Roundtable - Middle East Studies Association MESA (1)

The overall purpose of this roundtable is to discuss the Sudanese Revolution of 2019 including societal and political transformations and challenges that face Sudan now and in the future. During the second wave of uprisings in the MENA regions, the Sudanese Revolution of 2019 was largely led and organised by young professionals organised in the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) and the Forces of Freedom and Change, who went out on the streets to demand change from a decades long dictatorship. It created unprecedented social transformations in the country, whereby a peaceful revolutionary process managed to remove the president Omar al-Bashir from his position of power after decades of oppression. The Sudanese uprising was followed by a chaotic process of bringing together a civilian and military representation in a transitional council to lead and govern the country towards free and fair elections by 2022. Significant societal and political changes have taken place since, despite that fact that elements of authoritarian forces are still of influence, posing a plethora of political hurdles. Not only Sudanese young professionals are involved in the revolutionary process but also the Sudanese diaspora pulled together to invest in Sudan’s transformation and revolution. The current transitional period in Sudan provides an enabling environment for the implementation of nationwide change and redirects governmental foci of national concern in many different societal sectors for sustainable development. One of those sectors is the environment, in particular increasing resilience, mitigation and adaptation towards climate change. Sudan is at the forefront of global climate change impacted by drought, floods and sandstorms. The extreme Nile floods of 2020 indicate that the future will face many challenges and this requires a strong governance at both national and grassroots level. In particular the importance of local knowledge on climate change resilience and the environment is emphasized by young Sudanese professionals and is of special interest to this roundtable. The roundtable includes presentations about Sudan's 2019 revolution and its relationship with social change, governance, environmentalism, sustainable development and change for the future. This roundtable is organised by the international research project "Resilience in Urban Sudan" led by Malmö University, Sweden in close collaboration with the University of Khartoum, Sudan.

Organized by Josepha Wessels Organized under the auspices of Swedish Research Council 

Vittorio Felci, Malmö University

Bentley Brown, University of Colorado Boulder

Josepha Wessels, Malmö University 

Fanny Christou, Lund University