GLOBAL HUMANITIES Year 5, Vol. 7, 2020 - ISSN 2199-3939 Editors Frank Jacob and Francesco Mangiapane Desert Studies Editorial by Texts b Frank Jacob and Francesco Mangiapane Anja Fischer Antoni a Santos and Chiara Olivier Eryan Pi Joana Lucas Tziona Grossmark Karim Kattan edizioni Museo __ PasqualinoTHE CREATION OF DESERT TOURISM IN MAURITANIA ADVENTURE, NOSTALGIA AND MIMICRY Joana Lucas Throughout this text 1 will discuss how the desert has become the main tourist attraction of postcolonial Mauri- tania, focusing geographically on the Sa hara Desert, and I will recall the French. colonial presence in the territory and the way, I believe, the colonial past actively contributes to the creation of a collective imaginary about the desert and its later promotion to national tourist product.’ Along with a brief genealogy that seeks to identify some of the events that contributed to the consolidation of an im. aginary regarding the desert, I will argue that much of the success of the desert as a tourist attraction is anchored in the acti- vation of a sense of nostalgia linked to the performances of conquest and mapping related to the colonial period Thus I will argue that ‘colonial nostal- gia’ mobilized in the discourse of tourism. promotion is not the product of a collec- tive memory, of either the former coloniz- ers or those who had been colonized, but rather, as Pierre Nora (1984) conceives memory as a “purely private phenome- non’ (Nora 1984: xxiii), I argue following Bissell (2005) that nostalgic discourses circulate in a social terrain where diverse forms of memory are at play and operate in numerous ways in their evocations of @ non-unanimous past: “multiple forms of memory are operating, with diverse temporalities and conceptions of the past 1 This article received financial support under the Strategic Plan ofthe Centro em Rede de Investgagao em Antropo logia (UID/ANT}04038/2015), ‘lng tothe are penton arash howe HuraNTEs YEARS, VOL 7,2020~ SSN 2100-3039 61evoked for vadically different cultural purposes” (Bissell 2005: 219). Taking nostalgia as the breeding ground and the main key to the success of the desert as @ tourism product in Mauritania, I will provide an account of some processes and events that, I believe, have contributed actively to the consoli- dation of ‘desert tourism’ in the country. 1. THE COUNTRY OF “CIEL ET SABLE”: VALUES AND SCALES OF THE DESERT IN MAURITANIA On 28 November 1960, the inde- pendence of Mauritania was officially proclaimed and its first president was Mokhtar Ould Daddah* who would re- main in charge until 1978. Ould Dadd- ah, who had completed law studies in France, was married to a Frenchwoman, MarieThérése Gadroy, and embodied the image of the cosmopolitan statesman returning to Mauritania aiming the mod- emization of the country. Ina news report made on 8 May 1959 bya French television crew, entitled “Matt ritanie: Naissance d'un Etat", the first question is posed to Marie-Thérése Ga- droy — who had then been living in Mau- ritania for four months ~ and the inter viewer, her compatriot, asks what a young Parisian misses in a city still under con- struction ~ Nouakchott ~ in the middle of the desert where you can see nothing much but sky. Marie-Thérése Gadroy an- swers the question categorically: she does not miss anything, absolutely nothing, Later on, Marie-Thérése Gadroy con- firms that there is not much more to be seen than the sky, but shortly thereafter adds that beyond the sky there is also the sand, finally revealing that she discov ered the mystical dimension of the coun- try like a kind of revelation: ‘ciel et sable” [sky and sand} Anterestingly, as we shall see later, it is precisely this idea of detachment allied to the wide landscapes and an apparent ‘mystical dimension’ of the desert, that the discourses promoting postcolonial tourism in Mauritania underpins, trans- forming ‘ciel et sable’ into the most suc- cessful tourism feature in the country. The desert as the epitome of ‘ciel et sable’, assumes centrality in a context where other tourist attractions are scarce, through the reconfiguration of the dis- courses that were produced and repro- duced abundantly by the narratives of conquest and colonial mapping in their carly stage. The transformation of the discourses about the desert, primarily de- scribed as a place of danger, fear and per manent threat, operates with particular success in Mauritania. Here the desert is currently touristically promoted as being ‘pure’ and pristine, but also as a spiritual and harmonious place. 2. DESERT Scate(s): NosTaLcia, COMMENSURATION, AND MIMICRY The idea of the desert as a ‘total’ land- scape has aroused considerable fascina- tion as well as some distress, both present in early colonial accounts. These feelings were also associated to the attempts made to cross it, dominate it, and map it Fora long time, until about the end of the 18 century, the Sahara Desert had repre- sented 2 natural barrier to the West, an unfamiliar land whose geographic reality was unknown and which lent itself to a whole series of myths. These perceptions were largely transformed thanks to the expeditions carried out by Mungo Park, among other explorers, at the end of the 18% century along with the ‘conquest’ of Timbuktu by René Caillié. By the end of the 19" century, the Sahara had already lost part of its status 2 Mokhtar Ould Daddah was born in 1924 in Boutilimit southwest Mauritania, and died in 2003 in Pais, 3 The framework-law of 23 June 1956 had already declared Mauritania 2s an autonomous country. In 1958 the status of autonomy was granted under the "Communauté Francaise’, a politcal association between France and the states ofits colonial empire. On that date Moktar Ould Daddah held the post of President of the Cour. 4 http ina fr/video/CAF91030937/mauritanie-naissance-d-un-etat video html 5 On the creation of Nouakchott in 1958 see, for example: Nouakchott, Cepitale de la Mautitanie: o ans de défi, AANV. Editions Sepia, 62Joana Lucas as an impenetrable space, and had been opened up both physically and ideolog- ically by colonial tools and discourses, processes that enabled the beginning of tourist activity in the beginning of the 20" century. Once explored and mapped, the desert took on a new dimension and became seen as a domesticated space where its geographic boundaries were subject of familiarity. But the appropriation of the desert as. a commodity promoted by travel age cies, or conceived as an ‘imaginary place’ responding to the needs of a consumer society increasingly tormented by the ‘evils of civilizatior’, is something more recent which is translated in the way the desert has reconfigured its reputation and occupies nowadays a privileged place in the ‘western imaginary’ as a space of ‘escape and introspection. The renewed incursions in the desert, real or imaginary, recognize it as a terri- tory which, as in the colonial period, is important to control, tame and circum- scribe. Consequently, the desert quickly obtained the status of ‘gymnasium’ or ‘amusement park’, reacquiring the status of “pleasure periphery” (Turner and Ash 1976) that it had during colonial rule.