Since gaining independence in 1956, Sudan has undergone a troubled sociopolitical process that culminated in the longest civil war in the contemporary Africa. Today, Sudan is a living case of a state in political disarray with an uncertain future. This gloomy political situation is an inevitable manifestation of its failing nation-building process. Instead of promoting national integration and unity through cherishing its normal societal ingredients of socio-cultural, ethnic and religious diversities, the postcolonial Sudanese state resorted to force national unity through uniformity. This false start ossified the processes of nation-building, arrested national integration and, therefore, impeded the realization of the Sudanese state formation as a cohesive political entity. Thus, Sudan remains a highly contested political unit that continues a brutal fight against its own people for its mere survival. The first civil war in southern Sudan (1955–1972), the second civil war (1983–2005) which started initially in southern Sudan and extended gradually to northern Sudan via Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, and the current political, social and humanitarian crisis in Darfur are full proof.

Taking the marginalized indigenous people and their war-torn region in southern Kordofan as a case study, this book attempts to examine state–society relations and their political and social repercussions on the involved communities. The author's field work reveals what went on in the Nuba Mountains before, during, and after the period of the civil war in the Sudan.