Desert imaginations : a history of Saharanism and its radical consequences / Brahim El Guabli.

Author/creator Guabli, Brahim El author.
Format Book
PublicationOakland, California : University of California Press, [2025]
Descriptionxix, 309 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
Subjects

Contents Introduction : Genealogies and manifestations of Saharanism -- Spiritual Saharanism : the desert as a fanatical, racialized space -- Extractive Saharanism : everything in deserts is extractable! -- Experimental Saharanism : deserts as a testing ground -- Sexual Saharanism : transgression and impunity in the desert -- "Unity of Creatures" : Saharanism meets desert ecocare -- Epilogue. desert legalese and the path forward.
Abstract "Desert Imaginations traces the cultural and intellectual histories that have informed the prevalent ideas of deserts across the globe. The book argues that Saharanism-a globalizing imaginary that perceives desert spaces as empty, exploitable, and dangerous-has been at the center of all desert-focused enterprises. Encompassing spiritual practices, military thinking, sexual fantasies, experiential quests, extractive economies, and experimental schemes, among other projects, Saharanism has shaped the way deserts are not only constructed intellectually but are acted upon. From nuclear testing to border walls, and much more, Brahim El Guabli articulates some of Saharanism's consequential manifestations across different deserts. Desert Imaginations draws on the abundant historical literature and cultural output in multiple languages and across disciplines to delineate the parameters of Saharanism. Against Saharanism's powerful and reductive vision of deserts, the book also articulates a tradition of desert eco-care that has been at work in desert Indigenous people's literary, artistic, scholarly, and ritualistic practices"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in other formOnline version: Guabli, Brahim El Desert imaginations Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2026] 9780520401808
LCCN 2025015450
ISBN9780520401792
ISBN9780520401785 hardcover
ISBN0520401786 hardcover
ISBN0520401794 paperback
ISBNelectronic book

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