* Thus, for the Western elite who ide alized an incitement with a physical and emotional dimension, the desert emerged as the perfect territory with an ‘exotic’ di mension, encompassing the postulates of ‘modern tourism’ as stated by Nelson Graburn (1978): “The rewards of modern tourism are phrased in terms of values we now hold up for worship: mental and physical health, social status, and diverse, exotic experiences.” (Graburn 1978: 24) This is how countries like Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria started to become the main destinations for desert tourism (or discovery tourism) allowing the tour- ist to test all his/her limits (both physical and emotional) imbued with an imagi nary related to the period of colonial con- ‘Tite Creamion oF Deseaer Turis iN MAURITANIA, ‘quest that repeatedly refers to a scenario of risk, deprivation and sactifice. However, as mentioned before, the imaginary of the desert as a place of threat was already present in colonial and pre-colonial accounts, as was the very idea, so common in contemporary tour ism, of the deserts lack of authenticity’ Reading the travel accounts ofthe colonial and pre-colonial period, one may think that tourists have not invented anything, They only confirm the stereotypes and replay the great myths that existed prior to mass tourism. for example, their recurring disappointment that they had not experienced the true desert was already for: ‘mulated in the same terms in the nineteenth and early twentieth century's accounts. (Cau: vin-Verner 2007: 23) [My translation) To overcome the alleged ‘lack’ of au- thenticity of tourist experience in the desert, contemporary tourist promotion seeks to activate collective memories re- lating to an idealized colonial period. Thus, colonial narratives as builders of a contemporary tourist imaginary flourish in many territories, but perhaps more successfully in those marked by the impe- rial epics of conquest, as is the case of the Napoleonic invasions of Egypt in 1798 Donald Cole and Soraya Altorki reflected precisely on postcolonial Egypt, which led them to reflect on the creation of a tour ist destination largely substantiated by the possibility of replication of colonial performances: “With some exceptions, the present-day foreign tourist to Egypt follows much the same itinerary as his or her nineteenth or early twentieth century predecessor” (Cole and Altorki 1998: 163) In fact, there is colonial mimicry that is discursively built for the consumption of Western tourist and seeks to replicate the paths and the imaginary of colonial conquest, satisfying and responding to a form of imperial nostalgia (Rosaldo 1989), and at the same time provides revisiting a (seemingly) glorious past. This nostalgia, as William Bissell (2005) 6 On tourism on Mauritania during French colonial administration see Lucas (2016). 7 Many travel agencies refer to desert tourism as ‘discovery tourism, thereby suggesting that the desert may sill be 4 territory where there are places and landscapes to discover, 63points out, is only operative in certain historical and spatial contexts as it evokes the disruptions of the present: Nostalgia is shaped by specific cultural con cers and struggles; and, with other forms of memory practice, it can only be understood in particular historical and spatial contests. But nostalgia also operates with crucial difference: rather than evoking commonality and continue ity it works as a mode of social memory by emphasizing distance and disjuncture, using these diacritics of modernity as a means of crt ‘cally Raming the present. (Bissell 2005: 216) But in a context of colonial nostalgia tourism agencies seek to ‘sell’ the desert myth that fills the nostalgic imagery of the contemporary Western traveler. In- deed, and coming back to Cauvin-Verner (2007): “Of all the Saharan mythologies, the colonial epic is probably one of the most deeply rooted in their (the tourists] imagination.” (Cauvin-Verner, 2007:51) [My translation] However, nostalgia should not be seen only as an exercise of revisiting a glorious past, but rather as a social practice that mobilizes various symbols of that same past, enabling at the same time reconfig- trations of the present. Thus, nostalgia can be perceived as a reaction ~ to mo- demity, to consumption, to the ‘end of history’, to capitalism, to globalization = whose source lies in specific and yet distinct historical contexts, and which is as Bissell (2005) states, particularly anchored in a linear sense of historical time: “Nostalgia (colonial or otherwise) does not flower in just any soil. Certain factors are necessary for its emergence. A sense of linear historical time is essential. Ifhistory ends in redemption or if history cycles around in eternal return, then nos- talgia becomes redundant” (Bissell 2005; 221) Therefore the ‘colonial epic and the desert myth(s) are a set of imaginative resources provided by the past confer ring value to desert landscapes, while introducing the questions of distinction (Bourdieu 1979) among its visitors: “The Saharan myth gives desert landscapes a clear added value. In conjunction with the symbolic plan of the values of asceti- 64 cism and adventure, the Saharan journey is addressed to a restricted population anxious for distinction.” (Roux 1996: 138- 139) [My translation] In general terms the consumption of supposedly mythical and initiatory plac- es, as the desert is described and pro- moted, constitutes a way of acquiring social distinction. Thus, the desert is not presented only as a product per se, but is shaped to respond the needs of a socie- ty seeking for modalities of distinction (Bourdieu 1979) in the context of an ac- celerated exhaustion of the values of the consumer society. Thus, the creation of ‘desert tourism’ contains the attempt of appropriation of a space, whether in a bodily or rhetoric way. This enterprise encompasses and mobi- lizes various types of ‘feelings’ towards the territory: if on the one hand there is an intention to discover the desert, on the other there is the intent to dominate it. For Michel Korinman and Maurice Ronai (1980) the ambivalence between affec- tion and impulse vis-a-vis the desert was present among colonial and pre-colonial explorers when confronted with the ter ritory, They mobilized affection: fasci- nation, emotion and pleasure, but also strongly mobilized impulse: conquest, ‘pacification’ and colonialism. Unlike colonial explorers and admin- istrators, tourists are encouraged to mobi- lize affection on a greater scale regarding the desert. However, they are told by tour. ism promoters that they too can conquer and control (even if ephemerally) the ter- ritory. The touristic approach conciliates affection and impulse within an attempt of