Christopher Tounsel: Sudan and the Politics of Solidarity

There are genocides that are neglected and underreported, and Sudan is often sidelined while other conflicts dominate global attention. In this episode, we speak with Christopher Tounsel, historian of modern Sudan and author of “Bounds of Blackness: African Americans, Sudan, and the Politics of Solidarity”. We examine how African Americans have engaged with Sudan across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, focusing on race, religion, media, and foreign policy, and how these have shaped responses to conflict in Sudan and South Sudan. The conversation also addresses current dynamics, including the war in Sudan, the role of external actors, and how solidarity is formed, limited, and applied across different contexts of violence. Find Tounsel's book, "Bounds of Blackness African Americans, Sudan, and the Politics of Solidarity" below:https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501775628/bounds-of-blackness/00:00 — Introduction and Overview02:22 — Obama, Darfur, and the Limits of Global Solidarity05:23 — What Would a “Black” Foreign Policy Look Like?08:29 — South Sudan and the Meaning of Independence11:42 — Misconceptions About African Politics and Lived Frustrations16:09 — Black Solidarity, Zionism, and Divided Alignments21:36 — Identity, Race, and the Boundaries of Solidarity25:54 — Black Lives Matter and the Contradictions of Solidarity30:40 — Spivak, Othering, and Who Gets to Speak36:54 — Black Media and the Mobilization of Sudan42:22 — Media Figures, BLM, and Shaping Conflict Narratives46:59 — Media Framing and the Inequality of Attention53:25 — Why Some Genocides Receive More Attention Than Others01:03:17 — Media, Academia, and the Political Economy of Genocide Attention01:11:05 — Social Media, Power, and U.S.–UAE Influence in Sudan01:11:05 — Book Recommendations