Saturday, 12 December 2009  The Sudan Studies Conference in
South Africa: thinking about personalities.  The conference was
not what I had expected. The format was a bit rushed and some
sessions might have been better held as discussions rather than
formal papers, but there was also something inspiring about the
week... and something very very cool!   It was this: the fact
that it took place in South Africa, in a country that many
observers see as a miracle of social transformation and at
UNISA, a university engaged in the training of the Southern
Sudanese government. Thabo Mbeki was there and many of the
younger South African participants told me that they really
believed that Sudan matters to Africa as a whole. They said
Sudan is not just about Sudan, but about Africa too.   I had
never really thought to compare the two countries, despite being
in an African studies department dominated by South Africans and
those who study the country, but in some ways, the South
Africans at UNISA really inspired me and ma