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Title: | Individual Change among the Beja Tribesmen of Eastern Sudan: A Case Study |
Author: | Mohamed, Adam Azzain![]() |
Year: | 1995 |
Periodical: | Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review |
Volume: | 11 |
Issue: | 1 |
Period: | January |
Pages: | 21-39 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Sudan |
Subjects: | change Beja development Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
Abstract: | This paper focuses on the issue of individual change among Beja tribesmen of the Red Sea area of eastern Sudan. It examines Beja preparedness to contribute to the development of their homeland or, alternatively, whether their attitude and behaviour patterns hinder the development process. Hypotheses derived from theories of development and theories related to individual attitudes and behaviour patterns are used as a frame of reference. Data were collected through a survey conducted in 1993 among four samples of 50 individuals each, randomly selected from among 'pure' pastoralists, Port Sudan migrants who had been brought up as pastoralists to the age of 16, Beja tribesmen brought up in the inner city of Port Sudan, and the Beja rural educated elite. Results indicated that the Beja were very tradition-oriented, extremely fatalistic, secretive and tribalistic. The findings also indicated that social milieu shapes individual attributes. Education was the most powerful change-producing agent, followed by exposure to mass media and the ability to communicate in a language other than Ti-Bedawi. Certain attributes, however, notably social acceptance of leisureliness and rejection of relocation, were only minimally affected by change-producing agents. Bibliogr., note, sum. |