appropriation of the desert, which is often expressed through gaze and other sensory devices, but also through the ac- counts that tourists produce: However superficial it might be, the tourists rapport with the desert is no less pragmatic. It resolves the tension between the attraction for the exoticism of the arid (affect) and the practical necessities ofthe visit (impulse) in an aesthetic mode, that i to say, by distancing ‘Tourism appropriates the desert through gaze, to restore it, in return, in the form of obser-Joana Lucas vations and accounts. (Korinman and Ronai 1980: 81) [My translation] But it is in the idea that the desert is originally a territory that allows inex- haustible ‘conquest and adventure’ that is based much of the tourist message. In the end the desert is sold as a territory that can be permanently (eternally?) ex- plored and ‘rediscovered. However, in addition to being promot- ed while geographically immeasurable, the desert is also, in the language of tour- ism, an ‘immutable’ space. The idea of the desert as a perennial space where the past mingles with the present fascinates its new ‘users’. As Michel Roux refers on the idea of the ‘eternity’ of the desert “What is offered to the traveler is less an exploration of the present ~ a space with its men and their preoccupations ~ than an opportunity to reconnect with the past by immersing oneself in a space that has remained identical from all eternity.”’ (Roux 1996: 122) [My translation] For the tourists, furthermore, the de- sert experience often replicates initiatory rites and is recurrently the occasion for a contact with a mythological and pris- tine nature. In this contact is expected that the rupture with routine is operated, emotionally overpowering the tourist’s daily experiences and, as Michel Roux points out, providing a ‘change of scale’ of one’s existence: ‘The experience in the desert is... frst a change of scale, emotional at frst, but also spatial and temporal. In these unlimited spaces, the emo- tions of the traveler are pushed to their parox ysm: desolation and joy no longer have limits and find hyperbolic expressions; the beautifl becomes sublime, the monotony makes us en: visage nothingness, the incident brings trage dy, (Rowx 1996: 15) [My translation) But in present days the desert has many different scopes and has become prolific in numerous touristic proposals, many consisting essentially in its trans- formation into the ‘gymnasium’ of the ‘Tre Creanion oF Deseer Tourism IN MAURITANIA West, Numerous touristic proposals of fer a wide range of sports, from the most radical and physically demanding (such as fourwheel drive off-road vehicles and rallies) to the most contemplative (such as yoga and meditation). But for tourists facing the inopera- bility of the desert founding accounts, whose myths insist on mysticism, adven- ture and exoticism, can the desert not be a disappointment? Can the desert not be a ‘misunderstanding’, as Corinne Cau- vin-Verner asks? Is the desert a misunderstanding? It is not ‘empty enough to function as a mirror, nor wild enough to symbolize the boundary of the civilized world. It is not populated by warriors of disquieting prestige, but by poor shepherds and professional guides who, though prepared to the urges of tourists, struggle to reinforce the metaphorical projections oftheir clients Contrary to what the West thought, the desert is no longer - or perhaps never has been ~ the space of radical otherness. From this absence is bom the melancholy of the travelers, inev itably disappointed. (Cauvin-Verner, 2007:65) [My translation} 3. AND YET... THE DESERT |S INHABITED Precisely because the desert can be- come a misunderstanding, it is impor. tant to emphasize that the fascination with the desert that fed (and still feeds) the Western collective imaginary is not universal. The populations that inhabit or daily traverse the desert do not attrib- ute it, in most cases, the same value. It is precisely this idea of value that worth discussing, assuming that there is an asymmetry between tourists and autoch- thonous populations concerning their perceptions of the desert. For tourists the desert is the territory that would al- low them experiences in the antipodes of their everyday lives and source of abso- lute sovereignty (Bonte 2010: 91). However, for local populations the desert represents a territory that has to be daily crossed, a journey that is not ex: empt from dangers and difficulties, Even 8 Michel Roux also refers the importance of sand as a metonymn forthe desert, and as an element that helps brin: ging us back to the Sahara past, (RoUx 1996: 35) 65desert boundaries can be different for tourists and its inhabitants: “But what the Westerners hardly imagined, so sure were they of being the center of the world of knowledge and truth, that for the Sa haran populations to live in the Sahara, to traverse the desert in all directions and transport merchandises, was a daily exer- cise, altogether banal, although difficult and often dangerous. The desert had its own rules of social, ecological and politi- cal life.” (Gast 1988: 165) (My translation] ‘Along with Marceau Gast, some au- thors have reflected on local populations perceptions of the desert which, among other conceptions, identifies the desert as an emply and sterile land (Kile) only pop- ulated by ‘supernatural beings’ (djinns; ahl le-khle)®, as Sébastien Boulay (2010) points out for Mauritania. In fact, the danger (or part of the dan- ger) of displacements through the desert is originated by the presence of these ‘su- pernatural beings’ associated with emp- tiness: “In Moorish society, the journey is conceived as dangerous because it consists in crossing an ‘empty’ space, the privileged domain of the djinns. (Boulay 2009:100) (My translation]. It should be noted though that from the moment the desert has been more regularly traveled and crossed, its ‘emptiness’ is disappear. ing and there seems to be no occasion for the djinns: “When I once asked a nomad if it would be possible for me to witness a demonstration by the genie of the desert, he replied that since cars and other ma- chines had penetrated all over the Saha- 1a, and planes traveled daily in the skies, most of the genies had emigrated else- where.” (Gast 1981: 81) [My translation] But it was not just the devices of civi- lization that disturbed the ‘emptiness’ of the desert with their engines and noises. ‘The increasingly intense and widespread presence of tourists - transforming the desert into a workplace - has also recon- figured the value attributed to the territo- ry by its inhabitants. Sebastien Boulay (2006), when refer- ring specifically to the Mauritanian Adrar, reflects of the inversion of the desert’s val ue and its status transformation from the ‘moment it becomes considered a ‘useful’ space. This inversion derives precisely from the increased presence of tourists, and the possibility of economic and mon- tary incomes