Images of the Global Hispanophone: Transnational Iconography in Saharaui Literature

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on the linguistic iconography of Saharaui refugee poets who write in Spanish from a transnational perspective between Spain and its former colonial territories in the Western Sahara. It analyzes the interplay between Western cultural icons and Saharaui iconography in the protest poetry of Bubisher (2003) and Um Draiga (2006) and argues that both works juxtapose traditional Saharaui and Western iconographic forms to critique dominant Western narratives, affirm historical memory, and argue for political and cultural sovereignty.

KEYWORDS:

• Bubisher
• historical memory
• iconography
• refugee poets
• Saharaui
• Spain
• transnational
• Um Draiga
• Western Sahara

Notes on contributor

Debra Faszer-McMahon is Dean of the School of Humanities and Associate Professor of Spanish at Seton Hill University. She has published on the poetry of Clara Janés (Cultural Encounters in Contemporary Spain, Bucknell UP, 2010) and on contemporary immigration in Spain (African Immigrants in Contemporary Spanish Texts: Crossing the Strait, Ashgate, 2015). She is currently working on a book project titled Solidarity in the Digital Age related to Saharaui poetry.

Notes

1. Western Sahara is a contested territory facing the North Atlantic Ocean and sharing borders with Mauritania, Algeria, and Morocco. The history of the region combines Berber, Arab, and other influences, including a period of Spanish colonial rule beginning in 1884. The region became a Spanish province in 1934, and it remained under Spanish control until 1975. Spain withdrew amid growing pressure against occupation but without following through on a promised referendum of self-determination, and war ensued. Since then, thousands of Saharauis have fled to refugee camps in Algeria or sought educational or work opportunities in many parts of Spain and Latin America. For studies on the history of and contemporary political conflict in Western Sahara, see works by Zunes and Mundy, as well as Erik Jensen, Toby Shelley, and Tony Hodges. For recent studies on the refugee situation, see works by Pablo S. Martín and Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh. For recent literary perspectives on the conflict, see works by Martin-Márquez, Campoy-Cubillo, and Faszer-McMahon and Ketz,

2. MINURSO stands for Misión de Naciones Unidas para el Referéndum del Sáhara Occidental. See Nick Brooks, “Cultural Heritage and Conflict: The Threatened Archeology of Western Sahara,” and Jeremy Keenan, The Sahara: Past, Present, and Future, for more information on this vandalism and the international response.