The criticism of methodological nationalism has opened up new ways to conduct research on global and transnational dynamics. Nowadays, the common methodological statement is that societal spaces cannot be regarded as equal to territorial spaces. Prominent methodological proposals are suggested by the global ethnography approach, the cosmopolitan theory, and the transnational approach. While the first combines large-scale ethnography with detailed examinations of everyday life, the second proposes to conduct research simultaneously on different spatial scales, such as global, transnational, national, and local dimensions. And the third, the transnational approach, refers to relational concepts of spatiality. Thus, this conference will link debates on new methodological approaches with the discussion of problematic issues within empirical research on global and transnational transformations.

SARA views the Sahara with a deep-time perspective. The Sahara, the greatest of all deserts, has a volatile climate history which makes the observation of successful and long-term social complexity an extremely significant one. The Sahara, much like the Amazon, is one of the last great unexplored regions in the world. While many nations have sent expedition parties full of explorers and scientists across the vast expanses of desert, in all actuality we are only now just beginning to draw out information about the early complex societies that once inhabited this region.

John Damis was the author of Conflict in Northwest Africa: The Western Sahara Dispute (1983), still a foundational text in the study of that issue.

African borderlands are among the continent’s most creative and most rapidly changing social spaces. Borderlands are the theatre for identity formation and cultural exchange, for violent conflicts and regional integration, for economic growth and sudden stagnation, for state building and state failure. Because their unique position at the margins of two (or more) social and legal spaces offers more flexibility to social actors, borderlands reflect changes on the national level more quickly and more radically than most inland places. This turns borderlands into hotspots of social activity and, on an academic level, into ideal places to study social, political and economic change. In the African context, they are relatively under-studied.

The Center for African Studies at The Ohio State University will sponsor a conference on the territorial origins of African civil conflict and conflict-alleviating institutions that integrate localities into national political and economic development processes. The conference will take place at the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, January 29-30, 2010. The University of Kwazulu-Natal will cosponsor the conference.

The transformation of US/African relations since 9/11, with particular attention to West Africa, will be the subject of study for this conference to be held at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at OSU on October 30-31, 2009. See the project description [PDF] for more information about this event.

Volunteers can participate in both reconnaissance surveys and excavations, although more commonly participate in the former. No experience of archaeology or desert travel is required in order to volunteer for reconnaissance survey work. Excavation work can incorporate both experienced and inexperienced volunteers. See below for more details, for requirements for specific seasons of fieldwork (currently October 2009), and for general information about future field seasons.

On 25-27 September the Middle East Centre at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, will host an international conference entitled “Libya: Legacy of the Past, Prospects for the Future.” The conference will provide a forum to reflect upon Libya’s recent history and current politics. It will bring together leading academics, as well as analysts and diplomats, in order to discuss some central issues that the limited literature on Libya has so far ignored.

While conflict situations in Africa have received significant scholarly and media attention in recent decades, less attention has been paid to the long tradition of peacemaking that kept its societies in peaceful equilibrium. This conference seeks to examine successful handling of potential conflicts that have been resolved in their early stages, as well as the range of ancient, historic and contemporary tools for mediation. WARA/WARC invites proposals on traditional and contemporary methods of avoiding and resolving conflicts in the past and the present.

Politique africaine 114 – juin 2009

Le dossier : Mauritanie, la démocratie au coup par coup

Riccardo Ciavolella, « Entre démocratisation et coups d’État. Hégémonie et subalternité en Mauritanie », pp. 5-23

Olivier Leservoisier, « Démocratisation et renégociations sociales. Les enjeux de la participation politique des groupes d’origine servile haalpulaaren en Mauritanie », pp. 24-43

Marion Fresia, « Les enjeux politiques et identitaires du retour des réfugiés en Mauritanie : vers une difficile “réconciliation nationale” ? », pp. 44-66

Cédric Jourde, « Politique des récits de l’islamisme en Mauritanie : entre “marée montante” et “islamisme kalachnikov” », pp. 67-86

Armelle Choplin et Jérôme Lombard, « La “Mauritanie offshore”. Extraversion économique, État et sphères dirigeantes », pp. 87-104