A rare and moving memoir

Set amongst Hadendowa and Shukriya nomads in Eastern Sudan in the 1940s and 1950s, The Amulet is the story of a khalig ruhu (a man who creates himself). This term, the reviewer, Joanna Oyediran, explains, is used by a Shukriya leader to describe one of Hamid Dirar’s maternal uncles, but, she argues, it is equally, if not more, applicable to the author himself.

The book is more than a memoir, she writes. It begins with a detailed history of Hamid Dirar’s ancestors from the 19th century onwards, explaining how his father’s family, primarily Mahas from Nubia, were regularly forced to migrate, as a result of the Turco-Egyptian and British invasions and war between the Mahdists and the Jaaliyin, as well as pressure on the land.

A recurring theme in The Amulet, the review notes, is the prejudice directed against people deemed to have African physical features — frizzy hair, darker skin and broad noses. ‘Hamid Dirar,’ writes Joanna Oyediran, ‘is more forthcoming on this sensitive topic than other Sudanese writers. Perhaps this is because as a child, he experiences such prejudice, particularly from his forceful maternal grandmother, Diya. She is disappointed with Hamid Dirar’s nose and skin colour, preventing his early circumcision, the defining feature of an Arab male.’ (Sudan Studies No 68, July 2023.)