Adventures of the ‘Salt Lady’: Memories of First-Time Fieldwork in Mali–Mauritania (1977–8)

Between October 1977 and April 1978 in Mali and Mauritania, I was known as ‘the Salt Lady’, as I researched the history of the Ijil salt mine in Mauritania and the Saharan nomads who controlled its commerce across the desert into Mali, This ‘memoire’ recounts the adventures that happened along the w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMande studies Vol. 20; pp. 93 - 110
Main Author McDougall, E. Ann
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bloomington Indiana University Press 01.01.2018
Subjects
Adventure
Airports
Archives
Automobiles
Corruption
Councils
Dossier: Memoirs of early fieldwork
Economic history
Field research
Field study
Fieldwork
Memories
Merchants
Nomads
Older adults
Poverty
Salt
Salt mining
Serge
Surveillance
Travel
Mauritania
Senegal
Mali
West Africa
Africa
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Summary:Between October 1977 and April 1978 in Mali and Mauritania, I was known as ‘the Salt Lady’, as I researched the history of the Ijil salt mine in Mauritania and the Saharan nomads who controlled its commerce across the desert into Mali, This ‘memoire’ recounts the adventures that happened along the way. In Mauritania, I found myself working in Zouerate (close to Ijil). The War in the Western Sahara precluded travel to the mine. The article also recounts the more serious challenges of doing fieldwork in the late 1970s—violence, corruption, surveillance, extreme poverty.
ISSN:1536-5506
2379-5506
DOI:10.2979/mande.20.1.09