This article, based on almost eight years of continuous anthropological research amongst the Tuareg people of the Sahara and Sahel, suggests that the launch by the US and its main regional ally, Algeria, in 2002–2003 of a ‘new’, ‘second’, or ‘Saharan’ Front in the ‘War on Terror’ was largely a fabrication on the part of the US and Algerian military intelligence services. The ‘official truth’, embodied in an estimated 3,000 articles and reports of one sort or another, is largely disinformation. The article summarizes how and why this deception was effected and examines briefly its implications for both the region and its people as well as the future of US international relations and especially its global pursuance of an increasingly suspect ‘War on Terror’.
The making of terrorists
Anthropology and the alternative truth of America's 'War on Terror' in the Sahara
Jeremy Keenan
Alimentation et dessiccation en contexte saharien
Le goût du sec
Marie-Luce Gélard
Pour le sens commun, le Sahara n'est bon qu'à être contemplé. Il ne ferait pas bon y vivre. J'ai pu constater à quel point la divergence des points de vue était frappante entre une région présentée par des lectures exogènes (récits de voyages
Replenishing Milk Sons
Changing Kinship Practices among the Sahrāwī, North Africa
Konstantina Isidoros
1998 ; Khatib-Chahidi 1992 ; McDougall 2005 ; Parkes 2005 ). It has also had a highly prominent position among Saharan studies scholarship focusing mostly on the Tuareg nomads of the central-eastern Sahara (e.g. Murphy 1967 ; Oxby 1990 ; Rasmussen
Alice Wilson
Revisiting 'the margins' as an illuminating conceptual space analogous to, yet distinct from, the exception, this article explores the Arab Spring from its margins to highlight 'silencing effects' that, if they underpin the problematic notions of the Arab Spring and Arab exceptionalism, assume spectacular dimensions at the margins, namely, the 'disappearance' of an uprising. The disputed territory of Western Sahara, partially annexed by Morocco since 1975, saw an unprecedented uprising in October-November 2010. Annexed Western Sahara's uprising narrowly preceded Tunisia's, conventionally recognized as the first of the Arab Spring. Despite Sahrawis' perceptions of similarities between their uprising and the Arab Spring, Western Sahara's uprising is overlooked in most analyses of the Arab Spring. 'Silencing effects' obscure these similarities and, ultimately, the uprising itself.
Interview avec Prof. Boubacar Barry, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar
Mobilité des nomades et des sédentaires dans l'espace CEDEAO
Laurence Marfaing and Boubacar Barry
*Full interview is in French
Cet entretien avec Boubacar Barry, historien et professeur d'histoire à l'Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, est en quelque sorte le prolongement d'un échange qui a eu lieu lors d'un colloque sur la mobilité dans l'espace Sahara-Sahel qui s'est tenu en 2011 à Bamako. Depuis ses premières publications dans les années 1970, Boubacar Barry défend l'idée d'une grande Sénégambie des peuples et n'a cessé de travailler sur l'intégration régionale en Afrique de l'Ouest pendant toute sa carrière de chercheur. Son savoir et ses convictions, qui ont inspiré tout le colloque et surtout le panel sur l'intégration régionale dont il fut le président, se retrouvent dans l'interview que Laurence Marfaing a réalisée avec lui quelques mois plus tard et que nous publions ici.
Le Rallye Méditerranée-le Cap
Racing towards Eurafrica?
Megan Brown
countries destined to form the backbone [ ossature ] of the future Eurafrica.” 1 * Meynier's military career centered on Africa and, more specifically, the Sahara. In retirement, he embarked on a mission to bind together Europe and Africa through stronger
Transit Migration in Niger
Stemming the Flows of Migrants, but at What Cost?
Sébastien Moretti
of Ethnic and Migration Studies 42 ( 7 ): 1055 – 1075 . 10.1080/1369183X.2016.1139446 Brachet , Julien . 2018 . “ Manufacturing Smugglers: From Irregular to Clandestine Mobility in the Sahara .” Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Frauke Mennes, John P. Hayes, David Kloos, Martha Lagace, Morten Koch Andersen, Somdeep Sen, Matthew Porges, and Sa’ed Atshan
a camel bearing the brand of the Polisario Front. Polisario is a revolutionary movement demanding independence for Western Sahara and more recently functions as a sort of movement/party (the only one) within the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR
Tracey Reimann-Dawe
Guinea between 1867 and 1869. After completing the first leg of his expedition to the town of Rhadames on the northeastern border of the Sahara, he attempted to secure a date and means of departure. Rohlfs was desperate to end his six-week sojourn and
Des dromadaires et des hommes au Moyen-Orient
Identité et modernité
Bernard Faye
. 1 et 2 ( Thèse en anthropologie sociale et ethnologie, EHESS , Paris ). Chehma , A. , Faye , B. and Djebar , M. R. ( 2008 ), ‘ Productivité fourragère et capacité de charge des parcours camélins du Sahara septentrional algérien