SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This article details the relationship between the Sahara Desert and the prominent national imaginary of Mauritania as “bridge”. It highlights four sedimented layers of this relationship. Firstly, the Sahara Desert provided the architects of the Mauritanian state with a means of insulating themselves from competing secessionist demands prior to independence. Secondly, the urban development process that was initiated in the capital of Nouakchott is conditioned by the city’s desert environment. Thirdly, this urban expansion is today driven by hierarchical social relations which embody the modern national imaginary while reproducing the Sahara’s more antiquated social systems. Lastly, the desert environment provides those on the urban margins with the narrative means of conveying experiences that nuance and reframe the Mauritanian national imaginary.