An Intensive Interview with Ustaz Anei Madut Kuendit
By Ariik Atekdit, Tonj, South Sudan
June 1, 2016 (SSB) — The 64 years old Lewis Anei Kuendit, was born in 1952. Kuendit became a historian and has written three books: the Dinka History in a very big volume, “The fall and rise of an SPLA General” of Gen. George Athor and another book Dinka Religion. Ustaz Kuendit is an active politician and a former Warrap State Governor in the post CPA period. And at the current time he has been an advisor to the National Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport in Juba. Ariik Atekdit met with him and conducted the following interview.
Question: You have been a profound politician but of recent you are seen turned to writing books. Does it mean that you have discovered your new direction in life?
Kuendit: Your visit to me wanting to know why I develop some writing skills apart from being a politician is very interesting. Yes I would like to tell you that writing and politics can go hand in hands given the fact of times. It is difficult when you have public assignment and it is easy when one has no serious public assignment. As a historian by profession, as history and literature were my professions during my university studies, I felt like if I am doing something less of public assignment I get engaged in utilizing my knowledge and experiences that I required from the university.
So for the time being I am just an advisor to the minister for Youth, Culture and Sports; a kind of a job that does not really put a lot of strain on me. So I felt I should use the time for the interest of my people.
Question: Do you have any books published?
Kuendit: I started to publish the book title: the Dinka History of the Ancient Sudan, from Abuk and Garang at the creation to the present Day Dinka. That is my first Book published.
Question: Who are Abuk and Garang?
Kuendit: I mean, Abuk and Garang according to my Dinka people are the first parents of mankind to be created. Other societies have their own names about these two people. Garang is the man in the place of Adam and Abuk stands for Eve.
Question: Writing History like to say a Dinka History seems to be something that has been untouched before time you came in and with scarcity of reference. How did you make it possible to write a Dinka history? Which methodology did you use here?
Kuendit: I used the history methodology taught to me in the university. We were taught to collect oral data from the illiterate communities. It is a big source of history for communities that are illiterate. I have however, made a plan of references from older tradition of my people. I did an extensive research among the Dinka elders. I remember, I have taken data from almost 1000 elders across Dinka society. For I took many years; more than twenty years to have the data collected. This took me to areas of the Dinka as far as Renk in Northern Upper Nile among the Dinka Abiliang, the Ageer, the Nyiel, the Dongjol, Twic, Bor, and the Padang Dinka in Upper Nile. I also did the same in Yirol District, among the Aliab, the Atuot, and the Ciec Dinka and also in the vast area of Agaar as far as Pakaam. And in the entire Rek Dinka and I went to areas of Malual-giernyang in Aweil to Twic Mayardit and the Ngok Dinka of Abyei. In all those areas of the Dinka societies I have manage to collect the oral history and I have planted with oral traditions and the research about the creation, about the flood of Noah, about the societies and the Bible. And I compared the data with what the Dinka gave me as their oral history and I then sat to construct.
Question: You physically participated in the war of struggle. Unlike your colleagues who have written more about liberation struggle; you seem to have taken a different angle, a Dinka History that seems to be a difficult task, why did you decide to take it?
Kuendit: I have driven this idea of having to take a difficult task from the university. There was a poem taught to us in title: ‘un-trodden ways’ that poem taught me about choosing a topic that has never been touched by anybody and the imperative involved in that poem. I realized that, yes the Dinka nationality was so vast, so big a community which has a very rich history that has not been written. So I felt, I should set myself apart as one to do that job as long as I have the skill of a historian and the language skills, so I said let me pick this topic within the context of the principle of “charity begins at home” not that I don’t know the political history of my country called South Sudan but then you have to start at a neutral point.
Question: Did you contact any Dinka intellectuals to help you in writing the book apart from those individuals you have interviewed during the data collection process?
Kuendit: in fact I did not ask people to help me. But then there were people with whom we were doing the research together but again I consulted a lot of intellectuals whom I thought were of good age to tell about their people. So I developed a questionnaire and supplied it to intellectuals as I was in the movement I was having the access to many people and to many Dinka societies as well. So I interviewed the intellectuals.
Question: How long has it taken you to collect the data and put it in the format which was printed as a book?
Kuendit: In fact it is quite a long time. I started the concept since 1979, when originally it was not about writing the history of the Dinka people generally. It was all about writing history of our family. I went to my father who was a traditional elder, a spiritual master; he was at the same time a man at some administrative functions. So I looked at him as a good custodian of the history of our people. I interviewed him and during my interview I realized that he knew a lot of about the Rek Dinka found in the areas of Tonj, Gogrial and as far as Aweil. And from there, I thought to write about the wider Dinka. Exactly from 1979, I thought of taking arts subjects in Rumbek Secondary School and abandoned sciences because I wanted to have the greater concept of writing history. By then I was in my 20s and so I specialized in History and English Literature to help me during the process. It took me 30 years to be able to sit down and organized the data that I have collected and constructed it into a book format. Just, after I became a governor of Warrap State. After being relieved from the gubernatorial post I had had enough time to formulate and arranged all the data.
