Saharan Frontiers: Space and Mobility in Northwest Africa(Public Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa)

The Sahara has long been portrayed as a barrier that divides the Mediterranean world from Africa proper and isolates the countries of the Maghrib from their southern and eastern neighbors. Rather than viewing the desert as an isolating barrier, this volume takes up historian Fernand Braudel's description of the Sahara as "the second face of the Mediterranean." The essays recast the history of the region with the Sahara at its center, uncovering a story of densely interdependent networks that span the desert's vast expanse. They explore the relationship between the desert's "islands" and "shores" and the connections and commonalities that unite the region. Contributors draw on extensive ethnographic and historical research to address topics such as trade and migration; local notions of place, territoriality, and movement; Saharan cities; and the links among ecological, regional, and world-historical approaches to understanding the Sahara.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Note on spelling and transliteration Introduction Time and Space in the Sahara Judith Scheele and James McDougall Part I. Framing Saharan History 1. Situations Both Alike? Connectivity, the Mediterranean, the Sahara Peregrine Horden 2. On Being Saharan E. Ann McDougall 3. Saharan Trade in Classical Antiquity Katia Schörle 4. Frontiers, Borderlands, and Saharan/World History James McDougall Part II. Environment, Territory, and Community 5. The Rites of Baba Merzug: Diaspora, Ibadism, and Social Status in the Valley of the Mzab Fatma Oussedik 6. Celebrating mawlid in Timimoun: Ritual as Words in Motion, Space as Time Stood Still Abderrahmane Moussaoui 7. Villages and Crossroads: Changing Territorialities among the Tuareg of Northern Mali in the Twentieth Century Charles Grémont 8. Ethnicity and Interdependence: Moors and Haalpulaar'en in the Senegal Valley Olivier Leservoisier Part III. Strangers, Space, and Labor 9. Mauritania and the New Frontier of Europe: From Transit to Residence Armelle Choplin 10. Living Together and Living Apart in Nouakchott Laurence Marfaing 11. Cultural Interaction and the Artisanal Economy in Tamanrasset Dida Badi Part IV. Economies of Movement 12. Notes on the Informal Economy in Southern Morocco Mohamed Oudada 13. Garage or caravanserail; Saharan Connectivity in al-Khalīl, Northern Mali Judith Scheele 14. Movements of People and Goods: Local Impacts and Dynamics of Migration in the Central Sahara Julien Brachet References Contributors Index

About the Author :
James McDougall is Fellow and Tutor in modern history and University Lecturer in twentieth century history at Trinity College, Oxford. He is editor of Nation, Society and Culture in North Africa and author of History and the Culture of Nationalism in Algeria. Judith Scheele, a social anthropologist, is a Research Fellow at All Souls' College, Oxford. She is author of Village Matters: Knowledge, Politics and Community in Kabylia.

Review :
"This volume offers an important contribution to the regional study of the Sahara, an area that mostly falls through conceptual grids since African Studies are generally concerned with the Sub-Saharan region, and the Middle East and Arab world considers the Sahara to lie on its outer edge [...] This edited volume presents a compilation of coherent, well-structured case studies addressing highly significant issues for the contemporary Sahara. Although the case studies give priority to the western Sahara (Morocco, Mauretania) without including its eastern parts (today's Libya, Chad and Sudan), the volume still offers a groundbreaking study of the Sahara. What becomes clear throughout is that its historical and contemporary connectivity is not limited to the Sahara as a geographic, climatic or environmental entity but characterises it as a fluid extending its frontiers into its neighbouring areas and pulling them, in turn, into its economy, policies and social and cultural expressions." - Social Anthropology