The Divine Kingship of the Tagoi of the Nuba Mountains—Sudan

This article traces history of the formation of a divine kingship among the Tagoi people of the north-eastern Nuba Mountains. This historical backdrop provides a context for investigating change and continuity in the Tagoi political system. Concentrating on actual processes, the article gives some accounts on how the divinization of Tagoi kingship could be a political move to bolster the legitimacy of personalized powers. Relevance of the comparatively old evolutionist, diffusionist, structuralist and neo-evolutionist theories of divine kingship to the Tagoi case is discussed. Here, the main conclusion was that the Tagoi’s concept of “divine king” does not exactly apply to any of the definitions that are embedded in these theories, as it portrays—in a measure—a distinct and genuine type of divine kingship. The analyses and interpretations are also supported by the relatively modern concepts of galactic polity, mimesis, perspectivism, and mutlinaturalism.