Brachet Julien, Scheele J. (2019). Remoteness is power : disconnection as a relation in northern Chad. In :
Saxer M. (introd.), Anderson R. (introd.). The return of remoteness : insecurity, isolation and connectivity in the new world disorder. Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, 27 (2 (No spécial)), p. 156-171. ISSN 0964-0282.
Titre du document
Remoteness is power : disconnection as a relation in northern Chad
Saxer M. (introd.), Anderson R. (introd.) The return of remoteness : insecurity, isolation and connectivity in the new world disorder
Source
Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, 2019,
27 (2 (No spécial)), p. 156-171 ISSN 0964-0282
Remoteness is as much about a position in topological as in topographical space. Remote areas might look inaccessible from the outside, but, for Ardener (Ardener, E. 1989. The voice of prophecy and other essays, M. Chapman (ed.). Oxford: Blackwell), feel open and vulnerable from the inside, as their connectivity with the outside world is never fully controlled by locals. Drawing on material gathered in northern Chad, we argue that this lack of conceptual reciprocity can also lead to the opposite: a trope of permanent aggression, based on the local endorsement of external negative stereotypes. From the outside, the ‘locals' are seen to be archetypical raiders, thieves and uncouth. From the inside, people concur in these descriptions to a surprising degree, insisting on their disorder, unpredictability and violence. This endorsement of alterity grants northern Chad a particular place in Saharan history, geography and ethnography.
