Smugglers and Saints of the Sahara

Smugglers and Saints of the Sahara
Author: Judith Scheele
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2012-04-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107022126

This book describes life on the contemporary border between Algeria and Mali, exploring current developments in a broad historical and socioeconomic context.

Smugglers and States

Smugglers and States
Author: Max Gallien
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2024-02-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0231559615

Smuggling is typically thought of as furtive and hidden, taking place under the radar and beyond the reach of the state. But in many cases, governments tacitly permit illicit cross-border commerce, or even devise informal arrangements to regulate it. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the borderlands of Tunisia and Morocco, Max Gallien explains why states have long tolerated illegal trade across their borders and develops new ways to understand the political economy of smuggling. This book examines the rules and agreements that govern smuggling in North Africa, tracing the involvement of states in these practices and their consequences for borderland communities. Gallien demonstrates that, contrary to common assumptions about the effects of informal economies, smuggling can promote both state and social stability. States not only turn a blind eye to smuggling, they rely on it to secure political acquiescence and maintain order, because it provides income for otherwise neglected border communities. More recently, however, the securitization of borders, wars, political change, and the pandemic have put these arrangements under pressure. Gallien explores the renegotiation of the role of smuggling, showing how stability turns into vulnerability and why some groups have been able to thrive while others have been pushed further to the margins. With both rich empirical detail and novel theoretical contributions, Smugglers and States offers important insights into security and stability in North Africa and the prospects for economic inclusion in a context where many livelihoods exist outside of the law.

The Value of Disorder

The Value of Disorder
Author: Julien Brachet
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2019-05-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108428339

Based on long-term research in northern Chad, this book provides a unique account of mobility, wealth, and aspirations to political autonomy at the heart of the contemporary Sahara.

Unmapping the 21st Century

Unmapping the 21st Century
Author: Nicholas Michelsen
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2022-07-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 152922375X

The 21st century has been characterized by great turbulence, climate change, a global pandemic, and democratic decay. Drawing on post-structural political theory, this book explores two dominant concepts used to make sense of our disturbed reality: the state and the network. The book explains how they are inextricably interwoven, while showing why they complicate the way we interpret our present. In seeking a better understanding of today’s world, this book argues that we need to pull apart the familiar lines of our maps. By looking beneath and across these lines, an ‘unmapping’ presents new insights and opportunities for a better future.

Sorcery or Science?

Sorcery or Science?
Author: Ariela Marcus-Sells
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2022-02-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0271093064

Sorcery or Science? examines how two Sufi Muslim theologians who rose to prominence in the western Sahara Desert in the late eighteenth century, Sīdi al-Mukhtār al-Kuntī (d. 1811) and his son and successor, Sīdi Muḥammad al-Kuntī (d. 1826), decisively influenced the development of Sufi Muslim thought in West Africa. Known as the Kunta scholars, Mukhtār al-Kuntī and Muḥammad al-Kuntī were influential teachers who developed a pedagogical network of students across the Sahara. In exploring their understanding of “the realm of the unseen”—a vast, invisible world that is both surrounded and interpenetrated by the visible world—Ariela Marcus-Sells reveals how these theologians developed a set of practices that depended on knowledge of this unseen world and that allowed practitioners to manipulate the visible and invisible realms. They called these practices “the sciences of the unseen.” While they acknowledged that some Muslims—particularly self-identified “white” Muslim elites—might consider these practices to be “sorcery,” the Kunta scholars argued that these were legitimate Islamic practices. Marcus-Sells situates their ideas and beliefs within the historical and cultural context of the Sahara Desert, surveying the cosmology and metaphysics of the realm of the unseen and the history of magical discourses within the Hellenistic and Arabo-Islamic worlds. Erudite and innovative, this volume connects the Islamic sciences of the unseen with the reception of Hellenistic discourses of magic and proposes a new methodology for reading written devotional aids in historical context. It will be welcomed by scholars of magic and specialists in Africana religious studies, Islamic occultism, and Islamic manuscript culture.

