Espaces-refuge, espaces de guerre : la reconfiguration de l’ordre territorial dans la région du lac Tchad

Abstract

The purpose of this contribution is to frame the role and significance of borders and national space in the Lake Chad area in the wake of the expansion of the so-called “Boko Haram” insurgency. Since 2011, the forced repositioning of entire communities in neighboring states, the spread of refugee camps and the coordinated military effort conducted by the Multi-National Joint Task Force (a transnational army created by Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Benin) have led to a re-think in the relationship between mobility and territory, violent conflicts, and political entrepreneurship. Renewed political attention has mostly translated into a massive military-coordinated operation and in a series of emergency and development measures, which in turn have supplied the area with the basic social services that have traditionally been neglected by the central government. The gradual process of securing, militarizing, and policing the area is testing the resistance of communities that have already endured cycles of economic and political marginalization, while increasing violence from “Boko Haram” and its affiliates is further destabilizing a weakened social balance. This work aims to study how terrorist violence and the militarization of public life in the region have reshaped the relationship between communities and their territory, while offering reasoning on concepts of territoriality, governmentality, and social identity.