ABSTRACT

This article examines the 1958 cotton crisis in Sudan, an event that has hitherto been absent in histories of the country and the region. I present the cotton crisis as a crisis of capital during which political, religious, and corporate elites each struggled to regain liquidity and to determine the resulting distribution of money, debts, and power in Sudanese society. The ways in which each of these actors sought to recover investments and refinance their positions had a lasting impact on the politics of the postcolonial state in Sudan, as different sections of capital sought different policy responses to the crisis from government. This article highlights how religious elites in Sudan had renewed and expanded their influence within the corporate business structures created by the colonial economy. Profits from these structures then flowed into the political system, shaping conflict and crisis after decolonisation.

摘要

本文审视了 1958 年苏丹的棉花危机，这是迄今为止该国和该地区历史上从未出现过的事件。我将棉花危机描述为一场资本危机，在此期间，政治、宗教和企业精英各自努力重新获得流动性，并决定苏丹社会由此产生的货币、债务和权力分配。由于资本的不同部分寻求政府对危机做出不同的政策回应，因此每个参与者寻求收回投资和为其职位再融资的方式对苏丹后殖民国家的政治产生了持久影响。本文重点介绍了苏丹的宗教精英如何在殖民经济创造的公司业务结构中更新和扩大他们的影响力。