The Amulet: “A rare and moving memoir”

“The Amulet is a rare and moving memoir by Dr Hamid Dirar of his boyhood and coming of age amongst Hadendowa and Shukriya nomads in Eastern Sudan in the 1940s and 1950s, the story of a khalig ruhu, (a man who creates himself) – a term used by a Shukriya leader to describe one of Hamid Dirar’s maternal uncles, but equally, if not more, applicable to the author himself.” More than simply a memoir, the book commences with a detailed history of Hamid Dirar’s ancestors from the 19th century onwards. The first chapters explain 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 is the prejudice directed against people deemed to have African physical features – frizzy hair, darker skin and broad noses. Hamid Dirar 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.”