The material and cultural recovery of camels and camel husbandry among Sahrawi refugees of Western Sahara

Abstract

For nearly 1,500 years, Sahrawi nomads of Western Sahara respected the camel; camels were essential to life in the desert environment, constituting both the main means of production and exchange and the keystone of Sahrawi cultural identity. The capacity to adapt to drought is crucial for the resilience of nomadic populations, which are particularly susceptible to its repeated occurrence. Knowledge of coping strategies is transmitted and embedded deeply within nomads' cultural institutions. In 1975, the Moroccan army occupied the Sahrawi's traditional nomadic territory, decimating camel herds and forcing most Sahrawi into refugee camps in Algeria where the Sahrawi became wholly dependent on foreign aid for their sustenance. However, with the signing of a ceasefire agreement in the early 1990s, the Sahrawi recovered part of their nomadic territory and the right to move within it, while at the same time, new flows of capital entered the camps. Refugees began to recover camel husbandry as a livelihood strategy and the camel re-emerged as a potent symbol as refugees and the Polisario Front (the Sahrawi's political representative) struggle to assert their newfound national identity, regain access to all of their traditional territory and reaffirm their shared nomadic cultural heritage.

Piebald Camels

“…In Tiris, there are no dry riverbeds, and hence, vegetation is mostly herbaceous and adventitious and includes large areas covered by halophytic plants (Soler et al 1999). For a background on the Sahrawi refugees and nomads and on their camel husbandry, see Volpato and Howard (2014) and Caro Baroja (1955).…”

“…tribes, fraction) destroyed overnight. But starting with the 1990s, Sahrawi refugees regained access to camels and camel husbandry, to grazing territories, and to traditional camelrelated knowledge, and re-established relations with local ecologies (Volpato and Howard 2014;Volpato and Puri 2014;Volpato et al 2013). Sahrawi refugees and nomads recovered the breeding of piebald camels for the same material and cultural reasons but with a new cultural referent: the Sahrawi people.…”

Dormancy and Revitalization: The fate of ethnobotanical knowledge of camel forage among Sahrawi nomads and refugees of Western Sahara

“…This process appears to have begun with the Peace Agreement of 1991, the demobilization of Polisario soldiers, the renewed access to cash (e.g., through Spanish civil pensions, remittances, private enterprises, trade), free access to the liberated territories, and strings of rainy years that began in the 1990s. All of these contributed to the resurgence of camel husbandry among nomads and refugees alike and to the revitalization of camel-related knowledge and nomadic heritage (Volpato & Howard 2014). An increasing number of young refugees are taking up seasonal nomadism and learning the associated traditional knowledge.…”

“…For many, livestock husbandry represents a means to regain a sense of control over their lives, presenting the possibility of reducing their dependency on food aid. Moreover, the revitalization of livestock husbandry (and the recovery of associated traditional knowledge) reinforces the Polisario's claims to nation-statehood: it provides for national welfare and reduces dependency on food aid via state food production and redistribution, and, drawing upon a shared cultural heritage, it legitimates claims to ethnic unity and national identity (Caratini 2000, Volpato & Howard 2014.…”

Herding through Uncertainties – Principles and Practices. Exploring the Interfaces of Pastoralists and Uncertainty. Results from a Literature Review

“…Amongst Western Sahara refugees, recovering camel husbandry as a livelihood strategy represents a critical element in their struggle to assert their new national identity because they feel that through camels they regain access to their traditional territory and reaffirm their shared nomadic cultural heritage. Indeed, the camel has become one of the symbols of the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi's formal political institution (Volpato and Howard, 2014).…”