This research is based on years of fieldwork in Sudan and short peri-
ods in Egypt and Eritrea. The Sudanese scholars, friends, and govern-
ment officials to thank number in the hundreds; some I cannot name at
this point in Sudan's political history, as it would put them at risk.

There are specific people to be thanked here. I have concentrated my
thanks on those who helped or influenced me during my 1988 field trip
(from which most of the material on Islamism derives). However, since
chapter 5 on the Sudanese Communist Party and Women's Union is
based on my 1970s research, and some of the gendered labor and eco-
nomics data on 1981 research, I want to thank my research assistants for
all three periods: Omer Baba, Fatma Mahmoud, Sunita Pitamber, Amal
Abdel Rahman, William Young, and Sherifa Zuhur.

Those who hosted me at the University of Khartoum were Fahima Za-
hir and Taj el-Anbia el-Dawi, who served as Heads of the Department of
Anthropology, and many other colleagues associated with the depart-
ment. I gained significant insights from conversations with Samia el-Na-
gar, Balghis Badri, Amal Hassan, and especially Zeinab el-Bakri and Idris
Salem el-Hassan. Others at the university who guided me in my research
were Fawzia Hammour, Abdallahi An-Na'im, Abdallahi Ali Ibrahim, Gi-
lal el-Din el-Tayib, and from Omdurman Ahlia University, Farouk Ka-
douda and the late Mohamed Omer Beshir (who inspired so much
research on Sudan).

Outside of the university milieu many helped by setting up interview
contacts or by being interviewed themselves: my longtime friend Judge
Nagwa Kamal Farid, Suad Ibrahim Ahmed, whose work I have followed
for decades, and Fatma Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudan's best-known woman po-
litical leader. None I have named should be held responsible for my
views.

Many of my ideas were developed in association with organizations
and groups around the world: the now dormant Socialist-Feminist Net-
work of Southern California, the various women's and African/Middle
Eastern studies programs with which I have been associated--most re-
cently, UCLA's--the Association of Middle Eastern Women's Studies (es-

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