activities that the tribe pursues in order to secure its boundaries’ (p. 70).
Based on field research in Nyala and al-Fasher, capitals of South and North Darfur respectively, the book complicates narratives that essentialize women and construct them as natural peacebuilders. Instead, Musa highlights the complex and at times contradictory roles of al-Hakkamat: as Hawks (mobilizers for war and violence) and to a lesser extent as Doves (voices for healing, peace and reconciliation). Musa also examines other roles that fall in between these two binaries.
Hawks and Doves is divided into nine chapters and a conclusion. The first two chapters introduce the reader to the geography and diverse population of Darfur. The chapters discuss Sudan's colonial and postcolonial histories, and the socio-economic and political factors at the root of Sudan's conflicts. Musa argues that the elites who ruled Sudan after independence utilized ethnic differences and local conflict over economic resources in Darfur to advance their own narrow political and economic interests. A discussion of the gender dimensions of this history and its distinct impact on Darfuri women and men would have enriched the monograph, given Musa's goal of writing the narratives of al-Hakkamat into the historical record.
Chapter 3 is an ethnographic account of the institution of al-Hakkamat. Musa describes the process through which a talented girl develops her skills as a potential Hakkamah by building a reputation of strength and wisdom, and through accumulating wealth from payments from leaders she praises. Through their interaction with the military institution of al-Ageed, which is responsible for security of the group, al-Hakkamat eventually influence the dynamics of interethnic conflict in Darfur.
Musa argues that the National Congress Party government, which dominated Sudan between 1989 and 2019, co-opted al-Hakkamat and utilized their influence, especially during mobilizations against Darfuri armed opposition movements. The same government excluded al-Hakkamat from local reconciliation initiatives and from national peace processes, according to Musa. In a lecture she gave at the University of Massachusetts in autumn 2019, Musa used an image of doves imprisoned in a cage as an analogy for the exclusion of al-Hakkamat from peace processes. This exclusion undermined the potential role of al-Hakkamat as voices of peace and reconciliation, and undermined peace, given the influence of al-Hakkamat on male leaders, argues Musa.
Musa uses case studies and anecdotes to illustrate the influence of al-Hakkamat. For example, during an interethnic conflict between Ma'alia and Rizeigat tribes in 2006, the local commissioner in the area invited a religious teacher to address combatants. The religious teacher told the soldiers that murder, the burning of houses and rape were sinful acts (p. 84). The local commander in the area, however, instructed his fighters to listen to the combative voice of al-Hakkamat instead.
The author does not rule out the possibility of a positive role for al-Hakkamat in peacebuilding, however. She ends the book with a message of hope that change might occur as a result of better education for Darfuri women, and through transforming the role of al-Hakkamat and ‘empowering them to take the lead in calling for an end to war and violence’ (p. 165).
While much of the analysis in Hawks and Doves is insightful, the book is not without flaws. For example, in her commentary regarding the vast literature on Darfur, the author cites two studies about which she states that ‘the portrayal of Darfuri rural women in these conflicts, however, has shown them all as mere victims’. The content of at least one of the studies the author cites does not support this argument (El-Battahani, ‘Ideological expansionist movements versus historical indigenous rights in the Darfur Region of Sudan’). El-Battahani does not discuss the experiences of Darfuri women. The author briefly mentions intermarriage between different ethnic groups in Darfur on page 51. He lists rape as one of several factors that forced affected Darfuris out of their areas. He does not specify the gender of rape victims or survivors and does not portray these communities as victims. On the contrary, on page 61, El-Battahani writes that a group that identified itself as the ‘Arab Gathering’ articulated a ‘supremacist ideology’ that constructed Darfuris as ‘lesser people’ and thus enabled the killing, looting and rape of fellow Darfuris.
The second source – cited as Mohamed, 1998 – is not listed in the bibliography. Instead, the author included another reference (Mohamed [sic] 2003, ‘Briefings’). The citation for this reference is not correct. Ironically, Mohammed (‘Briefings’) discusses both the subordination of women in Darfur – which she argues is not exceptional – and the poetry and different roles of al-Hakkamat! Despite these shortcomings, which I hope the author would address in future editions of the book, Hawks and Doves sheds light on the contributions of an under-researched social group to conflict dynamics in Darfur.
