About

With this project, I hope to promote greater engagement with the Saharawi oral tradition among Anglophone audiences. I will also be sharing teaching resources on the Saharawi oral tradition, which I hope may be of use to others teaching Spanish or Hispanic Studies in Anglophone contexts. 

The rich oral tradition of Saharawi poet-nomads is in danger due to Saharawis’ exile from their lands since 1975 and to their ongoing war with Morocco. Despite several Saharawis composing in Spanish, the Spanish colonial legacy and writers’ voiced aim to engage foreign audiences with their work, the Saharawi oral tradition and Saharawi literature are largely absent from Hispanic Studies syllabi and journals in the UK and US (as well as from Arabic Studies). The project tries to address this absence by producing field-recordings of Saharawi poetry and recorded life histories of poets, for a dedicated collection held in the British Library Sound Archive (inspired by previous work by Dr Violeta Ruano recording Saharawi music), an e-anthology of transcribed and translated poetry in English, Arabic (Hassaniya dialect) and Spanish, and a suite of open access, online tools for teachers of Hispanic Studies, as well as by organising UK-based literary and poetry events involving Saharawi poets and their works. 

In terms of research, this project focuses on the relationship between poetry and diplomacy in the Saharawi case.  While, historically, Saharawi poetry was traditionally used as a mediation tool between warring Saharawi tribes, there is little research (in the Saharawi case and more broadly) on the relationship between poetry and international relations, or on modern uses of Saharawi poetry for public diplomacy. The Principle Investigator (PI) is carrying out research on these issues as part of the project.