Description
Book SynopsisTracing social, political, and economic changes among Sahrawi refugees, Sovereignty in Exile reveals the dynamics of a postcolonial liberation movement that has endured for decades in the deserts of North Africa while trying to bring about the revolutionary transformation of a society which identifies with a Bedouin past.
Trade Review"Based upon a diverse and well-developed social network in a context usually closed to foreign researchers,
Sovereignty in Exile is an extraordinary work of ethnographic research. Through detailed empirical analysis and a fresh and informed analytical sensibility, Alice Wilson reopens an important, yet often all too narrow, discussion of what counts as democracy in Africa and other so-called developing regions and states." * Brenda Chalfin, University of Florida *
"This deeply researched ethnography takes the case of Western Sahara and the fusing of a liberation movement (Polisario) and a partially recognized Sahrawi state to make a major contribution to the anthropology of the state. Looking particularly at transformations in the social relations of sovereignty, Wilson offers a fascinating account of control, compromises, and the sometimes uneasy coexistence of revolutionary politics and tribal affinities." * Ilana Feldman, George Washington University *
"
Sovereignty in Exile is a rich and intriguing ethnography that makes a significant contribution not only to refugee studies but also to the anthropology of sovereignty, state power, and tribal identities." * Dawn Chatty, University of Oxford *
Table of ContentsIntroduction. The Social Relations of Sovereignty
PART I. Aspirations
Chapter 1. Hindsight Visions: Tribe and State Power as Projects of Sovereignty
Chapter 2. Revolutionary Foundations: Unmaking Tribes and Making State Power
PART II. Compromises
Chapter 3. Unpopular Law: Tribal, Islamic, and State Law, and the Fall of Popular Justice
Chapter 4. Tax Evasion: Appropriation and Redistribution Without Tax or Rent
Chapter 5. Managing Inequalities: Organizing Social Stratification, or Marriage Reinvented
PART III. Dilemmas
Chapter 6. Troubling Markets: Tribes, Gender, and Ambivalent Commodification
Chapter 7. Party-less Democrats: Electing the Best Candidate or the Biggest Tribe
Conclusion. Revolution as Moral Contract
Appendix 1. Notes on Transliteration and Transcription
Appendix 2. Names of Sahrawi Tribes
Notes
References
Index
Acknowledgments
