State, Society and Islam in the Western Regions of the Sahara : : Regional Interactions and Social Change / / edited by Francisco Freire.

• TeilnehmendeR: Freire, Francisco,
• Place / Publishing House: London, United Kingdom : : Bloomsbury Academic,, 2022.
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 pages)

This open access book takes a deeper and broader perspective of the Hassaniya-speaking groups of the western region of the Sahara. There has been a surge of interest in this region, often centred around sensationalist news reports and policy briefs. But in-depth understanding and analysis remains neglected and little work has been undertaken on the diverse experiences of these groups and the contrasting political regimes under which they live. The contributors here focus on the complex and ambiguous relations between statehood, Islam, nation building and identity formation in hassanophone northwest Africa, ranging from southern Morocco, the Western Sahara and Mauritania to Algeria. The book uses up-to-date fieldwork to provide fresh analysis of and an insiders' perspective on these populations and their regional interactions, with contributions from the fields of law, Islamic studies, history, anthropology, politics, gender and media studies and the research of scholars from both the global North and global South. This interdisciplinary collection shows how urban ways of life are being adopted, with Hassaniya-speaking actors adjusting to state-administered social policies and new modes of settling disputes and legal claims. In doing so, the book sheds new light on the region's shifting social hierarchies, the new gendered power dynamics, and generational changes in the re-interpretation of 'tradition'. As well as displaying that the Hassaniya-speaking groups are pivotal to the development of the region's political culture, the book also reveals their close association with Islam, both as a religious expression as well as a cultural marker. A much-needed contribution on the intersections of politics, Islam and identity in northwest Africa.

Table of Contents

Preface: Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, University of Lorraine, France & Benjamin Soares, University of Florida, USA Introduction: -- Shifting Sands: Society and Politics the Western Regions of the Sahara , Francisco Freire, NOVA FCSH, Portugal PART I: Politics -- Chapter 1: Flexible Uses of Democracy in an Islamic Republic: The Case of the Mauritanian President Abdel Aziz (2009-2019 ), Elemine Ould Mohamed Baba Moustapha, University of Nouakchott, Mauritania -- Chapter 2: Sidi Ifni and its Hassani Actors: the Politics of History, Alberto Lopéz Bargados, University of Barcelona, Spain -- Chapter 3: Negotiating Authority in the Western Sahara: A Pluralist Legal Reality , Enrique Bengochea Tirado, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal -- Chapter 4:Culture and Nation-Building in the Western Sahara, Juan Carlos Gimeno, Autonoma University, Madrid, Spain PART II: Society -- Chapter 5: National and Transnational Feminisms in Mauritania, Maria Cardeira da Silva, NOVA, Portugal -- Chapter 6: A History of Struggle: Women, Revolution and Multifaceted Nationalism within the Western Sahara's Polisario state-movement, Ewa Strzelecka, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal -- Chapter 7: Politics of Martyrdom: The (Online) Making of National Heroes in Mauritania and in the Western Sahara through Poems and Songs, Sébastien Boulay, Faculté des sciences humaines et sociales de la Sorbonne, Université de Paris , France -- Chapter 8: Haratin Activism in post-Slavery Mauritania:Abolition, Emancipation and the Politics of Identity, David Malluche, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal -- Chapter 9: Artisanal Gold Mining in Northwestern Mauritania, Moustapha Taleb, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal PART III: Islam -- Chapter 10: Islamic Traditional Schooling in a Globalized Context: Case-Study from the Teisir Mahadra (southwestern Mauritania), Mariem Baba Ahmed, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal & Zahra Horma, NOVA FCSH / CRIA, Portugal -- Chapter 11: The Ghdhufiyya: A Saharan Sufi order in the Global World, Yahya Ould al-Bara, University of Nouakchott, Mauritania -- Chapter 12: Islam, Blasphemy, and Realpolitik in Mauritania: The Case of Mohamed Mkhaitir, Francisco Freire, NOVA FCSH, Portugal Epilogue: Doing Research in the Sahara and the Sahel , Leonardo Villálon, University of Florida, USA.