Paper long abstract:

La recherche scientifique à destination des pays du Sud fut longtemps l'apanage des chercheurs et institutions du Nord. Les crises sécuritaires qui agitent certains pays du Sahel, le Mali en particulier, ont un impact indéniable sur les productions scientifiques.

Trois situations semblent prioritairement se dessiner dans ce contexte de troubles sécuritaires : (1) par crainte pour leur sécurité, et à juste titre, les chercheurs du Nord ont simplement déserté les zones conflictuelles ; (2) Ils continuent la recherche, en ayant pour terrain les zones conflictuelles, mais les données de terrain proviennent de "seconde main" souvent très peu qualifiée ; (3) Ils continuent la recherche, et produisent d'ailleurs quantité de résultats, mais sans avoir eu recours au terrain.

Plusieurs interrogations émergent alors : Doit-on abandonner la recherche dans les zones d'insécurité du Sahel, alors même que les facteurs qui y sont à la base méritent fortement qu'on y mène des réflexions ?

Quelle valeur devons-nous accorder à des résultats de recherche en sciences sociales, obtenus sans terrain ? Et surtout, pouvons-nous penser les sciences sociales en dehors de leur dimension empirique ?

Si les risques sécuritaires encourus par les chercheurs du Nord, dans les zones dites "sensibles", sont bien réels, tel n'est pas forcément le cas des chercheurs locaux. Notons que les terrains dits "sensibles" ne présentent pas les mêmes risques selon qu'on soit un chercheur international, national ou même local.

Selon quelles modalités, et par quels moyens, les chercheurs internationaux et leurs collègues locaux peuvent-ils contribuer à perpétuer la recherche dans les zones dites "sensibles" ?

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Paper short abstract:

I would like to propose to re-imagine the Sahel as physical and conceptual space through analysis of border management initiatives. I suggest to look at Liptako-Gourma as a center of ongoing political and social processes and transformations using Homi Bhabha's 'hybridity' and 'mimicry'.

Paper long abstract:

Sahelian borderlands and in particular the Liptako-Gourma region, a tri-border area between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, in the last years have been the epicenter of violence and increasing militarization. This attracted much of academic, non-academic and journalistic attention. Liptako-Gourma is often described as a 'peripheral and remote area' are very often used to characterize the specificity of this territory. Instead, in this paper I would like to propose to re-imagine the Sahel as physical and conceptual space. I suggest to look at Liptako-Gourma as a center of ongoing political and social processes and transformations.

One of the practices widely involved in the securitization of the area, control of migration and transnational threats is border management, performed by panoply of actors, besides national authorities. Complex networks of these players include NGOs, military, security forces, local populations, criminals, smugglers and insurgents of different type. Border management practices, interplay of numerous actors, emerging conflicts and tensions are also relevant for the understanding of some existing patterns of the Sahelian statehood, power relations and new emerging forms of territorial legitimacy.

To analyze and re-imagine this space through a postcolonial lens I will use Homi Bhabha's 'hybridity' and 'mimicry'. Putting together political analysis and postcolonial theory could open up new avenues for transdisciplinary discussions on state, sovereignty and conflicts in the Sahel.

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Paper long abstract:

Is there a Sahelian intellectual tradition? This presentation looks at the particularities of the Sahel as a meeting ground of West African, Islamic, and Western cultural influences to describe and analyze a specific Sahelian intellectual attitude in the time of modernity. The presentation will rely on a variety of works, from so-called oral literature to Arabophone and Europhone writings and other mediums - film especially - to delve into the trends and tensions that define the Sahel's intellectual engagement with the problems of modernity.

