25 April 2024
Mar 5, 2019 by 500 Words Magazine -

Ahfad Student Sit-in Inspires ‘White Toub’ Trend

On 2 March 2019, students at the women-only Ahfad University for Women (AUW), a private higher education university in Omdurman and one of the top universities in Sudan, staged a peaceful and musical sit-in within their campus as part of the ongoing protests in Sudan, which is known as the Sudan uprising.

Sitting in a circle, the female students played instruments while singing and clapping to national songs. Marking the occasion of the sit-in, some female students decided to dress in plain white teyab, the plural of toub, a traditional long piece of thin cloth Sudanese women wrap around the body and over the head. A white toub represents women empowerment and feminism in Sudan as well as independence, strength and purity. A white toub is usually worn by working Sudanese women in the workplace or during mourning. 

The sit-in was then followed by protests within the campus and neighbouring streets, carrying the current and former blue, yellow and green tricolour flags of Sudan.

Their protest comes a week after the students joined the procession of 25 February, staging protests within their campus. In response, National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) fired tear gas at students within the campus.

Pictures of the female students dressed in white teyab were widely shared on social media. Soon after, it inspired other women in Sudan and abroad to share their pictures in white teyab, flooding social media with pictures of women in white teyab with the trending hashtag التوب_الابيض#, translating to ‘the white toub‘. Both men and women supported the trend, addressing the women in white teyab as Kandakas, which means strong women. Kandaka was the title for queens and queen mothers of the ancient Kingdom of Kush.

Babies and children joined in the white toub trend.

The white toub trend is timely with the arrival of March, Women’s History Month. On 8 March, millions around the world celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). 

In addition, the white toub trend or movement inspired artwork with artists, OXDA and iMitsuky, releasing their artistic interpretations of the trend on 4 March 2019. 

The white toub trend has also sparked controversy when well-known Sudanese gender fluid artist and LGBTQ+ advocate Ahmed Umar, who is based in Norway, released his interpretation of the white toub trend on his personal Facebook account with a picture of him covered with a white scarf, wearing traditional Sudanese braids and accessories with tribal marks drawn on his cheeks. The picture went viral on social media, leaving opinions cleanly split between those who are with it and those who are against it. Most importantly, many people were introduced to ‘gender fluid’, a gender identity foreign to Sudan and its community. Also known as gender queer, gender fluid is a dynamic mix of male and female, remaining flexible about their gender identity and fluctuating between two traditional genders, male and female.

Protests in Sudan began on 19 December 2018 due to a hike in prices of basic commodities such as bread and fuel shortages.Since the protests began, human right activists say at least 50 have been killed, at least 1,000 have been arrested and many others injured.

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  • ‘It’s Going to Be the Image of the Revolution’ | Tribunenewslive.com
    12 April 2019 at 5:31 pm - Reply

    […] a democratic garment, worn by secretaries and lawyers alike. And white was the color adopted by female student protesters, beginning in March, when many involved in a sit-in at Ahfad University for Women (AUW) […]

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