Muglad, Sudan

Throughout Horowitz’s travels through Sudan many different aspects of the native’s culture intrigued me. One thing that really amazed me about Sudan was the town of Muglad. The thing that surprised me about this town was the amazing and unlikely mix of cultures that was somehow able to coexist amongst one another. The two peoples I am referring to are the African Dinkas and the Arabic Muslims that inhabit Muglad. I was intrigued by their ability to compromise their cultures to accept the other people’s customs. Also I was simply confused as to why or how this strange union formed. Why did these two very different races of people, who do not even share a common language decide to live together. One reason why I would never think these groups of people could not get along is because of Muslim beliefs on women. Muslims do not even let their women show their faces in public, but Dinka women usually would not even wear any clothing. It was interesting to me that the Dinka women would wear any form of clothing as a concession to the Muslims. Also a form of mutual respect, the Muslim women would wear nose rings, neck rings, and tribal scarifications across their cheeks. Women’s robes also ended at the knee and elbow, which would have been considered indecent in any other part of the Muslim world. I thought the competition and even envy of the Muslim men was amusing. Because Dinkas are such a taller race of people the Muslim men would were “absurdly tall turbans.” It seemed to be a pathetic attempt to make themselves seem more powerful, or equally powerful to the gigantic Dinkas. The town of Muglad has a fascinating mixture of cultures.
D.P.S.