Question: You were a soldier in SPLA war of struggle and that was the very time you claimed to have been collecting the data. How possible was that?
Kuendit: There was really a chance. The struggle and my having joined my people’s struggle really facilitated my research for it took me from one place to another. And I was able to meet in the liberated areas a lot of anthropologists, because that was the time the international community and organizations have sent their people to South Sudan’s liberated areas. And so places like Rumbek and Yei had established administrations. People like John Ryle; a known writer was with me all along in Rumbek. And we would share the data that I have collected. John would encourage me to continue with the work. I remember he is one of the anthropologists who advised me to store my data in many places during the time of war so if the other ones get lost you would take it from a different store.
Question: What are the contents found in your first book?
Answer: I have taken the historical aspect of the Dinka. I wrote about the original of the Dinka people. I tried to tackle it. And that was marvelously difficult but still I realized like I was the best to really have taken that part. That is involving the topic of the mythical period of creation. Taking it from all the songs: ethics songs, religious songs and historical songs of our people and from those elderly people who could be able to remember information and history. You know history is passed from generation to generation. So it was a question of genealogical storage of information in an oral traditional form. So I was able to get the origin of the Dinka people and found that the creation place for Dinka is called Panthou, the Garden of Eden. That is not only the theme of the my book, another theme of the book is the historical migration of the Dinka people from the far East, in the China areas of today again to Southwest Asia which is today’s Saudi, Yemen and back to Iraq to the Palestine.
Question: So you want to tell us that Dinka People came all the way from that end? What was the reason behind their displacement?
Akuendit: Yes they travelled all those ways, the zigzag pathway. They really travelled a lot across history, across epochs.
The pre-ancient migrations of the ancient ancestors of the Dinka of today were determined by the transhumant migrations of those days called pre-medial times where humanity was to move from here and there dependent on the climate and intervention of the creator. One example is when God (Nhialic) intervened to dismantle the tower that was been built by King Nomgod which the Dinka people called Nhomngak. And who appeared in the Bible; who assembled a lot of people and wanting to build a tower that would allow him and others to have direct access with God in the highest after Nhialic had pulled up in heaven as a result of not wanting His providential working to be known by man.
Question: What did you find to be common among the Dinka Communities? Other people cannot believe that the Dinka people find in Aweil cannot be one community with those in areas of Renk at those far different ends of South Sudan?
Akuendit: You know there is homogeneity of the Dinka people, no matter where you find them. You may find them in Agaar, in Aweil or in Renk be it Bor or elsewhere in Tonj or Gogrial, they are the same. They have one language in common. They have one culture and their social make-up is the same. They have these norms. They have one marriage system with the cattle. The way Dinka Communities do their marriage is socially the same. They are physically the same and their warrior attitude is the same. They have a very serious philosophy; their concept of kongkoc is the same wherever you go. And that concept is generally a Dinka norm all across.
Question: What is Kongkoc?
Akuendit: Kongkoc is a Dinka word that stands for strain (hold on!). A Dinka will not rush into the matter without conceptualizing it at first. He must know why that is and what is his role in it. He can analyze and then get into the matter knowing that he can explain if asked later.
Question: Do you think that this and the coming generations will benefit from your writing talent?
Akuendit: I have written two books, the Dinka religion book and The Dinka History Book. Greatly I feel extracting out, separating a religion to make a separate book. And that the Dinka religion was not suppose to be taken as a chapter of Dinka history book. So I knew by tackling it more elaborately, my present and coming generation will benefit very much by knowing that my people, the Dinka are not a Godless people. The Dinka religion was more than a chapter. And I wanted to tackle it in clearer form. A topic that I felt I could tackle much better because I come from a very family who professed the Dinka religion, the African traditional religion. My father who is from Payii clan was a religious leader and I learned a lot from him during my childhood time. My two books will help the coming generation because they will have to read from the documented facts of their history and culture.
Question: Some foreign writers have volunteered long ago to write certain topics of history of some communities in Sudan/South Sudan. Do you think that they might have access to accurate information of history or that historians must been from with those communities like you?
Kuendit: I think a history written by an indigenous writer cannot be the same with that written about a certain community by an outsider. Say for example. There is no a foreigner that has ever attempted to write about the Dinka origin. They have not been writing about the Dinka history simply because they cannot get a full meaning of certain Dinka historical terms; and perhaps because they are just people who come and go. They cannot roam the whole areas within various communities like I have done. And I have had no language barrier with my people. So I can easily write what I have heard from my people directly from their mother tongue and get an accurate translation as long as I have the ability and the vocabulary to absorb the meanings of words.
Question: Your two books are out. The first book was out in 2009 and the other one was out in 2013. Are the books being welcome by the readership within Dinka community and the outsiders?
Kuendit: I am told that the first book is now wanted by many people and it is out of stock. They have asked me two things. 1. To produce more of it and 2. To cover some of the chapters that might have been left out by me. So I have now produced the second edition to satisfy their interests. So now my new edition has 11 chapters instead of the 7 chapters. I have just finished with that second edition recently.
