Saharan Frontiers: Space and Mobility in Northwest Africa

Front Cover
James McDougall, Judith Scheele
Indiana University Press, Jun 8, 2012 - Business & Economics - 291 pages

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.

 

Contents

Time and Space in the Sahara
1
PART 1 FRAMING SAHARAN AFRICA
23
PART 2 ENVIRONMENT TERRITORY AND COMMUNITY
91
PART 3 STRANGERS SPACE AND LABOR
163
PART 4 ECONOMIES OF MOVEMENT
213
Glossary
257
Bibliography
259
List of Contributors
283
Index
285
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About the author (2012)

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 has conducted extensive fieldwork on southern Algeria and northern Mali. Her publications include Village Matters: Knowledge, Politics and Community in Kabylia. 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 has conducted extensive fieldwork on southern Algeria and northern Mali. Her publications include Village Matters: Knowledge, Politics and Community in Kabylia.