Abstract
I begin with a caveat: ‘my expertise is on frontiers, not on Northwest Africa’. This review reflects that. The editors’ introduction argues that much imagery and some academic thinking accept the false notion that the Sahara is empty. This collection shows that it is a ‘highly differentiated’ (p. 4) region marked by many complex interactions, some rooted in the past, some in contemporary external pressures, and all shaped the actions of a variety of local actors. Rather than a barrier or bridge, or borderlands, it is a wealthy, fast growing region of Africa. Recent changes are rooted in its resources, primarily oil, and the consequences of developing extensive infrastructure to access it. They draw heavily on comparisons with Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell’s study of the Mediterranean, The Corrupting Sea (2000, Blackwell) as a model for such studies. As in that study, the Sahara is not one of ‘unfettered freedom of movements’ (p. 12). The imposition of state boundaries has had considerable consequences for connections to, within, and across the region. Rather than a general cosmopolitanism, they see a more localized cosmopolitanism. Most trade is two-way. They also note two levels of linguistic obstacles: that much contemporary literature is not in English and that there are many languages and writing systems throughout the region.
Peter Horden compares and contrasts the Mediterranean and the Sahara as regions. Both contain connections dating back millennia. He critiques the camel as ship of the desert meme in that ships do not provide milk, nor do they reproduce. A better analog is 20th-century trucks. In the Sahara, there are many subspecies of camels tuned to localized climates. Thus, trade across the Sahara required several changes of camels. This gave rise to constructed oases to fulfill that need. Many settlements served as nodes for multidirectional trade networks. Horden notes that frontiers are zones that shift frequently, and are conceptualized differently by various actors. This discussion is a useful exercise in comparison of very different areas, but also calls for additional comparisons.
Ann MacDougall explores what the Sahara means to its residents, noting that their conceptions are rooted in exploitation of a variety of resources, and their absence in other areas. It is also multilayered and subject to continual negotiation. Local people experience the Sahara in ways often quite disparate from those held by state officials. Thus, the need for many perspectives in Saharan studies.
Katia Schröle summarizes Saharan trade in antiquity, which predates the arrival of Islam, and which moved in many directions. Oases are fragile and depend on the trade that passes through them to survive. Salt-tolerant crops are ancient. Trade was mostly down-the-line because of the need for different types of camels. This is one reason why many oases grew plants that were labor-intensive and not particularly ecologically or economically efficient.
James MacDougall argues that the steep decline of trade during the early 20th century was ‘… a brief parenthesis in a longer, continuous history’ (p. 75). While the routes that cross the Sahara remain of interest, there remains a need for attention to many routes within it. He suggests that there were many regions where no one group dominated. Rather, interaction was more balanced, albeit precariously. He also emphasizes that frontiers are dynamic zones. Some slave trade passed through the Sahara, but a larger portion was into the Sahara to staff oases. Groups were nomadic or sedentary, or switched between the two as circumstance required. Modern states curtailed the ability of local groups to control the construction of their own spaces. The Sahara remains a region of connections and of contested borders and frontier zones.
The second part of the collection focuses on ‘Environment, Territory, and Community’. All four chapters are based on detailed ethnographies and thick descriptions, yet rooted in historical circumstances. Two points (at least) emerge, all identity boundaries are fluid and the social construction of space and place is quite dynamic. Caravan trade decline from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries undermined the economic bases of small settlements. The formation of independent states after World War II increased the fluidity of various boundaries, boundary markers, and most identities.
Fatma Oussedik’s discussion of the rites of ‘Baba Merzug’ an ancient ritual revived in the 21st century primarily, but not exclusively, to celebrate black Ibadi identity – the descendants of slaves imported in pre-colonial times. Oussedik uses this discussion to illustrate how identities and hierarchies are generated and maintained, even in the midst of considerable change. This chapter also has a great deal of information on gender and gender relations. Abderrahmane Moussaouie similarly examines the celebration of Mawlid ritual in Timimoun, Algeria. The focus is on how relatively local migrations to religious sites mimic pilgrimages to Mecca (the hajj). Many aspects of identity within and between groups are marked and celebrated in these migration. However, these are not fixed categories, but more like ‘freeze frames’ of fluid processes. The Mawlid also serves as a focal point for travels in all directions, underscoring yet again that travel and trade in Sahara goes in many directions.