Question: Are there chapters being challenged by any of the intellectuals of Dinka origin?
Kuendit: There has been no challenge that I have encountered so far. Instead I am being appreciated for the work well done. And for sure I am getting popularity because of the two books. The Dinka people call me a father of Dinka history because I became the first to tackle that.
Question: The word Dinka seems not to be originally a term from within the community itself and the traditional population has little knowledge about how they are being called in urban centres. Do you know anything about it?
Kuendit: In fact there is a very big dichotomy for the Dinka and their names. There have been a lot of names that have evolved across history for the same people. Originally they are descendent of somebody called Ajaang Deng. And for that reason they descendant s of Ajaang adopted the name for themselves as Jaang; meaning the descendants of Ajaang. That was during the Kush period to Iron Age period, then the medieval era they were all along being called Jaang. And when they were in Upper Nile they were called Jaang. But the Jaang sections that went to Bahr EL Ghazal called themselves as Muonyjaang meaning man of the people. This name called Muonyjaang came about because the Jaang Community in Bahr el Ghazal for so many years dislodged various communities that were occupying the region.
The neighbours that include the Nuer, the Shilluk and other Luo continue to call them Jaang. The Dinka fought against the Lueel, the Jur Bellie and the Bongo tribes. The Bongo is still now found in Tonj district but the Lueel tribe got dismissed totally and left the entire Sudan as result of Dinka threat. They fought for over one hundred years, I have traced, and so they thought they were the only men and so the word Muonyjaang came about.
From then came a period of slavery. The Dinka acquired a name from the outsiders, the Arabs. They called Jaang people as Jeng’e. Jeng’e means Jaang but the Dinka people did not like this name. They turned to discourage it. When the Anglo-Egyptians came they name the Jaang as Dinka. Some explorers when they were coming along the Nile in Upper Nile Region met the Jaang people and they visitors asked as who they were? These people, the Jaang instead of saying that they were Jaang or Muonyjaang they answered that they were people of Deng Kak; there chief’s name. And the explorers wrote it down people of Dengka and with time in Khartoum the metropolitans changed it to Denka or Dinka. This name is commonly used in urban centres and taken as the official name otherwise we are called Muonyjaang or Jaang but in Upper Nile they have become Jieng or Muonyjieng.
Question: Can the name get back to its origin?
Kuendit: The Dinka community found it very difficult to re-educate different people across the globe that they were called Jaang or Muonyjaang rather. This is because the name Dinka went very fast and into the books and other important documents about the same people and so they let it go. It went far and wide to the rest of the world.
Question: You are an active politician. But now have turned to be an active writer in the recent years. Do you have challenges in managing the two careers?
Kuendit: I really have no difficulty managing politics and writing professions rather writing profession is reinforcing my political career in that it’s popularizing me rather than being local politician, I am now exposed through my writing. So I rather see that writing is an asset to my political career. So I am happy with it. It is exposing me to the wider Dinka levels and beyond.
Question: You are a man of knowledge and loyal to the government. But for quite some time now you have not got a good assignment in a public office. Do you blame the government for not finding job for you, now that you are just an advisor to the minister?
Kuendit: No. I don’t blame the government and I will not blame it. I instead take it to mean that the government has given me an efficient time to be able to complete this important service to my people. I feel that I am now serving my people. If I were in an active government post, I would have not completed these important books.
Question: Most of the politicians who at time remained out of cabinet feel unhappy. Most of your colleagues who were relieved in various positions are now fighting in the bush to change the regime and get re-employed. Was that a genuine decision, you think?
Kuendit: You know, in politics there is what we called individual’s difference. People perceive one thing differently. The way they perceive politics and the way I perceive politics, public management is different now. It is not only until one is appointed into political job or a senior public post that you can serve your people. And you know the society is such a big thing that one cannot dictate. It is the society that requires your services. I differ with these politicians in that I am not the only son of South Sudan to be there all the time in a post that is a public job. We have more than 8 million South Sudanese and if one person can stay there for ten years like what those colleagues have done then what do you think of others? There are times when you are needed and there are times when you need to serve your people but not imposing that I must be there. May be leadership is aware of you, and knows when and where to assign you. This position that I am holding in the Ministry is relevant to what I am doing now. I am advising the minister with things to do with culture and heritage, so I like it.
Question: Coming back! Do you intend to write other books not only on Dinka but even on other South Sudanese tribes whose history is not up to date traced?
Kuendit: From that concept of charity begins at home. I have already begun at home. We say in the science that you begin from the known to the unknown. I am at the age where I have absorbed much knowledge about my people and that I have done that. I am moving now to the wider South Sudan. And I have picked an aspect of our liberation history, although the liberation history is very vast that might be ultimately written in series. I have picked two characters in the liberation history Gen. George Athor and Dr Riek Machar.
Question: Then after that book what next?
Kuendit: I am now doing writing profession along politics and will also write about Dinka philosophy.
End Thanks
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