associated with the desert: “Beingaa space overvalued by tourism, the desert landscape in Adrar... seems to have a different value for the people of this re- gion. While these areas are traditionally considered to be dangerous outdoor spac- es, today they are seen as ‘useful’ spaces as they are traveled by groups of tourists accompanied by Mauritanians.” (Boulay 2006: 79) [My translation] In spite of the unquestionable hu- man presence in the desert, the West: em representations did not always contemplate the inclusion of its inhab- itants in the accounts produced about the desert. Indeed, it is difficult to determine the moment the desert be- came scenario and subject of multiple chronicles and texts, in a first moment as a territory of confrontation and dan- ger and later as a place of mystical, physical and emotional dazzle. ‘However, it cannot be denied that lit- rary production from the first half of the twentieth century embodies an acquis that profoundly marked contemporary perceptions of the desert, and especially those that later came to be mobilized by a tourism industry. In the literary acquis on the Sahara some texts are well known, like those of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Michel Vieuchange, or those of Théodore Monod and Odette du Puigaudeau in which the territory of Mauritania acquires some centrality. In some of these texts the designation ‘Sahara’ often overlaps with categories that refer to national borders, {9 See the French fiction movie “Djinns" (2010, Hugues Martin and Sandra Martin), classified as a horror move, in which a platoon of French soldiers set off on a mission tothe Algerian desert and beings”: the dns 66 confronted with “supernaturalJoana Lucas / The Creation oF Destser Tourism IN MAURITANIA that the Sahara as a transnational territo- ry tends to ‘swallow’ and erase. Therefore it's important to remember the role of lit erature and cinema in the dissemination (and creation) of the Sahara as a place of adventure (Beau Geste (1939), La Bandera (1935), LAtlantide (1932), among others). This overlapping can also be observed regarding the definitions used by con temporary tourism to designate Sahara inhabitants, often generically labelled “men of the desert’ or even ‘people of the desert”®, If the term ‘Moor’ is recurrent: ly used in colonial accounts to represent the inhabitants of an immense space, the language of contemporary tourism by re- peatedly use the term ‘people of the de- sert,, clearly insists on an association of desert inhabitants with their surround ing physical space, naturalizing them by means of man/nature dichotomy. However, it should be noted that in many tourist contexts the discursive nat- uralization of the ‘people of the desert’ has led to a more consistent ‘ethnograph- ic equivalent. In the process of termino- logical adequacy to the tourist market the ‘Tuareg’ identity emerges as a metonym for ‘people of the desert’, appropriated in some regions and mobilized for the tour- istarena, as was the case in southern Mo- rocco (Cauvin-Verner 2007). ‘Thus, in many regions where the de- sert was consolidated as the main tourist attraction, many social actors in the tour- ism arena have incorporated the ‘Tuar eg’ identity — often hiding their national, tribal and geographical belongings (Cau vin-Verner 2010: 121) - because they con sider Tuareg’ identity as the one that best serves tourists’ expectations and desires, Indeed, for most tourists the “Tuareg” identity is distinct from the ‘Arab’ iden- tity: it is less politically and religiously connoted, more ethnographic and, in the end, more ‘exotic." However, the strate- gic appropriation of the ‘Tuareg’ identity is not exempt from contradictions, as well as handling with this identity, as Corinne Cauvin-Verner points out: Tourists want to confirm the alterity of the ‘people of the desert’, but those working in the ‘ourisin arena must not claim to be Muslims at the risk of being taken for fanatics, They ‘must not be called ‘Sahrawi’ to avoid appear. ing as ‘rebels’ likely to threaten traveler's safe- ty. They ate therefore comfortable to declare themselves as Tuaregs, a neutral ‘labeling’ that would attest to their authenticity, (Caw vin-Verner 2010: 123) [My translation} But, contrary to what Cauvin-Verner argues, | do not believe in the neutrality of the Tuareg ‘labeling’. In touristic con texts, the Tuareg identity can be an effec- tive asset through the capitalization of its ‘exoticism’, and a powerful authenticity provider. At the same time this ‘exoti- cism’ is reinforced through peculiarities such as the alleged emancipation of the ‘Tuareg woman, being the Tuareg socie- ty often presented as matriarchal”, as it functions for tourists as an element of fascination given some preconceived ide- as of women’s role in ‘Islamic societies’, Undoubtedly several factors contribut- ed to the consolidation of the Mauritanian desert as a tourist product. Among others I would like to emphasize the importance of the rally as a key element to the repli ation of the ‘colonial épopée’ contribut- ing to the mystification of the desert as a space of ‘adventure’ and ‘discovery’. 0 This designation ultimately refers to gender dichotomies, taking into account that its actually men who gene- rally assume the frontstage (MacCannell, 1973 of touristic activity in these geographical contexts, Precisely because there is such a gendered segmentation regarding tourism activity, cases that subvert this normalization also beco- me examples of success, See, inthis respect, the case study of Cardeira da Silva (2006) on a hostel ran by a woman, in Ouadane (Mauritania). 11 Itshould be noted however that Sébastien Boulay has a different view regarding the presence of Islamic teligion in tourist contexts He states that in Mauritania the daily practice of religion is perceived by tourists as a manifest tion of authenticity. (Boulay 2010) 12 For a more in-depth reading on gender issues among the Tuateg see, among others, the works of Helene Clau: ddot-Hawad (1993); Paul Pandolf (2004); Anja Fischer and Ines Kohl (20%0), 674. AFRICAN RALLIES: ADVENTURE “AND NOSTALGIA IN A POSTCOLONIAL Territory believe that the Paris-Dakar Rally has contributed to a large extent in shaping Western perceptions of Mauritania, and the television images that it has produced operated unequivocally for that purpose. It is precisely on the Rally as an organ- ized form of temporary occupation of the desert, but also as an active and powerful producer of a set of images linked to its landscapes that I will reflect. If, as already seen, the desert contains ‘an initiatory dimension that often acquires contours of physical challenge, itis also frequently perceived as a place without constraints and limitations, The suprem- acy of the automobile performance over the desert contributes to the idea that the desert is no longer an obstacle, an achieve- ment abundantly celebrated by the first automobile expeditions