#6 Sudan & Norway Academic Collaboration: 60 years of Bonds and Beyond w/Munzoul Assal & Leif Manger

Anthropology on Air

This episode is the first of two podcasts focusing on the longstanding partnership between Bergen and Khartoum. The first episode provides a historical view into some of the main characteristics and effects of the academic collaborations between these two cities. The second episode features an interview with Sudanese professor of law, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, who offers a framework for how we can think about the past and imagine the future of the people of Sudan.

In this episode, you will meet two anthropologists whose work and lives testify to these bonds between Sudan and Norway. Munzoul Assal, professor of social anthropology at both the University of Khartoum (UoK) and the University of Bergen (UiB) and senior researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and Leif Manger, professor emeritus at the department of social anthropology, University of Bergen (UiB).

Our conversation takes departure in the cross-country links established in 1963 through the Norwegian anthropologist, Frederic Barth. Leif and Mounzul describes how Barth connected Bergen and Khartoum both physically through his professorship in Khartoum and spiritually in his modes of thinking and conducting anthropology. Moving through historical key-events, we then discuss what such a cross-country academic partnership can offer in terms of generating knowledge and stimulating collaborative learning – for example through friendships, exchange of ideas and time, and the sharing and writing of histories of places and people. Finally, we touch upon what role such a collaboration might have in the current times of devastation and war in Sudan, and especially in terms of building a post-war future.

The podcast was recorded in October 2023, a few days before the symposium.

Find more resources and a film on the collaboration here
Read further about the Sudan-Norway Academic Cooperation (SNAC) here
See an elaborate program of the 2023 symposium here