Arab Diasporas in Geopolitical Spaces

Imperial Contestation and the Making of Colonial Subjecthood in the Port of Djibouti (1919-1939)

Bibliographic Data

ID3610850
AuthorsSamson A Bezabeh (African Studies Centre, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume225
Issue225
Pages17-38
Publication date2017-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCahiers d études africaines (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-0055 • E-ISSN: 1777-5353
PublisherOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/etudesafricaines.20545
OpenAlexW2761571333
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited10

This article argues that imperial geopolitical contestations were important for the transnational existence of Muslim diasporas of Djibouti during the interwar years (1919-1939). The author examines global geopolitical processes as part of his analysis of diasporic formation in the region. Contemporary studies of the Indian Ocean have viewed diasporas as creating connections between Oceanic systems and focused on discourses, networks, genealogy and cosmopolitanism to explain transnational existence. While the study of diasporas through these lenses is a legitimate point of departure, this article shows how geopolitical contestations at the global level place the region's Muslim community in a different and broader geographical scale of existence. This article examines how Arab Muslim diasporas adopted the language of empires to express political aspirations. It also demonstrates how, through the formation of associations, diasporas engaged with the geopolitical game between competing European colonial powers. Because members of Arab Muslim diasporas were not free agents, living as they were under colonial occupation, geopolitical contestations of empire structured the lives of Muslim Arabs in colonial Djibouti

Colonialism · Cosmopolitanism · Diaspora · Empire · Geopolitics · Political economy · Political geography · Political science · Politics · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Law

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