Connected Sahel-Sahara in turmoil: the past in the future

TitleConnected Sahel-Sahara in turmoil: the past in the future
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2022
AuthorsM.E. de Bruijn
EditorC. Greiner, S. van Wolputte, and M. Bollig
Secondary TitleAfrican futures
Series titleAfrica-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies
Pagination168–177
Date Published2022
PublisherBrill
Place PublishedLeiden
Publication Languageeng
ISSN Number9789004470811
KeywordsSahel
Abstract

Can we understand the future better when we consider the past? One way of comprehending the present-day turmoil in the Sahel is to consider how colonial, even pre-colonial, social inequalities inform the socially and politically marginalized positions of some social groups. Also, considering the new connectivities of the Sahel-Sahara space as a continuity of past connectivities explains how information travels and informs positions. Based on longitudinal research in the Sahel, especially central Mali, I explore the ‘heritage’ of hierarchies and connectivity and how they inform the violent condition of the Sahel and a path into the future. Processes are set in motion and cannot be stopped: memories of the past play a contradictory role and inform different possible roads to the future of the Sahel.

Notes

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Citation Key11624