The effect of labour migration on relations of exchange among the Rashaayda Bedouin of Sudan

The effect of labour migration on relations of exchange among the Rashaayda Bedouin of Sudan. William Charles YOUNG During the past ten years thousands of the Rashaayda Bedouin have left their homes in the Republic of Sudan to seek paid employment in Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Arab states. The consequences of labour migration for this small, pastoralist society have been significant. Relations of mutual support among neighbors and patrilineal kin, which traditionally were activated to facilitate nomadic pastoralism, are now used to make it easier for pastoralist households to export surplus male labour. Hierarchical relations between rich and poor have changed, since the rich have had few advantages over the poor when seeking jobs abroad. In many cases wealthy Rashaayda sought assistance from poorer relatives in obtaining labour contracts. Migrants who wished to invest their earnings in small commercial enterprises after returning to Sudan found that their allies from within the Rashaayda tribe lacked the necessary experience and resources and so established business partnerships with non- Rashaayda. Others who sought to increase their social rank and security used their money to contract marriages with distantly-related kin or even with non-Rashaayda. Thus the problems and opportunities that Rashiidy labour migrants faced prompted them to create new relationships of exchange and support and so, ultimately, alter the patterns of alliance and tribal solidarity that used to characterise their social life.