Mobility in pastoral societies of Northern Mali: Perspectives on social and political rationales
Origines et perspectives des conflits menés par des Touaregs au Mali
Résumé
Since the 1980s, the so-called "nomadic" populations in the regions of Northern Mali and Niger have embarked on an extensive process of settlement. Today they mostly live in villages or "settlement sites". But, at the same time, individuals and small groups among these same populations have considerably enlarged their area of mobility and accelerated the rate and the value of the trade in which they engage. These two phenomena could, at first sight, appear contradictory. But the observation of empirical situations shows, rather, compatibilities, similarities even, between these two concomitant phenomena. Building on innovative debates conducted in geography and sociology, this article puts forward the hypothesis that the building of villages, as well as integration into military bases and barracks, proceeds from (social) rationales of mobility, just as much as transhumance, journeys, migration. Much more than a simple displacement in space, the notion of mobility could describe an "art of doing", a way of being to others and to the world.
L'expression de "problème" ou de "question touarègue", qui revient à chaque nouvel épisode de rébellion déclenchée dans le Nord du Mali, à tel point qu'elle en devient souvent un préambule de la recherche des causes, doit commencer par être déconstruite. Le rappel de quelques faits historiques constitue une première étape en ce sens.