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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