in the Sahara." From the 1950s on, already in the context of decolonization of African ter titories under French occupation, an era of rallies and automobile expeditions be gan. Most likely marked by certain nos- talgia for the colonial performances of adventure and technological superiority, butat the same time enchanted by the ex- oticism of the landscapes, this new peri- od expressed the reaffirmation of the AE rican territory as one of the West's most successfull amusement parks. Rallies consolidated in a new era of de- sert uses, which leads us back not just to the definition of ‘pleasure peripheries, but also to tourism as a form of imperialism as stated by Dennison Nash (978), and to Korinman and Ronai (1980): “The Sahara will also be the great adventure ground for France, its ersatz Far West.” (Korinman| and Ronai 1980: 80) [My translation) But it was not only France as a former colonial power that used Aftican tertito- ries as an escape place, expressed largely through the supremacy of the automo- bile. However, no rally had the same me- dia impact as the ‘Paris-Dakar’ conceived by Thierry Sabine. Through a rally such as the Paris-Dakar we can see how was operated the inclusion of Mauritania on postcolonial and nostalgic routes, and how the rally incorporates, in its praxis and language, a notorious mimicry of the colonial performances. 4.1 THE ‘PaRIs-DakAR’ AND THE MYSTIQUE ‘OF THE ‘MoDeRNIzED' DESERT The Paris-Dakar Rally comprises a series of characteristics that allude to an idealization of the desert, within which the longings of Western societies are translated and transposed to the Iand- scape through an economic-based sport event. The desert is perceived as a space where the automobile, so often assumed asa symbol of escape and synonymous of social status, can assume its ‘true func: tion’ without constraints. Hence, the desert appears as the ul: timate space of self-determination and the ultimate stronghold for total escape: “The rally is going to be defined in oppo- sition to the norms of our civilized world; itmeeds a virgin landscape, a field of con- frontation for freer and more heroic au- tomobile practice. The absence of roads and speed controls guarantee the hope of mobility without constraints. The Dakar reinvests the automobile with its dream- like function: it is above all an escape.” (Roux 1996: 146) (My translation] But beyond being symbol of adven- ture, there is also an important initiatory dimension that is ostensibly present in an event like the Paris-Dakar. The idea of the rally as a test for overcoming both physical and emotional limits brings us back to its contribution to an idea of ‘renewed exist- ence’. The rally performance is conceived as a kind of rebirth that gives meaning 35 In particulas, through the expeditions ‘Crosiére Noite 1924-1935) and CITRACIT (1924-1935) that matked the frst period of enthusiasm for the desert as a scenario for car rallies (Atidowin-Dubteuil 2004; Murray Levine 2009), 14 As Pascal Winzenrieth explains: "In an automobile world where freedoms ae stifed under legislative and re. gulatory arsenal, Paris-Dakar gives back the carts fll dimension” (Pascal Winzenrieth "Equipe, January 8, 1991) ‘Quoted in Roux (1996: 14). [My translation} 68Joana Lucas | Tue Casson or Dest Tourist iN MAURITANIA to life, and the desert as a physical and mythological space appears as a place of redemption, as Michel Roux states: “The Dakar is a space of rupture that reproduc es the initiatory scheme: death to the pro- fane world, suffering and rebirth. In the shadow of the civilized world the rally op- poses the light of the deserts salvation.” {Roux 1996: 147) [My translation] The discourse conveyed by the Par is-Dakar assumes the idea of the desert as an initiatory place, where endurance tests can give meaning to life through physi- cal suffering and ordeal: “The desert dis- played in the “Paris-Dakar” is not a set of marvelous and unreal landscapes that belong to primordial time, but a space painfully experienced. ... The desert is a land of suffering; it is from this suffering that the initiates are born. ... The compet- itor revives the tradition of the Méhariste officer for whom the desert is first of all a territory of obstacles.” (Roux 1996: 153) [My translation] ‘At the same time, the Paris-Dakar is imbued with the same colonial nostalgia that characterizes much of the contempo- rary touristic discourse on the desert, in which imperial expeditions, such as the “Crosiére Noire,” punctuate an imaginary of conquest that can now be replicated andjor mimicked. The fundamental dif. ference between rallies like the Paris-Da kar and expeditions like the “Crosigre Noire” is its sophistication and moderni- zation as well as international media cov- erage, as Corinne Cauvin-Verner points out: “Sponsored sports events with me- dia coverage still engage Westerners in the late twentieth century to follow in the footsteps of the adventurers from the past. The Paris-Dakar Rally was launched with the slogan: A challenge for those ‘who leave a dream for those who remain.” (Cauvin-Verner 2007: 57) [My translation] While maintaining its nostalgic di- mension, the Paris-Dakar continuously changed its configuration during forty years of existence, An analysis of its itin- eraries is useful to realize the health of the relations between France and some of the counties that were part of the rally, name- ly Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. However, an analysis of the changes in the Paris-Da- kar itineraries also leads us to understand how Mauritania first integrated the rally, and how its presence in the cartography of the rally was managed: at first timid and insignificant, and central later on. In fact the Paris-Dakar was for many (participants and viewers) their first con- tact with the landscapes of Mauritania, through television. Thus, it is important to mention the role Paris-Dakar played presenting Mauritania to the world: al- though Paris-Dakar included Mauritania in its itinerary since 1983, it was only ten years later, in 1993, the territory became central and relevant in the global frame- work of the rally and crossed complete- ly from north to south. It should also be noted that the images of Mauritania that have been circulating in the context of Paris-Dakar may have been an important stimulus for tourism practice. In 1996, just three years after Mauri- tania became the main territory for the Paris-Dakar, the first charter flights be- gin to arrive at Atar (in the northeast of the country). This moreover coincides with the nomination of four Mauritanian towns Ouadane, Oulata, Chinguetti and Tichit ~as UNESCO world heritage sites by the initiative of the Fondation Nationale pour la Souvegarde des Villes Anciennnes. I will not discuss here the processes and effects related to the heritagization of the Mauritanian “Villes Ancienmes,” however it is important to mention their importance in the intensification