Historical Sources of the Revolution and the Mahdist State in Sudan (1881 - 1898): The Problem of Diversity and a Methodological Criteria

Abstract

This article deals with two interrelated problems. The first is the classification of the historical sources of the Mahdist revolution and the state in the Sudan (1881 - 1898). The classification is based on their subject matters, the parties that created them, and the political, cultural, and social conditions that contributed to the formulation of their vocabularies. The second problem deals with the utilization of these primary sources in studying the history of the Mahdist revolution and the state, by using specific methodological criteria to analyse their contents in the light of the internal and external influences that surrounded the process of their formation. This study assumes that the proposed classification of the Mahdist primary documents and the establishment of methodological criteria to utilize their contents will allow the researchers to overcome the limitations of the "Positivist School" that focuses on historical documents. Instead, they can adopt the approach of the "Historical School" to widen the scope of the primary documents by consulting geographical sites, oral traditions, and archaeological materials in the context of their political, social, and economic conditions.