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Paper long abstract:

The United Nations' recognised Sahel African region includes Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. These countries, especially Nigeria are facing security threats. Nigeria, a former British colony that gained independence in 1960 is home to 201 million out of Sahel Africa's 342.3 million populations in 2019. The population is endowed with indigenous knowledge, diverse ethnic, cultural, religious groups and vegetation. As a response to the rising insecurity from religious insurgency, kidnapping, armed banditry, armed robbery and farmers-herdsmen conflicts, Nigeria's federal law enforcement agents have been using non-African conventional knowledge and tools. Yet lives and property are not completely safe. At a point, some state governments engaged local hunters, vigilantes and traditionalists as auxiliary security operatives, but only scanty literature, if any give detailed, reliable and valid analysis of the instances, when local security agents that are users of indigenous knowledge complement federal security agents that often deployed scientific knowledge in securitisation. This paper examines the indigenous knowledge applied; explains why indigenous knowledge is applied; considers the relevance of indigenous knowledge; and identifies the challenges faced by local security operatives when applying indigenous knowledge in the securitisation of Sahel Nigeria. Theoretically the study was underpinned by Auguste Comte's law of three stages. The study was based on qualitative research design and the secondary data were collected from 2009-2019's purposively sampled online newspapers, whose contents were analysed thematically and findings discussed. This study found that indigenous knowledge of surveillance, intelligence gathering, detection and kitting in protective elements were common to local security agents. It was found that the local security operatives complemented the efforts of federal security agents whose regular used of scientific devices failed to completely deter the insurgents, kidnappers, bandits, robbers and attackers of farmers. Study revealed that indigenous knowledge strengthened the securitisation of Nigeria. Again, the study found that the local security agents supported federal security's activities, exposed the secrets of criminals and projected the indispensability of local outfits in the region. The research found poor kitting, training on scientific strategies and government recognition as the challenges experienced by local security agents. In conclusion, the northern Nigeria has state government-backed auxiliary security body that employ indigenous knowledge, skills and tools in neutralising deviants. Recommendations are that local security agents should be remunerated monthly and collaborative security services should continuously be provided by local and federal security operatives in Sahel parts of Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

Niger is a paradox. The country's name remains unfamiliar on the international scene. Its internal social life and everyday discourses construct strong epic identities (domestic and historic) and project time-honored, supposedly immutable values. Yet valuable ancestral knowledges and icons have been lost, silenced or negated in the course of various internationalisations such as moderate Islam, Western colonial violence and post-colonial impact, more recent radical Islamism, or the impact of mas media and social media. Whilst the country is alternately or (episodically) stigmatised in global news, the state continues to struggle with policies of positive national identity construction. What are some of the examples that attest to these social dynamics and cultural processes? How can cultural knowledge and (meta)criticism, creative cultural practice contribute to (re)setting personal and national self-confidence in the Nigérien Sahel?

Paper short abstract:

Climate change effects will be especially grave in the Sahel. Temperatures increase; sustained droughts and desertification affect local livelihoods. A "threat multiplier" is frequently evoked. But questions arise: In which way are these phenomena related? What are local coping strategies?

Paper long abstract:

Climate change effects will be especially grave in the Sahel zone in the next following decades (UNEP, 2011). Temperatures in the area will increase more than the global average -1,5ºC- and sustained droughts and desertification will affect the livelihoods of millions of people, according to IPCC (2019). The logical reasoning is clear: the degradation of the soil aggravates food insecurity, led to instability and violent extremism and drives displacement and human mobility (Myers, 1995). This statement evokes a "threat multiplier" based on climate change-fragility-conflict and migration nexus (Homer-Dixon, 1994). But questions arise: Is this hypothesis accurate? In which way are these phenomena related? Which are the local strategies to cope the environmental degradation?

The EU focuses on the Sahel from this security perspective considering that climate change will intensify the instability of the zone with terrorism expansion, food crises extension and migration flows rising (Barnett & Adger, 2007). Some studies demonstrated, however, that parts of the Sahel have been "re-greening" (Hutchinson et al., 2005). Other predictions indicate that an increase of rainfalls as a consequence of climate change could turn this dry region into a very wet one (Schewe & Levermann, 2017). These countervailing studies are often ignored or undervalued by policymakers and international organizations. This paper deepens in the impact of climate change on livelihoods in Niger and Mali, mostly based on rain-fed agriculture, nomad and transhumance activities, avoiding neo-Malthusian arguments to explain climate risks in the area. From a political ecology approach, the study focuses on local coping strategies to environmental stressors such as mobility, one of the main endemic characteristics of the Western Sahel zone. The article also values the importance of indigenous knowledge and points how to incorporate it in current policies.

[This research is part of the EU funded project CASCADES H2020 programme]

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