of tour ist activity from 1996 onwards. Indeed the political economies of heritagization and the dynamics they generate were vi tal to ‘open’ Mauritania to a wider public, as Pierre Bonte states: “Before the en- thusiasm for the desert the country was hardly known outside ... the attraction for the culture that flourishes in the “Villes 55 Also known as Villes Anciennes, the ancient ksour of Oualata, Tichitt, Ouadane and Chinguetti were nominated a8 UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites in 1996. For more information see: http jwhe-unesco.or/f/lst/750 69Anciennes” listed as world cultural herit- age by UNESCO, and the annual ‘épopée’ of Paris-Dakar, made it appear on small western screens and started to feed local tourism.” (Bonte 2010: 89) [My transla. tion] 5. STRATEGIES, PROCESSES AND DI- SCOURSES OF POSTCOLONIAL TouRI- SM IN MAURITANIA: DESERT, HERITA- GE AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION: Focusing on how the desert was built as a tourist product, it is important to go back in time. The scarcity of monuments or other material attractions instigators of most tourist tours’ led, in the case of West Africa under French colonial rule, to the insistence on a dose relationship be- tween tourism, nature and ethnography, perpetuating and consolidating the image of a “mysterious” and “perennial” Africa through the folklorisation of populations, cultural manifestations and landscapes. If during the colonial period Mauri- tania was touristically promoted mainly through the possibility of hunting prac- tice” and ‘ethnographic’ tourism, it was only after independence that the desert was glimpsed as a potential tourist attrac- tion. In a bilingual tourist publication (French/English) edited in Nouakchott, the desert appears as one of the main attractions in Mauritania, emphasized through the romantic and metaphorical way it was described: “The Great Sahara Desert whose waves of white and blonde sand come to die like foam-flecked opals at the foot ofthe grey massifs of the Adrar and the Tagant” (Visit Mauritania/Come in Mauritania, n.d) The text also empha- sizes the diverse geographic realities of the country, combining desert and forest, insisting that diversity, from the tourist's point of view, would not be lacking in Mauritania: “The choice is wide for the visitor eager for various sites: the North with its long sand dunes whose white- ness and purity fascinate; the river where the chaotic entanglement of mimosas, lianas and green curtains of mangroves breathes something of the great African forests..." (Visit Mauritania/Come in Mauritania, n.d.) However, the tourist discourse on Mauritania was not based on dichotomies such as desert/forest or aridity/profusion, The country’s tourism promotion was es- sentially grounded on the elevation of the desert as main national attraction. This strategy, largely implemented by interna. tional tourism operators, determined and conditioned the development, language, growth and consolidation of tourism. In 1987, SOMASERT (Société Mau- titanienne de Services et Tourisme) was created as a subsidiary of SNIM (Société Nationale Industrielle et Miniére}.° SO- MASERT was responsible for a long pe- riod by the tourism sector in Mauritania, and functioned as well as the privileged in- terlocutor for international tour operators. Nevertheless, it was only in 1994 that an initiative to coordinate and organize the tourism sector was clearly expressed through the publication of a “Déclara- tion de Politique Générale du Tourisme” (Roullier and Choplin 2006), along with the creation ofa “Ministere du Commerce del’Artisanatet du Tourisme,’ followed by a law regulating the sector in 1996. At that time the main issues for the country's development were established, as well as some requirements: tourism should re- spect the country Islamic and cultural values, as not jeopardize its stability and balance (Roullier and Choplin 2006). 16 On the importance of heritage as a tourist instigator see, among others: Lowenthal (2985), Timothy and Boyd (2003), Lasansky and MeLaren (2004). 17 The promotion of hunting as a major tourist activity inthe territories of French West Africa may be perceived as 4 mimicry of the tourism promotion carried out within the British colonial territories in Africa, which had safaris 4s its main attraction. On safaris asa practice of British colonial tourism, see Staples (2002). 18 Visite la Mauritanie/Come in Maucitania, Imprimerie jika, Nouakchott. 19 SNIM is the successor of MIFERMA (Société des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie) created in 1952 by the French colonial administration to exploit the country’s mineral resources. In 1974 MIFERMA’s shares were redeemed by the Government of Mauritania, thus creating SNIM and nationalizing the company. 20 Law n® 96-023 of7 July 1996. 70Joana Lucas The adoption of laws and decrees concerning the formalization of the tour- ist activity continued in the following years. In December 2000 the six-vol- ume “Schéma Directeur Touristique” was published, containing the result of an analysis and survey carried out on the country’s infrastructures and regulations. In July 2003, almost a decade after the creation of the “Ministére du Commerce de VArtisanat et du Tourisme,” the “Office National du Tourisme” was founded as an intermediate administrative structure responsible for managing tourism at a national level, and promoting Mauritania asa tourist destination. It should be noted that these national tourism administration structures were conceived and set in motion after the in- crease growth of tourism in the country, whose milestone can be placed at the end of 1995 in the Adrar region. At the same time, it should be noted that touristic ac- tivity in Mauritania appeared belatedly in relation to other ‘desert tourism’ destina- tions, and eventually capitalized on the insecurity climate created for countries such as Algeria, as well on the exhaus tion resulting from tourist massification in southern Morocco.” SOMASERT operated for about ten years having as its main partner a French ‘solidarity tourism organiza- tion: PointAfrique. Point-Afrique was es- tablished in 1996 as a travel cooperative centered on the figure of Maurice Fre- und, the director and main driving force for promoting destinations and circuits He proposes a tourist deontology as well as ‘chartes éthiques du voyageur’ towards a “moralization of tourism’ as defined by Butcher (2003). One year before setting ‘Tue Creation oF Deseer TourisM 1s MAURITANIA ‘up Point-Afrique, Maurice Freund visited Mauritania by invitation of Air Afrique and SNIM, who proposed him to under- take the organization of tourist circuits in the desert: “For the development of tourist circuits in the desert, M. Freund is responsible for carrying out studies in collaboration with the economic oper: ators already in place.” (Freund 1995:1) [My translation] Maurice Freund's mission took place from 24 July to 2 August 1995, and as a re- sult of that mission the “Rapport Maurita- nie” was written, The report begins by re- viewing the tourism sector in Mauritania, and then moves on to concrete proposals for the conception of tourist circuits. The report became the embryo of a new era for tourism in Mauritania, and the intent to promote the country as a destination of ‘desert tourism’ was born as a counter. point to the growing massification of de. sert circuits and tours in other places. 