Settled Wanderers

by Sam Berkson

Western Sahara, is a former Spanish colony on the north west coast of Africa. Following the death of Franco (1975) and subsequent invasion by Morocco and Mauritania, the territory has been under occupation, the people denied self-determination land annexed as the 'southern provinces of the Kingdom of Morocco'.Around half of the former nomadic people of Western Sahara (the Saharawi) live in refugee camps around the isolated desert of Tindouf over the border in Algeria. 2015 marks the 40th year of exile. Poetry is a cultural tradition in the Western Sahara that goes back millennia.In 2013 poet Sam Berkson was invited by the charity Olive Branch to visit these camps as a poet in residence. In March 2014, following a successful crowdfunding campaign, Influx Press raised enough money to send him back to gather and translate some of the contemporary poetry of the Saharawi.Settled Wanderers is a collection of interpreted (Hassaniya to English) poems from the greatest living poets of the Western Sahara, such as Badi, Beyibouh and Al Khadra. They have been translated into English by Sam and a Saharawi translator and illustrator Mohamed Labat Sulaiman.The book also contains a fascinating essay by American academics Stephen Zunes and Jacob Mundy explaining the history of the region, and a foreword from a Saharawi Senior official of the Saharawi Arab Demcoratic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs and writer, Mustafa Kattab, outlining the history of Saharawi poetry. Settled Wanderers features poems Sam wrote while in residence at the refugee camp where he captures the spirit, life and unique culture of 'Africa's last colony'.This is first time a collection of poetry from the Western Sahara has been translated and interpreted into English. Additionally, Settled Wanderers contains some of the original Hassani

Genres: Poetry

220 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2014

Reviews

[Leslie (updates on SG) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book that makes me grateful for my AtW Challenge. I had never heard of Western Sahara, and this book provides some history as well as indigenous poetry - mainly about the conflict. Berkson also includes some of his own poetry of the region; his poetry has a different rhythm, but covers a broader scope.

[J.J. Amaworo · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1975 Morocco invaded Western Sahara. Since then, half of the population have been left to rot in refugee camps, ignored by the world. Indeed, the plight of Western Sahara is barely known in the west.

UK poet Sam Berkson and Mohamed Suleiman, a visual artist and translator, visited the region, befriended local poets and translated their work. In addition to these poems in Part One and Berkson's original work inspired by Western Sahara (Part Two), the book contains evocative artwork by Sulaiman and excellent introductory essays by Stephen Zunes and Jacob Mundy, Mustafa Kattaba, and Berkson. The essays provide the background to both the region’s troubles and to the project that culminated in this book.

Overall, the book strikes me as more than a poetry collection and less than a critical history. As a hybrid, it works. It’s an invaluable primer for raising awareness of the people of Western Sahara – their struggle and the poetry that both commemorates and supports it.

[Røbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The heart of the book are translations of Saharawi poets, and the author's own poems inspired by his time visiting the poets in Western Sahara and camps in Algeria. This is surrounded by short essays on the region, its writing, and biographies of the poets. Together this is likely to increase your knowledge and appreciation the Sahawari many times over, and consider how the plight of so many displaced people can have been almost entirely overlooked by western reporting.

Naturally the poems are political -- how could they be otherwise? -- but the several voices here humanise the situation and highlight our commonality as well as the big differences in our lives. An engaging format to learn about a neglected people.