Security from Below in Burkina Faso. Koglweogo, Guardians of the Bush, Guardians of Society?-Since 2010, the Koglweogo self-defence groups have become more visible in Burkina Faso. These groups have set themselves up to protect their communities against particular types of crime such as robbery. The authors present the Koglweogo's perceptions of what security means in their communities: "good living together." In addition to the socioeconomic precarity and the history of security issues in the country, the analysis draws on how local languages and epistemologies conceptualize "Stateness" and the centrality of building alliances. It provides information about the ambiguous rapports with the State, the connection between security and education, and how the Koglweogo combine language, the spectacular and action in order to achieve a legitimate platform in their societies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.