Governing Natural Resources for Sustainable Peace in Africa

Governing Natural Resources for Sustainable Peace in Africa
Author: Obasesam Okoi
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2023-12-18
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1003830188

This book examines the dynamics of natural resource conflicts in Africa and explores the different governance approaches for securing sustainable peace. One of the most prominent challenges facing Africa today is the consequences of natural resource extraction. While these resources hold the potential for economic transformation across Africa, their extraction also comes with a range of environmental, social, and economic consequences, including issues related to governance. This book assembles a unique cohort of peacebuilding, environmental justice, and sustainable development scholars and practitioners from Africa and beyond to examine the dynamics of natural resource conflict and explore the governance approaches that offer pathways for sustainable peace in Africa. Drawing on case studies and empirical lessons from the Horn of Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, East Africa, and the Central Sahel region, along with the African Union, the multidisciplinary contributors offer fresh insights into the nature of natural resource conflict in Africa, delve deeper into the complexities of natural resource governance, and highlight the interplay between resource governance and sustainable peace. By shedding light not only on Africa’s experiences and vulnerabilities but also on the challenges of natural resource governance, this book fills a crucial gap in understanding the connection between natural resource governance, conflict, and pathways for sustainable peace in Africa. Drawing on a range of disciplinary perspectives, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of natural resource governance, peace and conflict studies, environmental policy and justice, sustainable development, security studies and African studies more widely.

Urban Displacement and Trade in a Senegalese Market

Urban Displacement and Trade in a Senegalese Market
Author: Gunvor Jónsson
Publisher: UCL Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2024-03-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 180008630X

The Malian market at the railway terminus in Dakar was bulldozed in 2009 and, following privatisation of the railway, passenger services in Senegal soon ceased altogether. The consequences were felt especially by women traders who had travelled the line since its inauguration, making the terminus in Dakar the centre of a thriving network of traders and migrants. To examine the fates of those whose livelihoods were destroyed or disrupted, Gunvor Jónsson spent a year with the women evicted from the terminus. Urban Displacement and Trade in a Senegalese Market explores what happens at ‘the end’ of urban displacement, when it is all over, so to speak – when the dust has settled and people find themselves scattered in sometimes unfamiliar surroundings, trying to pick up the pieces and create something meaningful. This book argues that rupture and ensuing displacement do not produce a clean slate where identities, networks and histories must be produced from scratch. Traders and their markets do not simply vanish into thin air when they are evicted. The book examines not only what is lost but what emerges when a dense node, such as the terminus, is dissolved and fragmented. The ethnography of the traders reveals that the aftermath of eviction in cities may lead to diasporic forms of consciousness and identity formations. Displacement, whether on a local or global scale, demands difficult adjustments and people’s capacities to adapt to new circumstances and environments vary. This book uncovers some of these different capacities and variations in traders’ reactions to displacement. Praise for Urban Displacement and Trade in a Senegalese Market 'Jónsson's book is a masterful study of the aftermath of displacement in a major African city. Through deep ethnographic engagement, the book shows how displacement is about more than leaving a place; it is also about how people rebuild livelihoods, and how the space left behind continues to haunt their imagination of a meaningful life.' Hélène Neveu Kringelbach, UCL 'This book is an inspiring tribute to the Malian women traders of Senegal. ‘Emptied out’ from their old market stalls by a vainglorious development scheme, they bravely regrouped to recover their livelihoods and protect their families. Gunvor Jónsson challenges the idea that displacement only involves refugees. Instead, she creatively marries studies of migration and urbanization, providing fresh insights to both fields.' Robin Cohen, University of Oxford

A History of Mali’s National Drink

A History of Mali’s National Drink
Author: Ute Röschenthaler
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2022-10-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004524673

This study follows green tea from China to Mali along its historical trade routes halfway around the world, examining the circumstances of its introduction, the course of the tea ritual, the equipment to prepare and consume it, and the meanings that it assumed.

International Relations and Area Studies

International Relations and Area Studies
Author: Silvia D'Amato
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2023-12-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3031396553

Discover the intricate tapestry of international politics and governance with this book. The book delves into the diverse nature of globally significant actors and systems across multiple regions. From Africa to Asia, Europe to the Middle East, this collection of thought-provoking case studies explores the role of regional actors in the international system. Combining theoretical innovation with empirical analysis, this volume expands the boundaries of International Relations (IR) and Area Studies (AS), showcasing their interconnections throughout history and in contemporary contexts. Through illuminating case studies drawn from the fields of "Comparative Regionalism" and "Non-Western IR Theory," the book sheds light on pressing international events. Unpacking complex questions, the contributors examine the application of IR scholarship to global events and provide fresh insights into political dynamics, conflicts, and state instability across various regions. By offering a comparative perspective on threats, political contestation, and security policies, this book challenges existing perspectives and enriches the debate. With its methodological and epistemological explorations, this book is an indispensable resource for scholars and students of international relations and security studies, as well as researchers focusing on specific world areas. Embark on a captivating journey through the multifaceted landscape of global affairs.