1 TWe "RAPPORT MAURITANIE” In this report Maurice Freund, in a section devoted to the promotion and marketing of Mauritania as a tourist desti- nation, deplores the lack of books “of high aesthetic quality on Mauritania” (Freund, 1995:17) and proposes that several insti- tutions (UNESCO, Air Afrique, SNIM) coordinate in order to publish a ‘Tuxu- ry edition’ on northern Mauritania that could de used as a ‘visiting card’ in order to seduce and invite potential tourists. Further on Freund refers the impor- tance he attributes to literature as a po- tential incentive for tourism, especially the role literature can play in the creation of scenarios easily mobilized for tourism promotion, by providing a kind of ‘iter 21 Such as Decree n® 97-050 of § April 1997, regulating the activity of tourist guide in Mauritania, or Decree n° 98. (026 of 16 July 1998, regulating the terms of accommodation and catering establishments in the country. 22 As confirmed by Corinne Cauvin-Verner (2007): "Since tour operators have deemed it preferable to cancel thei Circuits in Algeria (1993), they have diverted the flows to Morocco and especially to Mautitania, which offers vast and much larger wildemess spaces than the Moroccan south” (Cauvin-Verner 2007: 114) [My translation) 25 Most tourists expect the agencies that promote circuits inthe desert to be governed by an ‘ethic that they asso Ciate with te desert asa ‘pure’ and pristine place, In this regard, Sébastien Boulay states: "The ‘desert’ asa product, which must follow the representation tourists have ofthe Sahara, presuppases a certain ethic ofthe tour operators in the matket, who must sella tourism that is ‘respectful towards the environment and local culture, and‘solidar- ty’ in other words advocating cooperation between the rich and prosperous North, from which tourists originate, and the South, often presented in the West as wretched” (Boulay 2006: 73) (My translation) nary memory’. In the case of Mauritania, Freund regrets the lack of centrality the country has within the field of a ‘desert lit erature’: “Théodore Monod can serve as a guide (there is already a book on Théodore Monod) in the desert, and even if Maurita- nia appears in a good light init, it does not appear in a sufficiently impactful way.” (Freund, 1995:17) [My translation] Remaining on the subject of the coun- tny’s touristic promotion, Maurice Freund also refers to the importance of pre-exist- ingaudiovisual media and how, along with literature, they can be valuable means of promoting and encouraging tourism: “I have had the opportunity to see, like everyone else, television programs about the fishing of the Imraguen** or the Mau- ritania railway. The image I have stayed with is one of documentaries that are very well made but bear no relation to the promotional support inviting one to the journey. It may be necessary to look for “rushes” from the film Fort Saganne?"* (Freund 1995: 17) [My translation] For Maurice Freund, it was clearly a matter of ‘selling’ Mauritania, and find- ing ways to make the country attractive to Western tourists, using literary and audiovisual collections and supports to display the past and history of Mauritania, Consequently, in order to ‘sell’ the coun- try, it would be necessary to build a tour istic image of Mauritania outwards: “the image of Mauritania must be based on cultural tourism of a new type” (Freund 1995: 18), but also: “We must succeed in giving Mauritania a deliberately different image from the image usually known in Africa, Itwill be necessary to highlight all the specificities of the Mauritanian sites {ancient cities, caravans and nomadic life in the desert, placing Chinguetti at the center of all the departures of Théodore Monod's expeditions).” (Freund 1995: 18) [My translation] Infact, not long after the publication of the “Rapport Mauritanie’, charter flights promoted by “Point-Afrique” began op- crating between France and Alar - the inaugural flight took place in December 1996 with the presence of 135 passengers (Roullier and Choplin 2006).” 6, ENORMOUS DESERT AND SMALL Tourism At this point it is important to under- stand how the discourse promoting Mau- ritania as a tourist destination was con: structed: it was essentially based on the election of the desert as the main nation- al attraction. This strategy was put into practice mainly by French tour operators, and ended up conditioning the develop- ment, language and growth of tourist ac- tivity in the country. In fact, despite the heritagization of the “Villes Anciennes” in 1996, the de- velopment of tourism in Mauritania was essentially based on these two features: desert and nomadic life. Therefore, the patrimonial dimension of the “Villes An- 24 Michael Hall and Hazel Tucker (2004) reflect on the importance of literature in the construction of tourist ‘objects and alterity, and its contribution tothe creation of a touristic imaginary: "The representation of otherness was, and stills, also inextricably linked tothe popularization of accounts of travels and explorations in the imperial lands [..- For example, the ‘discovery’ ofthe Pacific by Europeans was the crucial point forthe imaging of the Paci- fic. The eanly trading relationship with India and the Spice Islands ofthe Indonesian archipelago was an initial star ‘ing point into the creation of the image of the exotic. However, it was the accounts of French and English voyages of te seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which confirmed the discovery of “paradise” (Hall and Tucker 2004: 9) 25 This is most likely the 1973 documentary by Jacques Ywes Cousteau “Le chant des dauiphins" about the way the Imaraguen people fished with the help of dolphins. 