See also 1970 Aswan Dam
- Idrīss ʿAlī (1940 – 2010, Egypt) – Dunqlā: Riwāyah Nūbiyyah (1993, English trans. A Novel of Nubia: Dongola, 1998) and Taht Khaṭṭ al-Faqr (2000, English trans. Poor, 2007) (both also in 1970 Aswan Dam).
Dunqlā focusses on a Nubian worker in the north of Egypt, ʿAwwād, who dreams of Dongola, the capital of the Nubian empire that once existed in Egypt, while he faces the reality of an impoverished Nubian community and forced migration of the Nubian people following the construction of the Aswan High Dam (reference). It describes ʿAwwād’s upbringing and the life of his family, particularly his wife and mother, whom he left in the south of Egypt (reference).
Taht Khat al-Faqr, also describes the forced evacuation experience of Egyptian Nubians from their indigenous villages located south of the Aswan Dam in the 1960’s and the newly independent state’s blatant disregard for their heritage (reference). It centers a Nubian character in Cairo, who has decided to end his life in the Nile river, the river that, through the dam, caused his exile and the loss of much of the Nubian cultural heritage.
- Jamal Mahjoub (mentioned elsewhere under his penname Parker Bilal, 1996-, Sudan / UK) – Nubian Indigo (2006, English trans. Nubian Indigo, 2012). This novel, first published in French, is set at the eve of building the Aswan High Dam and describes the expulsion of Nubians while referring to Nubian fables and cultural heritage.
- Yahyā Mukhtār (1936-, Egypt) – Jibāl al-Kuḥl (‘Mountains of kohl’, 2001). In this short novel, an artist by the name of Muḥammad Al-Māwradī is given the memoirs of the late ʿAlī Maḥmūd, who was a history teacher in at a Nubian school called ʿAnība. Al-Māwradī deciding to publish the three-volume memoires, which form a Nubian narrative spanning over ten years of writing and the framework for several storylines about the marginalization of Nubians and detailed depictions of the surroundings where Nubians used to live and their daily life (reference).
- Hajjāj Uddūl’s (1944-, Egypt) short story collection Layali al-Misk al-ʿAṭīqa (2002, English trans. Nights of Musk: Stories from Old Nubia, 2005). In this collection, Uddūl describes stories of traditional Nubian life and culture, before the building of the Aswan Dam drowned the old Nubian empire. He uses a combination of the Nubian language and Arabic and includes a glossary of key terms that refer to Nubian culture and tradition.
- Muḥammad Khalīl Qāsim (1921 – 1968, Egypt) – al-Shamandura (‘The buoy’, 1968). This novel talks about the forced displacement of Nubians from the village of Qitah. It is narrated by the young Ḥāmid, who describes the arrival of Egyptians from Cairo who want to take over the Nubian land while offering compensation, and some Nubians’ attempt to stick to their land while others accept the compensation (reference). The novel describes the relationship between the Nubians and their land and the Nile River, as well as the Nubian traditions and architecture. The author wrote the novel on cigarette papers in an Egyptian prison.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Fatin Abbas. 2014. “Egypt, Arab Nationalism, and Nubian Diasporic Identity in Idris Ali’s ‘Dongola: A Novel of Nubia’.” Research in African Literatures 45(3): 147-166, p. 147
- Lisa Kaaki. 2006. “A Novel of Nubia.” www.arabnews.com, 30 November 2006, https://www.arabnews.com/node/291675 (last accessed 21 January 2024)
- Mary Youssef and Fawzy Yaram, 2015. “The Aesthetics of Difference: History and Representations of Otherness in ‘al-Nubi’ and ‘Wahat al-ghurub’.” AJCP 35: 75-99
- Sāmiḥ ʿAwdah. 2020. “‘Jibāl al-Kuḥl’ tafanīhā al-Murāwid … Riwāyah al-Nubah allatī Ghamaraha al-Sadd.” www.aljazeera.net, 11 August 2020, https://www.aljazeera.net/midan/intellect/literature/2020/8/11/%D8%AC%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%8F%D8%AD%D9%84-%D8%AA%D9%81%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9 (last accessed 21 January 2024)
- Farīq al-ʿAmal. 2019. “Adab al-Aqaliyyāt.. 4 riwāyāt Taḥkī lak al-Jānib al-Majhūl min al-Qiṣṣah al-Siyāsiyah.” www.sasapost.com, 28 December 2019, www.sasapost.com/minority-literature/ (last accessed 16 November, 2022)