Dam constructions in the Nile basin, unlike other hydrological projects, convulse state–society relations and spark widespread disagreement on a transnational level. Those opposed to the dams have challenged economic and technical aspects, including the purpose as well as the size of the dam; the financing of the projects (national budget or foreign funds); and, thereafter, considerations of the dam’s effects on the ecology in the area of construction. There has also been the ongoing contestation between the downstream and upstream countries on the impact of dam construction on water shares. Typically, the Nile political discourse is full of references to economic aspirations and the trickle-down effects to the ‘poor’ communities, but on the social devastation and environmental destruction it is completely silent.
Abd Elkreem focuses on this silence. His book, Power relations of development: the case of dam construction in the Nubian homeland, Sudan, elucidates the contested relations in Sudan between the Islamist regime and the Nubian people by focusing on the Kajbar Dam. His main argument is that the Nubian people in the Mahas area have utilised their ‘eco-cosmological’ knowledge and culture to resist the epistemic power of dam-related science, as well as the governmental promises of development after resettling them away from their homeland.
The book is based on Abd Elkreem’s PhD research at the University of Bayreuth. It is divided into four parts. The first sets out the context by tracing how the idea of Kajbar Dam had started in 1960s with the Nubian people participating in the project proposal; however, since the Islamic regime took power in 1989, the project underwent considerable change. In the second chapter in this part, Abd Elkreem illustrates the theoretical and conceptual foundations of state–society relations in the scope of developmentality and resettlement. The second part goes on to elaborate how the Islamist government employed strategies of suppression and persuasion to induce the Mahas people to concede to the dam construction. The third and fourth parts of the book form the most illustrative contribution in resettlement studies. In them, Abd Elkreem illustrates how the Nubian ecological view and ethnic social values frame and strengthen the people’s resistance to the resettlement strategy. It is the resistance of Nubian people, Abd Elkreem argues, that counters the Foucauldian argument of ‘developmentality’ and ‘governmentality’.
The Nubians’ anti-dam resistance cannot be described as a resistance from within the same context of power that is being practised on them. They question and delegitimise the project, the state power and discourses, the ‘scientific’ justifications of the dam, the idea of sacrificing for the nation and the other pro-dam arguments. (71)
The book traces the Nubian ‘eco-cosmological’ roots of the resistance to the state plan. This is a cosmology where water, land, and greenness inextricably define the meaning of ‘home’. In these premises, the Mahas people construct their prosperity (jawaness) when they feel secure in their home, surrounded by green, owning their lands. In this condition, they are able to maintain their identity and keep an eye on strangers’ interventions, including those of the government. By imposing the mega dam project, the government enforced the opposite to this, dryness (samaness): for these communities, this connotes a movement to the desert, and feeling of being ‘unhome’. Furthermore, this resettlement leads to a loss of identity, instead favouring the Arabism that the Islamic regime is consolidating.
Abd Elkreem documents the resistance to the risk of resettlement in three phases:
Mobilisation, based on mutual understanding and consensus against the dam project and its destructive impacts upon the Nubian values and social bonds. The tools of mobilisation were songs, stories and even rumours. All these forms created narratives that constituted a local counter-knowledge to the modernist vision adopted by the government and developers.
Confrontation, which occurred when the government abruptly established the construction machines in the area without the community’s approval. The reaction to this invasion was to undertake severe actions against the government such as demonstration and petitions.
De-escalation: this was after the peak of violence in 2007, when the government strategies were to reduce violent confrontation and persuade the community using religious discourse and via the community elites. However, although the Mahas people muted their confrontation, the mobilisation process kept going by reviving the memory of people who were killed by the government, establishing communications channels with political parties and civil society organisations, and publishing a newsletter to update and inform the others of their position.
The resistance of Mahas people appears to be a successful case of an anti-dam movement in the Nile politics, as the dam has not been finished to date. Part of this success depends on the nature of Nubian society, which is a closed community with its own ecological view that frames its own perception of home and insecurity. While this is a promising case showing the local community’s resistance to the modernist vision, and to the fierceness of resettlement, it begs further questions. The questions raised after finishing the book are: to what extent can these resistance strategies inspire other cases of resettlement in the Nile basin, either due to dam construction or the other dam-related projects such as electricity transmission lines? And to what extent can these resistance strategies be useful for more open or urban communities?
To conclude, although the book tackles a critical water issue (dam construction), the author employs an anthropological lens to elucidate the resistance of Nubian people, rather than adopting the economic development and governance approaches that prevail in water studies. It therefore weaves in issues of gender, migration and ethnic relations, in addition to religion and language, with anti-dam struggle. As such, it powerfully demonstrates the value added by integrating an anthropological perspective in water development analysis.