26 On the importance of “Fort Sagan" (Alain Comeau, r984) as an incitement for the development of tourist activity in Mauritania, Cardera da Silva (2010) tates: "Fort Sagen has not only shaped Western representations of Mauritania (as di the Paris-Dakar rally, but also provided the first infrastructural means to launch a small burgeo- ning industry in the north of Mauritania. Local memory ofthe origins of tourism in Mautitania states that the frst Jocal tour company ~ Adrar Voyages ~ was formed from the remnsnts of automobiles and other foreign machines, networks, ideas and expertise left behind after the making of Fort Sagan" (Cardeira da Silva, 20:0: 182) 27 However, from what Pierre Bonte (20:0) refers, it was only after 1997 thatthe Atar landing strip was improved in order to receive incoming fights from France: "The reconstruction and modernization of te Atar landing stip, the main city of the Adrar, following an official visit by Jacques Chirac tothe county (inr997] and thanks to French cooperation, makes it possible for tourists to land in the heat af the region.” (Bonte 20t0: 89) [My translation] npJoana Lucas ciennes" worked mainly as a peripheral ‘cultural’ complement of tourist circuits focusing in performances of immersion in the desert, and of mimicry of the ‘no- madic way of life. ‘The emphasis on nomadism as a ‘fea- ture’ of the Mauritanian way of life, was widely spread and appropriated by tour operators who were beginning to see the country as an interesting alternative to the saturation and/or insecurity of oth- er desert tourist destinations (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mali, Niger)**. In fact, ‘many tour operators encouraged tourists to mimic the nomadic and ‘tradition al’ behavior of local inhabitants, which would imply the appropriation of their accommodations: “When you arrive at the bivouac site, and while the Mauritani an team unloads the dromedaries, every. one looks for a place to either set up their tent, for those who have reserved them, or sleep under the stars (which we strongly encourage you to do).”* [My translation] Indeed, tourist industry has reactivat- ed an entire imagery linked to nomadism that has been emphasized to a large ex tent by a literature ‘dazzled’ by the desert and its inhabitants, and that has contrib- uted to the creation of a praxis connected to nomadic life: The nomads of the Sahara are the object of literary worship. Around them, quasi-mystical comnunities are formed with their prophets (fzom Joseph Peyré to Theodore Monod), their faithful (from the Méharistes to tourists), their cults (walking), their rituals, their sacrifices (beverage exchange or legendary diffas") and their sacred objects (the dune, the archaeolog. ‘Tite Crearion oF DeseRr Touris 16 MAURITANIA ical remains). (Cauvin-Verner 2007: 16) (My twanslation] As such, the fact that tourists can mimic the Mauritanian nomadic habitat by spending the night in tents - khatmas3s - but also the way they imagine nomads experience the desert - long walks on foot or journeyson the back ofa camel -endow ‘desert tourism’ with a cultural dimension that is achieved not only through mimic- ry, butalso through ‘renunciation of self’ As Corinne Cauvin-Verner further states “To this ideology of the martyr is added a romantic fever. Travelers play at identi- fying themselves with the nomads. They dress like them, seek to acquire their skills of adaptation to the environment = to know how to orient themselves, to resist the climate adversities and the fa- tigue of walking...” (Cauvin-Verner 2010: 118) [My translation] By mimicking and/or experiencing what is considered to be the ‘nomadic life, the tourists seek a sort of spiritual ex: perience they often associate with desert landscapes, but also a liberation of the self, an escape. But nevertheless, their ex- perience is not even close to the reality of nomadic life in Mauritania: “{The tourist] will be welcomed in the evening to the bivouac under the tent, honored with a ‘méchoui while enjoying the three tradi tional glasses of tea consecrated by Saha ran hospitality: a ritual that has little to do with the harsh conditions of nomadic life.” (Bonte 2010: 91) (My translation] Back to my starting point while evok- ing the words of Marie-Thérése Gadroy, 28 Lacie Roullier and Armelle Choplin (2006) reflect on the depletion of touristic destinations such as Morocco and Tunisia, and the way it may have cntebuted tothe succes’ of Mauritania entrance into the desert tourism market “|| after years of draining the European (and especialy the French] market, Morocco and Tunisia seem to be victims of thee own success. Images of ‘jou’ and mass tourism’ are associated to them, a8 they sometimes inspire fatigue In contrast, Mauritania is 3 new country some wil say ‘stil virgin’ and ‘preserved. (Roullier and Chaplin, 006: 5 [My translation] 29 Quote taken ftom the website of “La Burl” agency (htp/fwworlabure.com/fr/voyages/maurit bie Barded-erg-amatlich--lasallee blanche hte consulted on x6 January 20rg, [Link currently unable] 30 Hospitality tual that may involve a meal, usually a reception ora banguet 31 Tents made of white cotton fabric on the outside and strips of colorfal Fabric inside, supported by @ wooden beam, and that are taditonaly manufactured by women, For ahistorical and anthropological analysis of Khalai Mauritania, see Bouly (2003). On their touristic use in Mauritania, see Cardeira da Silva [2006). 32 Corinne CauvinVerner (2007) points out that duting her feldwork inthe Moroccan desert it was common for tourists to push the physical dimension oftheir experience to the limits oftheir resistance. Ths was generally done through isolating themselves from the group, walking ata faster pace nt using sun protection, et Bthe consolidation ofa ‘ciel et sable’ tourism in Mauritania ultimately reveals the re- nunciation of mass tourism. This process ends up providing tourists a differentiat ed identity, which shows to be vital in the context of a globalized consumer society where all tourist destinations are possi ble: “Desert tourism, in its cultural and ecological dimensions, is a production of symbols that, in the context of globaliza- tion, contributes to the differentiation of social groups and individuals in relation to the goods they are required to consume to affirm their identity and place in socie ty.” (Bonte 2010: 101) [My translation] Mauritania ended up being touristical: ly connoted not just with ‘desert tourism, but also recognized for combining mysti- ccism, nostalgia and sovereignty. If, as we have seen, Paris-Dakar is an accelerated caricature of this type of tourism, there is also a softer version including activities such as trekking or meditation, where ecotourism combines harmoniously with adventure. Taking into account the eco- logical dimension, tourism promotion in postcolonial Mauritania is also based on the idea of fragility: of populations, en- vironment, and heritage (Butcher 2003; Cardeira da Silva 2012). The idea of a pristine identity, in a country not yet contaminated by ‘mass tourism, contributes to transform Mau- ritania into a valid and valuable place for tourists. Throughout this text | empha sized that the construction of Mauritania as a tourist destination was anchored to a discourse that glorifies a colonial past linked to the conquest of the territory, and that perpetuates the idea that the desert is a good place to be consecutively appropriated (physically or emotionally) by the West. The desert as an object of desire and consumption, in this text via its transfor- mation into a tourist product, constitutes undoubtedly a relevant and contemporary field of study. 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