Nubians in Contemporary Egypt: Mobilizing Return to Ancestral Lands

Abstract

Based on original fieldwork, this article examines how Nubians in Egypt have mobilized to demand a return to ancestral lands along the Nile River. It begins with a historically informed analysis explaining how any attempts to make demands from the Egyptian state long have been quashed, effectively constraining any comprehensive mobilization. It thereafter argues that the emergence of several unprecedented legal and political opportunities in the past decade paved the way for substantial Nubian mobilization. This culminated in a Nubian representation in the drafting process of the 2014 Egyptian Constitution, and a subsequent constitutional reference to Nubian return. Finally, this article explores how Nubian activists have deployed competing legal and historical frames in demanding return to ancestral lands. These frames range from the right of return based on international indigenous/minority rights frameworks, to drawing parallels with the Palestinian right of return, to a less confrontational development discourse rooted in the displacement of the Nubians in the 1960s.