Modern chariots: speed and mobility in contemporary 'small' wars in the Sahara

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Book chapter

Title:	Modern chariots: speed and mobility in contemporary 'small' wars in the Sahara
Author:	Klute, Georg
Book title:	The speed of change: motor vehicles and people in Africa, 1890-2000
Year:	2009
Pages:	191-211
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Mali Niger
Subjects:	Tuareg rebellions means of transport mobility
Abstract:	This chapter argues that the mastery of time and space is of crucial importance in so-called 'small' wars, i.e. conflicts of relatively low intensity. Time and space are inherently social and cultural constructions rather than absolute conceptions and it is in small wars that different conceptions of time and space compete. The metaphor of the chariot is used to inform an analysis of the Tuareg upheavals in Niger and Mali because of the way rebels manipulated their weapons and because their vehicles bore at least some resemblance to Bronze Age war chariots. Like the classic chariot, the modern version combined the existing techniques of cars and weapons, welding them together into a new technology of war. This gradual process of appropriating and merging two technologies into a new one represented a creative act that could be called 'combining invention'. The process of appropriation was facilitated by the compatibility of off-road pick-ups and camels, both of which are held in high esteem by the nomadic Tuareg. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]