January 2007

"No genocide has ever been publicly chronicled so extensively as this one." Thanks to journalists such as Nicholas Kristof, the tragedy of Darfur is unfolding before our eyes. I set out to understand both the WHAT and the WHY of Darfur, drawing on my training as an historian who specializes in ethnic groups and migration as well as my own travels in Africa.

My research over the last few months has provided a stimulating intellectual exercise but on a personal level, this topic haunts me. How do I make sense of what is clearly madness? How do I tell the story of Darfur? Does it begin with a land that dictates economic realities? How did successive colonial relationships with those in the Arab, Ottoman, and European world lay the foundation for this crisis? Should I begin with the promise of independence? Is it possible to separate Darfur's fate from Sudan, the greater political entity of which it is a part? To what extent has Darfur been lost in the concerns of its region, and the international community? Is it helpful to filter the present situation through the prism of ethnicity given the centuries of mixing by race, religion and tribe?

Even if one can understand what has led to this crisis, does knowledge provide for solution? What I now know is that Darfur is not one story but part of many stories, all of which help explain some of what has happened but as French journalist Gerard Prunier laments "…everything does not make sense."

Debra Block, Director of Education, NBLMC