Charles Grémont discusses how territories shift among the Tuareg in northern Mali. Access to natural resources is pragmatic and flexible, but rooted in the myriad of connections among groups. The relations between nomadic pastoralist and sedentary farmers are, as nearly always, complicated. They are made more so by the colonial and later state emphasis on agriculture. Olivier Leservoisier expands examination of the roles of ethnicity in interdependencies between Moors with an Arabo-Berber pastoral tradition and various Black African groups with agriculturalist traditions. These straddle the Senegal River, the modern boundary between Senegal and Mauritania, an area that remains peripheral to the central concerns of either state. He argues identity is often defined by a boundary, rather its internal characteristics, and identity is more a matter of political and social interests than heredity. His key point is that Moorish and Black African identities need to be studied together.
Part 3, ‘Strangers, Space, and Labor’ addresses social construction of identities, space, and borders. Armelle Choplin studies the consequences of European efforts to control immigration from Black Africa by pushing the frontier southward into Mauritania. At independence, 70 percent of Mauratania’s population was nomadic pastoralists, thus the state sought immigrants from the south who had valuable skills. For many workers, Mauritania was a stopover on a path through the Canary Islands to Europe. European efforts to regulate immigration left behind a large number of immigrants. Some Mauritanians were resentful of the higher pay to skilled immigrants. As roads were built, especially north from Nouadhibou to Nouakchott, trade and truck traffic increased tremendously, which led the state to distinguish between ‘good’ sub-Saharan immigrants (those doing necessary work) and ‘bad’ (those seeking transit to Europe). All immigrants contributed greatly to multiethnic and somewhat cosmopolitan quality of the two largest cities. Laurence Maraing examines Naouakchott to see how people live together (co-ethnics) and apart (different international origins). Thus, the labor market is split into official, and unofficial. Those in the latter are at the mercy of officials and exploitation by employers. Foreign residents hold many identities, activated contextually.
Dida Badi studies the artisanal economy in Tamanrasset, Algeria, where Sahara and its Sahelian borderlands interact. Some work involves recycling materials, such as making waterskins from old inner tubes. Other activities include tanning and smelting of used metal goods. These craftsmen thrive because trucking to and from Niger is expensive. But as highways and trucking improve, they are becoming less lucrative, so they switch to other activities. Overall, they exhibit considerable adaptability in finding a niche in an increasingly globalized economy.
Part 4 begins to draw these accounts together in discussions of the ‘Economies of Movement’, for both trade and migration, both have formal, informal, and contraband segments. Mohamed Oudada discusses the informal economy in southern Morocco. Oudada observes that contraband trade is typical along unstable frontiers, albeit in its own special ways in each location. Attempts to control contraband trade have prompted a shift from four-wheel-drive vehicles to camels that can travel through rougher terrain. Those who make sufficient profits settle elsewhere and open small businesses. Despite such local ‘reinvestment’, much of the income is drained from the economy.
Judith Scheele explores whether local trading houses in al-Kalíl, Mali, are actually local establishments for repair of vehicles or function as caravanserai. To cut to the chase, the answer is both, depending on specific circumstances. Very few women live there because it is considered dangerous. Cigarettes and manufactured goods account for most contraband trade, there is some drug smuggling. Most drug traffickers are pious Moslems in their home communities. They rationalize that drug trafficking is ‘a crime against humanity, whereas not praying is a crime against God’ (p. 231). Trade often follows lines of kinship, real or putative. Al-Kalíl is a node in a complex network, but with adaptability rooted in distant places.
Julien Brachet discusses movements of goods and people. The focus is on trade between Niger and Algeria and Libya, but serves as a basis for generalizing. At independence, both northern states required unskilled labor from Niger. This has become a stable source of work for Tuaregs in Niger who are half the immigrants to Libya and Algeria. European concerns with undocumented immigration and fears of terrorist operatives shifted work to freight hauling and transportation of migrants. These examples depict the steady expansion of migration and of the origins and destinations of migrants. They are apt summaries of the contexts of the preceding chapters.
For non-specialists, this collection might usefully be read in this order: the first nine pages of the Introduction and Chapter 14 as an overview; followed by the descriptive chapters, Chapters 5 through 13; and finish with a recap of the Introduction, and Chapters 1, 2, and 4. The collection seems specialist oriented. It jumps into debates and uses many region-specific terms. Still, it suggests insights and questions about frontiers, ethnicity, identity, social construction of space and place, trade, gender, and migration. I think Saharan Frontiers will be of interest to comparative sociologists. It might be used in upper level or graduate courses with some background on the Sahara.