Great African Reads discussion

Let's finish out a big year of big and sweeping nonfiction strongly, with another ambitious project to tackle!

Our 4th Quarterly Nonfiction read of the year is Pasteurs Peuls Nomades et Transhumants : Quel avenir ? by Patrick Kulesza. Who's in?

I'm ordering my copy today. It's a huge book so I'd be interested if any specific chapters or sections interested people more than others, and we could read them together.
Available from Harmattan here: https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/ind...

Only three of us voted and only two picked the above book. It's only in French and recently published, so not as widely available as books we normally choose. Therefore, I propose that those interested in joining with Pasteurs Peuls Nomades et Transhumants please do so, but if you've got something else in mind on the topic, or chapters of other books as suggested by Manu in our book ideas thread, please go for it and let us know what you're reading!

Please use this space to post your thoughts and reflections on the book, and link us to any additional interesting resources on the topic!

I had already ordered and received my copy, so I am certainly planning to join.

I started reading last week: the book is a great collection of articles and texts from different origins on fulani people, history, culture and future. Enjoying so far!

But I do think that this book is not very accessible for our group members... (being in French, hard to get/expensive).

My copy is awaiting me at home while I'm traveling, so I'll crack it open in a couple weeks. Are there any particular chapters that you've found moving or interesting, Wim? Anything strike you as new or controversial so far?

The quality of the chapters/articles is uneven, and some are a bit outdated as the situation in the Sahel has changed enormously over the past years. So you can read through some of the chapters rather fast.
The two that I most enjoyed so far were:
- Pasteurs nomades et pratiques culturelles antéislamiques: le cas de la geerewol
- Pastoralisme peul: de la rigueur climatique à la marginalité politique

Especially that last one was interesting, through its critical approach of the supposed desertification of the Sahel region and how pastoralists contribute to it.

I have progressed a bit more and must say that I am much more positive about what I've read the past 10 days.
Chapters 2 (Devenir du pastoralisme) and especially 3 (Emergence du djihadisme) are really awesome. I've learned a lot on the cause of conflicts involving pastoralists, the impact of territorialization and the root causes of jihadist revolt, especially in the centre of Mali. Because of those articles, I will certainly promote the book among friends and colleagues working in Mali and Niger.

I finished reading Pasteurs Peuls Nomades et Transhumants : Quel avenir ? and happy I did (even though it was not always an easy read. I wrote a short review.