Spaces of uncertainty: A model of mobile space in the Sahel

Retaillé, Denis; Walther, Olivier

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9493.2011.00415.x

Cited by 29 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Even the large displacement flows that catch the attention of international agencies are still the product of complex articulations between people, their resources (material and social), and the broader context (Lindley 2009) -in Massey's terms again, the sum of many, local 'stories-so-far'. The overlaps and mismatches between real, dynamic, lived space and normative political territory are also highlighted here, as they are elsewhere (Retaillé & Walther 2011), when such situations are considered in relational terms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Contested spaces, new opportunities: displacement, return and the rural economy in Casamance, Senegal

Evans¹

2014

Displacement Economies in Africa

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IntroductionCasamance is the southwesternmost part of Senegal, largely separated from the rest of the country by The Gambia to the north and bordering Guinea-Bissau to the south. As the scene of West Africa's longestrunning civil conflict, now some 30 years old, Casamance provides a case of displacement economies on a relatively small scale but of long duration. The focus here is on human displacement, understood as the enforced physical dislocation of people, the dynamics of their return and resettlement, and the economic, political and social effects related to these processes. Much of the long-term human displacement in the conflict has occurred in the relatively narrow band of territory between the south bank of the Casamance River and northern border districts of Guinea-Bissau. Following flight and protracted exile from this border area in the 1990s, however, the 2000s and beyond have mostly seen people return, driven by economic and social desperation coupled with generally improved (though still at times volatile) security conditions, and supported by international aid for reconstruction.Building on field research conducted over twelve years, the chapter considers the emergent economic and political landscape of the border area. It shows how this landscape is the result of layers of displacement over two decades, situated within a deeper historical context of migration. From a theoretical perspective, it seeks to understand these dynamics through the concept of 'relational space', formulated in human geography and beginning to be used, if not always explicitly, in studies of displacement. Displacement and Relational SpaceSpace matters, and at the smallest scale; but from a theoretical perspective, it is sometimes all too apparent that different disciplines talk about space in different ways. The analysis presented here takes from human geography the notion of 'relational space' in the sense of David Harvey (2005) and Doreen Massey (2005). This is space constituting and constitutive of social relationships. As Harvey explains, '[p]rocesses do not occur in space but define their own spatial frame. The concept of space is embedded in or internal to process' (2005: 273; emphasis in original). While proponents of relational space (as analytical tool) admit that it is difficult to work with, and impossible to 'map' in any Cartesian or absolute sense, they argue that it is, as social reality, the space in which all people actually operate. Massey (2005: 9) describes this … space as the product of interrelations; as constituted through interactions, from the immensity of the global to the intimately tiny… space as always under construction. Precisely because space on this reading is a product of relations-between, relations which are necessarily embedded material practices which have to be carried out, it is always in the process of being made… Perhaps we could imagine space as a simultaneity of stories-so-far. This highlights two further points about how the concept of relational space works in real contexts. The...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Contested spaces, new opportunities: displacement, return and the rural economy in Casamance, Senegal

Evans¹

2014

Displacement Economies in Africa

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“…It also controlled the road of Fezzan, which served as the main crossing of the desert via the Ténéré. Through their strong state, the Tibu tribes also ensured the security of the movement of individuals and merchants through the desert (Retaillé and Walther 2011). The Tuaregs and their masked men sought to establish cooperative relations with the Hausa peoples on the east side of the Sungai kingdom (Bossard 2014;Benjaminsen 2008).…”

Section: Transformations Of Islamic Radicalism In the Sahelmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Making of a Mobile Caliphate State in the African Sahel

Hassan

2019

The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity

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The goal of this chapter is to thoroughly understand the context of the dominant jihadist narratives and the nature of their appeal in the Sahelian region. All these jihadist ideologies are based on a peculiar Salafi Radicalism that aimed to transform the state and society by methods of preaching and violence. Therefore, studying and analyzing the principles of the Salafist discourse as a political project helps us to understand its points of strengths and weaknesses. In addition, we can be better look at the future trends and prospects of violent jihadist groups in the African Sahel. The roots of this Islamic discourse as a political project may be attributed to what Lunay and Suarez call the "Islamic domain." The rise of violent radical Islamism represents drive from the internal political and socioeconomic dynamics evolving in each Sahelian state. However, the struggle and

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“…This scenario is expected to play out in the growth of contraband traffic, re-export trade and informal migration flows. Of course, scholars have pointed out the role of environmental, socioeconomic and political instability in fostering a culture of the mobile space in the Sahel (Retaille and Walther, 2011; Retaille 2013; Walther and Retaille, 2014). Among others, the transnational mobility of the Fulani, Toubou and Tuaregs ethnic groups in the region exemplifies this reality (De Bruijn 2007, Petre and Gordon 2016, Tinti and Westcott 2016).…”

Section: Neo-patrimonial Order and Nigerian Border Security Policy 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Border Securitisation and Politics of State Policy in Nigeria, 2014–2017

Faleye

2018

Insight on Africa

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This article examines the politics of public policies characterised by increased securitisation of Nigeria's national boundary from 2014 to 2017. While the regulation appears on paper to discourage transborder crime, capital outflow and sustain a favourable balance of payment, the existing armoury of West African border literature argues otherwise. What is new in the transborder dynamics of West Africa? What informs government's border policies in Nigeria? In answering these questions, this study provides a template for a reassessment of the gap between borderlands theory and policy in West Africa. The approach is comparative based on the critical analysis of oral interviews, government trade records, newspaper reports and the extant literature. The article provides a platform for rethinking of the nexus between governance and development in West Africa from the securitisation and neo-patrimonial perspectives. It concludes that effective border management in Nigeria is set aback by misguided and dysfunctional elitist-centred regulations that are devoid of the realities on the ground.

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Spaces of uncertainty: A model of mobile space in the Sahel

Cited by 29 publications

References 29 publications

Contested spaces, new opportunities: displacement, return and the rural economy in Casamance, Senegal

Contested spaces, new opportunities: displacement, return and the rural economy in Casamance, Senegal

The Making of a Mobile Caliphate State in the African Sahel

Border Securitisation and Politics of State Policy in Nigeria, 2014–2017

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