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POETRY, MEMORY, and IDENTITY in SAHRAWI COMMUNITIES by Tara Flynn Deubel

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POETRY, MEMORY, and IDENTITY in SAHRAWI COMMUNITIES by Tara Flynn Deubel Between Homeland and Exile: Poetry, Memory, and Identity in Sahrawi Communities Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Deubel, Tara Flynn Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 10/10/2021 22:47:24 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/146067 BETWEEN HOMELAND AND EXILE: POETRY, MEMORY, AND IDENTITY IN SAHRAWI COMMUNITIES by Tara Flynn Deubel __________________________ Copyright © Tara Flynn Deubel 2010 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2 0 1 0 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Tara Flynn Deubel entitled Between Homeland and Exile: Poetry, Memory, and Identity in Sahrawi Communities and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 11/10/09 Thomas K. Park _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 11/10/09 Mamadou A. Baro _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 11/10/09 Ana M. Alonso _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 11/10/09 Anne H. Betteridge _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 11/10/09 Aomar Boum _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 11/10/09 Julia A. Clancy-Smith Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 11/09/09 Dissertation Director: Thomas K. Park _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 11/09/09 Dissertation Director: Mamadou A. Baro 3 STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Tara Flynn Deubel 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is the culmination of a collaborative effort over several years that involved the patient assistance and utter generosity of many people. I wish to thank the School of Anthropology, the scholarly community at the University of Arizona that has supported my graduate studies, especially my co-chairs, Mamadou A. Baro and Thomas K. Park, and committee members Ana M. Alonso, Anne H. Betteridge, Aomar Boum, and Julia A. Clancy-Smith, and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) for fostering a welcoming and collegial environment for students pursuing studies in the Middle East and North Africa. My research was sponsored by fellowships from the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad program and the American Institute of Maghrib Studies (AIMS). Funding for predoctoral research, Arabic language study, and participation in related conferences was provided by AIMS and the School of Anthropology, Foreign Language Area Studies grants at CMES, Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute, Graduate Student Professional Council, and the Association of Women Faculty at the University of Arizona. Participation in the AIMS dissertation workshop in 2008 provided motivation to surmount the lengthy writing process. The Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and American Council for Learned Societies provided writing fellowships that enabled me to complete the task. Conducting research in this politically complex region of the world required the cooperation of several nations. I gratefully acknowledge the Kingdom of Morocco, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, and the Polisario Front for permitting my research and kindly hosting me. By obtaining access to a wide range of areas in which Sahrawi communities reside, I gained a valuable comparative viewpoint of the current situation of local populations. My intention in this work is to convey the diverse voices and local points of view of research participants from the multiple areas where I worked from an anthropological perspective that seeks to avoid underpinning political bias to research objectives. In the field, I received institutional assistance from the Tangier American Legation Institute of Moroccan Studies, the Moroccan American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange in Rabat, and the Alagaaya Association for Solidarity and Social Development in Akka, Morocco. Several individuals provided mentorship, especially Drs. Abdellatif Bencherifa, Rahal Boubrik, Ahmed Chaib, Azzeddine Kharchafi, and Mustapha Naimi in Morocco and Boubakar Bah and Idriss Attih in Mauritania. Fellow researchers Alice Wilson at the University of Cambridge and Alice Corbet at the Ecole National des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales contributed to my understanding of Sahrawi refugee communities through their intensive fieldwork experiences in Algeria and willingness to share them. 5 Throughout my fieldwork, I was very fortunate to live among people who truly value hospitality and extend it graciously. I cannot adequately convey my appreciation to the kind families and many individuals who shared their life experiences, poetry, and glasses of tea with me. I owe special thanks to the research assistants who helped me learn Hassaniyya and translate findings: Mouloud Jâ, Houssein Wargziz, Soiylam Merzoug, Brahim El Khalil Afaichil, Hayat Fakri, Ahmed Salam ould Moctar, Souleymane, Mohamed Sidina Baba, and Abd salam El Vilaly. My trusted friend Sidi El Bachir Rahmou spent long hours helping me to complete interviews and translations for this project with enthusiasm and dedication for which I am deeply grateful. My fellow graduate students at the University of Arizona have sustained me over the years in Tucson, inspired me with their intellectual and humanitarian endeavors, and provided helpful comments on the dissertation, especially Brian Burke, Anita Carrasco, Allison Davis, Anton Daughters, Karin Friederic, Andrea Jones, Jessica Piekielek, Marie Sardier, and Leah Stauber. I also thank many lifelong friends who have traveled with me in person and in spirit and kept me grounded, in particular Deborah McNamara and ‘Group Afo’ with whom I shared memorable experiences studying abroad in Niger in 1995 that set me on the path of anthropology. Finally, with gratitude and love, I thank my aunt, Deborah Sweeney, for welcoming me to her peaceful home in Spain when I needed respite; and my parents, Charles and Mary Ann Deubel, my sisters Heather, Kristen and Meghan, and my husband, Micah Boyer, for supporting and encouraging me throughout this journey. 6 DEDICATION In loving memory of my grandparents, Marie and Allan Bittner and Monica and Charles Deubel, who taught me to listen for people’s stories and Najma, whose resilient spirit is an inspiration ________ To the Hassani poets and singers whose eloquent art endures and to all the Sahrawi families who graciously invited me to become part of their own— wakhiert bikum. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................................... 10 LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................ 11 ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................. 14 ETHNOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE AND FIELD SITES ............................................................ 22 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 26 Sahrawi family life and integration .......................................................................... 27 Data collection and translation ................................................................................ 34 Methods of analysis .................................................................................................. 36 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......................................................................................... 36 Defining performance............................................................................................... 37 From folklore to ‘ethnography of communication’ .................................................. 38 Social memory..........................................................................................................
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