For over 30 years now, the Polisario Front has led the Sahrawi struggle for independence in Western Sahara. Following Spanish decolonization of the territory in 1976, Morocco claimed the territory of Western Sahara leading to a protracted war against the Polisario Front. The 1991 United Nations brokered ceasefire agreement prompted the Polisario to switch from warfare as its main tactic to leveraging international support for Sahrawi self-determination and raising awareness of the conflict. This paper discusses how the international community helps the Polisario Front gain recognition for its cause, the Polisario Front’s tactics for leveraging international support, and the limits of relying on the international community. / text

Refugee studies often focus on the devastating effects forced migration can have on a refugee population, both mentally and physically. This research investigates the case of Saharawis living in refugee camps in south-west Algeria and the social change experienced over 30 years. The method was a case study with qualitative interviews supported with secondary data. The Saharawis went through a period of positive social change, to some a revolution, while living in the refugee camps. The empirical study identifies three theme areas; Education, Women??s rights and Democracy. These circumstances are unlike many other refugee studies, thus providing what may be a unique case of positive social change. The case demonstrates how forced migration of a population may not just be a destructive process, but instead has the potential to reconstruct a society. Theories of social change and unanticipated outcomes are explored. Utilising the theories of Bourdieu and Merton, it is proposed that the Saharawi refugee experience is the unanticipated outcome of forced migration. This thesis explores commonalities and differences between Bourdieu??s study of the Kabyle population, and whether his theory of habitus is applicable. Bourdieu??s theories, heavily criticised for being too structuralist, show their limitations when dealing with positive social change. Bourdieu??s approach can suggest that it is inevitable for refugee populations to spiral into despair. The Saharawi case challenges these presumptions and highlights that neither sociologists nor populations should exclude the possibility of unexpected outcomes. Unanticipated outcomes are an acknowledgement of social change and the fact that at its heart no one can predict the future.

Refugee studies often focus on the devastating effects forced migration can have on a refugee population, both mentally and physically. This research investigates the case of Saharawis living in refugee camps in south-west Algeria and the social change experienced over 30 years. The method was a case study with qualitative interviews supported with secondary data. The Saharawis went through a period of positive social change, to some a revolution, while living in the refugee camps. The empirical study identifies three theme areas; Education, Women??s rights and Democracy. These circumstances are unlike many other refugee studies, thus providing what may be a unique case of positive social change. The case demonstrates how forced migration of a population may not just be a destructive process, but instead has the potential to reconstruct a society. Theories of social change and unanticipated outcomes are explored. Utilising the theories of Bourdieu and Merton, it is proposed that the Saharawi refugee experience is the unanticipated outcome of forced migration. This thesis explores commonalities and differences between Bourdieu??s study of the Kabyle population, and whether his theory of habitus is applicable. Bourdieu??s theories, heavily criticised for being too structuralist, show their limitations when dealing with positive social change. Bourdieu??s approach can suggest that it is inevitable for refugee populations to spiral into despair. The Saharawi case challenges these presumptions and highlights that neither sociologists nor populations should exclude the possibility of unexpected outcomes. Unanticipated outcomes are an acknowledgement of social change and the fact that at its heart no one can predict the future.

Sahrawi communities in the Western Saharan region of northwest Africa have experienced a series of radical shifts over the past century from decentralized nomadic tribal organization to colonial rule under the Spanish Sahara (1884-1975) and annexation by Morocco and Mauritania in 1975. The international dispute over the future of the Western Sahara remains unresolved between the Moroccan government that administers the territory and the Sahrawi opposition that seeks self-determination under the leadership of the Polisario Front. In this context, this dissertation explores the lived experience and social memory of Sahrawis affected by conflict, diaspora, and urbanization over the past thirty-five years by examining multivocal expressions of ethnic and gender identity, nationalism, and citizenship in personal narratives and oral poetry in Hassaniyya Arabic. Through modes of everyday speech and verbal performances, Sahrawis living in the undisputed region of Morocco and the disputed Western Sahara exhibit varying political allegiances linked to tribal and national affiliations and political economic factors. Pro-independence activists negotiate public and clandestine aspirations for an independent state with the realities of living under Moroccan administration while refugees in Algeria employ performance genres to appeal for political and humanitarian support in the international community and maintain communication in the Sahrawi diaspora. Intergenerational perspectives between Sahrawis born before and after the 1975 cleavage reveal key divergences between the older generation that retains an active memory of nomadic livelihoods and pre-national tribal organization, the middle generation affected by a massive shift to urban residence and compulsory postcolonial nationalism, and the younger generation raised primarily in urban environments and refugee camps. Across generations, Sahrawi women have retained a prominent role in maintaining tribal and family ties and serving as leaders in nationalist and social movements.

