Leiden University Scholarly Publications

Poudiougou, I. (2023)

Appropriation foncière, migrations agricoles et conflits armés en pays Dogon (Mali)

Doctoral Thesis

This thesis describes the socio-political dynamics in Dogon country, in central Mali. Since 2015, this region has experienced an unprecedented phenomenon of armed mobilization. Various insurgent (jihadist) and counterinsurgent (self-defense) groups are fighting to impose new modes of rural governance by means of violence, despite the deployment of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) and contingents of the UN forces (MINUSMA). Using an ethnographic approach and proceeding in processual and analytic manner, this thesis examines the armed mobilizations and the violence they generate as deriving from interactions between several phenomena, notably land.
Depending on historical contingencies, mechanisms of marginalization, inequality and forms of institutional hybridization appear within village communities. In these situations, the principle of primogeniture and autochthony allow segment of society to have access to socio-political privileges and exclude other segments from access to...Show moreThis thesis describes the socio-political dynamics in Dogon country, in central Mali. Since 2015, this region has experienced an unprecedented phenomenon of armed mobilization. Various insurgent (jihadist) and counterinsurgent (self-defense) groups are fighting to impose new modes of rural governance by means of violence, despite the deployment of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) and contingents of the UN forces (MINUSMA). Using an ethnographic approach and proceeding in processual and analytic manner, this thesis examines the armed mobilizations and the violence they generate as deriving from interactions between several phenomena, notably land.
Depending on historical contingencies, mechanisms of marginalization, inequality and forms of institutional hybridization appear within village communities. In these situations, the principle of primogeniture and autochthony allow segment of society to have access to socio-political privileges and exclude other segments from access to land and its resources. The marginalized are forced to migrate or to resist inequalities in various ways, including armed violence, to gain access to land and achieve social and political respectability.
The approach adopted apprehends land, agricultural migration, and armed conflict as interrelated phenomena. Analyzed in relation to the formation of the post-colonial Malian state, they constitute the three main parts of this thesis.
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Land appropriation

Rural migrations

Social inequalities

Land-use conflicts

Armed violence

Dan Nan Ambassagou

Jihadist insurgency, self-defense counter-insurgency

pays Dogon

Central Mali

Sahel

All authors

Poudiougou, I.

Supervisor

Gewald, J.B.; Beneduce, R.

Co-supervisor

Beek, W.E.A. van

Committee

Bruijn, M.E. de; Kaag, M.M.A.; Jansen, J.; Dougnon, I.

Qualification

Doctor (dr.)

Awarding Institution

Institute for History , Faculty of Humanities , Leiden University

Date

2023-10-12