Talk:Manasir
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This article has been initiated by David Haberlah 06/2005.
All information on the Manasir supplied by the user David Haberlah results from his field research in Dar al-Manasir in February and March 2005 as a member of the team of Humboldt University Nubian Expedition (H.U.N.E.). H.U.N.E. is headed by the directors Prof. Dr. CLAUDIA NÄSER and Prof. Dr. FRANK KAMMERZELL of the Seminar of Northeast African Archaeology and Cultural Studies primarily responsible for conducting salvage archaeology on the islands of Shiri, Sherari, Sur and Us, and the left bank of the Nile between Salamat and Gebel Musa. In addition H.U.N.E. decided to launch a subproject dealing with the culture of the native Manasir.
This ethnographical research has been financed by the "Programm Kulturerhalt" of the German Department of Foreign Affairs as a contribution to the preservation of the culture of the Manasir. All Manasir living in their homeland Dar al-Manasir are going to be relocated as a result of the flooding of the Hamdab High Dam in the coming years. There is an urgent need for further anthropological research and programs of cultural preservation. The initial author David Haberlah hopes that the nature of Wikipedia will attract both researchers and Manasir to expand the freely available information and knowledge about the Manasir tribe.
I would like to encourage everybody to list academic articles concerning Dar al-Manasir that cannot be published on the Internet here. A copy of new articles should be submitted to the Sudanese National Library to be available to the Sudanese public. In case that you can provide material about the Manasir that does not suit the requirements of Wikipedia, Wikisource or Wikimedia please contact H.U.N.E., who is running the Hompage of Dar al-Manasir.
David Haberlah 10:40, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I read your first article on Manasir and I hope you will find the following comments useful:
1. On the question of origin (perhaps origins is better) you definitely need to look into McMichael's A History of the Arabs in the Sudan (1922) for Manasir's genealogy.
2. I believe there is some connection between Manasir and Kababish. Although this needs further verification it is interesting to note that some sections of nomadic Manasir and Kababish share two similar camel brands or marks: one named shahid and the other bab.
3. The question of the connection between Manasir and Kawahla is an important one. Many villagers in Us and vicinity claim to be of Kawahla origin.
4. Connected with the above point is the relationship between Manasir and Beja. The Medieval Berber traveller Ibn Batuta (14th century), describing the Sudanese coast of the Red Sea wrote that he met a "clan of Arabs called Awlad Kahil who are mixed with Beja and speak their language."(Vantini, Oriental Sources, pp. 521-2). Ibn Salim (or Sulaym), writing in the 10th century, refers to a branch of Beja living in the neighbourhood of 5th and 4th Cataracts. The Manasir themselves constantly assert that the inhabitants of two villages on thr right bank, Amarin and Ashamin, are of Ababda and Bishariyin origin.
On tirbal marks some correction is needed: only the Shaiqiya and some Manasir use the three horizontal lines while the Dongolawi use three vertical lines.
Finally, perhaps you need to write a few lines on the geographical isolation of the Manasir.
Prof. Dr. Khidir A. Ahmed (University of Neelein, Faculty of Arts Dep. of History) 12 Jun 2005