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This thesis expands on primary field research conducted for my MMus degree. Undertaken in the Saharaui refugee camps of southern Algeria (2004-2005) that research - based on ethnographic data and the analysis of Saharaui music, known as Haul ¹- focussed on the musical system, the social context of musical performance and the music culture in Saharaui refugee camps. This doctoral research examines Saharaui Haul music as practised in Spain and is particularly focussed on its entry, since 1998, into the global market by way of the World Music label, Nubenegra records. The encounter between Saharaui musicians and Nubenegra records has created a new type of Saharaui Haul which is different to that played in the refugee camps. This phenomenon has emerged as a result of western music producers compelling Saharaui musicians to introduce musical changes so that both parties may be considered as musical agents occupying different positions on a continuum of tradition and change. Nubenegra undertook the commodification of Saharaui music and disseminated it from the camps to the rest of the world. A musical and social analysis of the relationship between Nubenegra and Saharaui musicians living in Spain will form the basis of the research in this thesis. In particular, Mariem Hassan is an example of a musician who had her music disseminated through the relationship with Nubenegra and she is promoted as the music ambassador of the Western Sahara. I collaborated with her as a composer and performer on her last album, El Aaiun egdat (Aaiun in fire), in 2012² and gained first hand insight into the relationship between Mariem and Nubenegra. This thesis reflects on this relationship and my role in facilitating this encounter.

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Western Sahara has been in a state of political crisis since Spain granted the territory to Morocco and Mauritania in 1975. While Morocco has attempted to incorporate the region within its borders, the Polisario Front (Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro) has challenged Morocco's claims and proclaimed they are the voice of the indigenous Sahrawi people. Algeria, home to a majority of the Sahrawi refugees, continues to support the Polisario and their goal of independence from Morocco. Yet, does Algeria have an ulterior motive for their actions beyond support for a displaced people? This thesis examines how Algeria has utilized the Western Sahara conflict to undermine Morocco's plans for incorporating the territory. Applying hegemonic stability and rivalry theory to the conflict, Algeria's methods of challenging Moroccan claims are analyzed to see how its actions have weakened the objectives of Morocco towards Western Sahara as well as the perception of Morocco within the Maghreb region and internationally. The thesis suggests that as Algeria continues its support for the Polisario, it may have successfully challenged Morocco's attempt to incorporate the territory within its borders.

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The thesis presents ethnographic data and musical analysis (in the form of transcriptions) of Haul music which is the music style performed by Bedouin societies in Trab el Bidan region (Mauritania, Western Sahara, northern Mali, southern Algeria and northern Morocco). It is based on field research undertaken in Algeria in 2004-05 in the refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria, where Saharaui people (a Bedouin society)live in exile. This research is unique and original as Haul has not, until now, been explored in depth by any scholar. My research on Haul reveals that the changes in Saharaui music in the refugee camps of Tindouf reflect changes in the musical traditions of Bedouin societies as whole; changes that can be traced to the revolution which occurred in Western Sahara in 1975, and changes that are a result of the migrations and life in exile that followed. I argue that these changes occurred due to the transnational experiences undergone by Saharaui people in their forced exile (caused by the Moroccan state) from their homeland in Western Sahara to Algeria. Further, I assert that the invocation of memory in Bedouin musical styles is evidence of past musical practices being retained in contemporary Haul performance, although other musical changes are similarly in progress.