This open access book takes a deeper and broader perspective of the Hassaniya-speaking groups of the western region of the Sahara. There has been a surge of interest in this region, often centred around sensationalist news reports and policy briefs. But in-depth understanding and analysis remains neglected and little work has been undertaken on the diverse experiences of these groups and the contrasting political regimes under which they live. The contributors here focus on the complex and ambiguous relations between statehood, Islam, nation building and identity formation in hassanophone northwest Africa, ranging from southern Morocco, the Western Sahara and Mauritania to Algeria. The book uses up-to-date fieldwork to provide fresh analysis of and an insiders' perspective on these populations and their regional interactions, with contributions from the fields of law, Islamic studies, history, anthropology, politics, gender and media studies and the research of scholars from both the global North and global South. This interdisciplinary collection shows how urban ways of life are being adopted, with Hassaniya-speaking actors adjusting to state-administered social policies and new modes of settling disputes and legal claims. In doing so, the book sheds new light on the region's shifting social hierarchies, the new gendered power dynamics, and generational changes in the re-interpretation of 'tradition'.
As well as displaying that the Hassaniya-speaking groups are pivotal to the development of the region’s political culture, the book also reveals their close association with Islam, both as a religious expression as well as a cultural marker. A much-needed contribution on the intersections of politics, Islam and identity in northwest Africa.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence on bloomsburycollection.com. Open access was funded by European Research Council (ERC)
Edited by:
Francisco Freire (NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities Portugal)
Imprint: I.B. Tauris
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780755643486
ISBN 10: 0755643488
Pages: 374
Publication Date: 22 February 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface: Benjamin Soares, University of Florida, USA Introduction: Shifting Sands: State, Society and Islam in the Western Regions of the Sahara, Francisco Freire, NOVA FCSH, Portugal PART I: State Chapter 1: A Land of Opportunities: Political Morphologies at the Northwestern Saharan Frontier (1934-1960), Alberto Lopéz Bargados, University of Barcelona, Spain Chapter 2: A Historical Perspective on Legal Practices in Sahrawi Society (1958-2019), Enrique Bengochea Tirado, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal Chapter 3: Magnitudes of Sahrawi Nomadism throughout Colonialism and Refugeehood, Juan Carlos Gimeno, Autonoma University, Madrid, Spain and Julien Lafontaine Carboni, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland Chapter 4: The Flexible Use of Democracy in an Islamic Republic: The Case of the Mauritanian President Abdel Aziz (2009-2019), Elemine Ould Mohamed Baba Moustapha, University of Nouakchott, Mauritania PART II: Society Chapter 5: Artisanal Gold Mining in Mauritania, Moustapha Taleb, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal Chapter 6: Unsettling Gender and Feminism: Views from Mauritania, Maria Cardeira da Silva, NOVA FCSH, Portugal Chapter 7: Funeral Orations, the Web and Politics: The Online Making of National Heroes in Mauritania and the Western Sahara in Poems and Songs, Sébastien Boulay, Faculté des sciences humaines et sociales de la Sorbonne, Université de Paris, France and Mohamed Meidah, University of Nouakchott, Mauritania Chapter 8: Haratin Activism in Post-Slavery Mauritania: Abolition, Emancipation and the Politics of Identity, David Malluche, University of Bayreuth, Germany PART III: Islam Chapter 9: On the (Body of the) Subject in the Sahara: Mu?ummadhun Fal b. Muttali’s Fat? al-?aqq (19th century), Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Université de Lorraine, France Chapter 10: The Past and Present of the Ghu?fiyya Sufi Order from the Western Regions of the Sahara, Yahya Ould al-Bara, University of Nouakchott, Mauritania Chapter 11: Islamic Traditional Schooling in a Globalized Context: A Case-Study from the Teisir Mahadra (southwestern Mauritania), Mariem Baba Ahmed, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal and Zahra Horma, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal Chapter 12: Islam, Blasphemy, and Realpolitik in Mauritania: The Case of Mohamed Mkhaitir, Francisco Freire, NOVA FCSH, Portugal Postface: Reflections on Research Ethics in Complex Contexts—Navigating Politics, Pragmatics, and Positionality, Leonardo Villálon, University of Florida, USA and Irina Branco da Silva, NOVA FCSH
Francisco Freire is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities in Lisbon, Portugal, and Researcher at The Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA), Lisbon, Portugal. He is the author of many articles and book chapters on Islam and the Sahara, including contributions to the Journal of North African Studies, African Studies Review, History and Anthropology and Journal of Modern African Studies.
Reviews for State, Society and Islam in the Western Regions of the Sahara: Regional Interactions and Social Change
This splendidly interdisciplinary and engagingly written book is a powerful contribution to a new understanding of Saharan modes of cultural change and continuity. Its brilliantly researched case studies, and insightful Introduction and Postscript, dispel diehard stereotypes of “immemorial” patterns and abrupt ruptures, and disclose innovation and transformational reappropriations of tradition. * Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias, Professor, University of Birmingham, UK *
