Salvatore updated 2 papers and a book
Salvatore started following the work of Elena Franchi.
Salvatore started following the work of Sada Mire, University College London, Institute of Archaeology.
Graduate Student, School of World Art and Museum Studies
Thesis Title: An Archaeology of Colonialism, Conflict and Exclusion - the case of Western Sahara
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Dr Joanne Clarke
Prof John Mack |
About
My PhD research stems from archaeological fieldwork I have been involved in, in Western Sahara (formerly Spanish Sahara), examining an extensive pre-Islamic funerary landscape, co-directed by Drs Joanne Clarke and Nick Brooks (UEA). However, the area in which we work, centred around the settlement of Tifariti, is at the heart of a landscape of late 20th century conflict, and is part of a greater landscape which can be described as one of colonialism, conflict and exclusion.
When Spain gave up its colony of Spanish Sahara in 1975, it was annexed by Morocco and Mauritania. This started a sixteen year war with the Polisario Liberation Front (Mauritania withdrew from the territory in 1979) which ended in 1991 with a UN brokered ceasefire. Unfortunately, the dispute has not been resolved and the territory has been partitioned with Morocco administering the western two thirds, and the Polisario declaring a ‘free zone’ in the east. The war has left indelible scars on the landscape, mainly battlescapes made up of numerous field fortifications littered with the detritus of war, and ‘the berm’, a succession of fortified earth and stone walls constructed by Morocco between 1981-82 and 1986, parceling up what was a pastoral desert landscape and excluding pro-independence Sahrawis, now refugees, from the western two thirds of their country.
Archaeology is well suited to trying to understand the ways in which the territory of Western Sahara has been transformed by conflict. This research will ask, and aim to answer the following. (1) How has the Western Sahara landscape been transformed by the war, as manifested by the material remains of conflict? (2) How are the Sahrawis manifesting a re-appropriation of their land, and (3) how do they perceive the transformations that have occurred to their land?
These questions will be investigated through an interdisciplinary, though archaeological study of the conflict landscape of Western Sahara. This will include the use of readily available satellite imagery to plot the growth and spread of the berm, illustrating the extent of Moroccan colonial control and the exclusion of Sahrawis within and outside the territory.
The conflict landscape of Tifariti will be studied in more detail through fieldwork augmented by satellite imagery. This will include a landscape study of the militarisation of the area along with an examination of the way in which the Sahrawis have been re-appropriating the Tifariti area through art festivals, whereby land art has been created, which in turn, has become new archaeological features in the landscape.
Oral histories will be compiled of Sahrawis’ experiences before, during and after the conflict, and similarly, artists during one of the art festivals will be interviewed.
This research explores a modern era conflict landscape, its extent, make up, and meanings outside of the more common euro-centric context of most archaeological studies of 20th-21st century conflict. This research is timely, since a great number of national barriers are at this very moment being raised around the globe, with countries adopting siege mentalities with their neighbours. It will illustrate how the peculiarities of archaeological inquiry can help us understand these contemporary phenomena of exclusion and conflict.
