(Re)Collecting Sudan: Art and Culture Archives
Rashid Diab, “Within Blue” 2016, 133x250cm, Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Rashid Diab.
Background and Scope
In Spring 2025, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar launched a research initiative titled “(Re)Collecting Sudan: Art and Culture Archives,” led by Dr. Suzi Mirgani. In the current conflict-ridden moment of Sudan’s history, the project is dedicated to examining the country’s tangible and intangible cultural contributions, surveying what has been lost, highlighting what remains, and actively supporting continued artistic creation and knowledge production.
Since April 2023, the situation in Sudan has deteriorated drastically, with an all-out war perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) plunging the country into unprecedented violence. The escalation of conflict has precipitated a humanitarian crisis, leading to substantial loss of life, widespread displacement, and destruction of urban infrastructure.
Sudan’s long history of political violence has been analyzed extensively through the lenses of international relations and state-building narratives. However, it is crucial to broaden this investigation to examine how these issues have affected the country’s cultural and artistic dimensions, offering valuable insights into the multifaceted nature of the conflict. This research explores the intersection of cultural expression and conflict, conducting a broad and in-depth survey of art and culture archives in all their forms.
Despite mass displacement and with so much lost, the continued cultural contributions of Sudanese people at home and abroad serves as a powerful conduit for expressing cultural identity and resilience. By situating cultural production as a salient aspect of humanitarian discourse, this research examines how art facilitates dialogue, healing, and collective memory in times of crisis.
Involving researchers from around the world, the aim of the current project is to bring together a network of scholars, artists, archivists, and experts from across disciplines to engage in urgent discussions regarding the state of Sudan’s art and culture archives. In the present critical moment, this workshop provides a unique opportunity to survey Sudan’s archives, to broaden our understanding of archives, and to add to the scholarship from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives.
With the goal of contributing to the existing body of knowledge, together, we will identify gaps in the literature and explore strategies to address these under-researched topics. Towards this end, each participant contributes original work in a variety of formats.
Workshop Meeting
Project participants gather in Doha for intense and in-depth discussion sessions. These are closed-door workshops dedicated to identifying gaps in the literature and suggesting new and creative research and distribution methods. By the end of these meetings, participants will have shaped the scope of their research topics and submitted academic papers and/or creative contributions. The research workshop meetings provide a vital platform for dialogue among scholars, artists, and practitioners, promoting a cooperative approach to understanding Sudan through the lens of its art and cultural contributions.
Hiwaraat Conference
Building on this research initiative, CIRS aims to develop the discussions and academic contributions into a broader conference under GUQ’s Hiwaraat series focused on Sudan. The conference serves as a platform for dialogue among scholars, practitioners, artists, and community leaders, ultimately fostering a collaborative approach to understanding and addressing the complexities of the Sudan crisis through the lens of culture and the arts. Through this initiative, CIRS hopes to cultivate a deeper understanding of the intersection of conflict, culture, and community resilience, which is critical for understanding the complexities of the situation in Sudan.