Nomadism and mobility in the Sahara-Sahel: introduction

Abstract

The articles compiled in this issue are based on contributions to the workshop “Nomades et migrants dans l’espace Sahara-Sahel: Mobilité, ressources et développement”, held in Bamako, January 2011. The aim of the workshop was to foster an interdisciplinary debate about systems of mobility and resource utilisation, and about their recent transformations in the Sahara-Sahel region. This region seems particularly well suited for considering these issues and the related questions of local development and regional integration. The present compilation of articles is informed by the question of what empirical studies of different types of “movement” in this particular geographical area can contribute to the on-going and lively discussion on “mobility” in various academic fields.