Desert Imaginations: A History of Saharanism and Its Radical ConsequencesDesert Imaginations traces the cultural and intellectual histories that have informed the prevalent ideas of deserts across the globe. The book argues that Saharanism—a globalizing imaginary that perceives desert spaces as empty, exploitable, and dangerous—has been at the center of all desert-focused enterprises. Encompassing spiritual practices, military thinking, sexual fantasies, experiential quests, extractive economies, and experimental schemes, among other projects, Saharanism has shaped the way deserts not only are constructed intellectually but are acted upon. From nuclear testing to border walls, and much more, Brahim El Guabli articulates some of Saharanism's consequential manifestations across different deserts. Desert Imaginations draws on the abundant historical literature and cultural output in multiple languages and across disciplines to delineate the parameters of Saharanism. Against Saharanism's powerful and reductive vision of deserts, the book rehabilitates a tradition of desert eco-care that has been at work in desert Indigenous people's literary, artistic, scholarly, and ritualistic practices. |
Contents
The Desert as a Fanatical Racialized Space | 32 |
5 | 164 |
Desert Legalese Art and the Path Forward | 196 |
Acknowledgments | 209 |
Bibliography | 271 |
Other editions - View all
Desert Imaginations: A History of Saharanism and Its Radical Consequences Brahim El Guabli No preview available - 2025 |
Common terms and phrases
Abdelrahman Munif Africa Ailleret al-jazā al-Koni Algeria Algiers American André André Gide Arab arid lands Armand army atomic atomique Bélime Berliet Biskra bomb camels cardinal Lavigerie Carretto century Charles de Foucauld Christian colonial construction cultural depicted Desert Imaginations desert spaces ecocare Éditions environment environmental Eugène Fromentin European experimental Saharanism exploitation extractive Saharanism France France's French nuclear Frontex Gerboise bleue Gide Gide's global Henri Henri Duveyrier Hoggar Hommes et mondes human Ibid ideas ideational ecosystem imaginary impact Indigenous industry inhabitants Islam Jacques Jacques Soustelle l'Afrique Laperrine Lavigerie's Lettre literature méharistes Michel militaires military mise en valeur mission Morocco Munif Muslim Nāyliyyāt Neom nuclear experiments nuclear tests Ouled Nail Paris populations racialization Reggane Revue Sahara français Saharanism's sahariennes Sarraut Saudi scholars sexual Saharanism Simiot Société solar energy Soustelle spiritual Saharanism Tanezrouft territory Timbuktu tion transformation Tuareg Tunisia University Press Westworld York