West-Central Asia: a comparative analysis of students’ trajectories in Russia (Moscow) from the 1980s and China (Yiwu) from the 2000s

Through an exploration of oral history and ethnographic material, this article makes a comparative examination of the life-trajectories of students from Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan who studied in Russia (Moscow) during the late 1980s, and from Tajikistan, Iran, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia who studied in China in the 2000s. In contrast to the cohort of students in Moscow who were mainly men from places with relatively amicable relations with the USSR, the female students of Muslim background from West and Central Asia regarded China as a place where they could pursue fulfilling forms of economic and personal autonomy. By comparing these two groups of international students, this article sheds light into the nature of historical, geographical and geopolitical connections and disconnections between West-Central Asia, Eurasia (especially Russia) and East Asia (especially China). By centring its attention to the demise of Soviet/Russian education and the emergence of China as a figure of economic prosperity, the article theorises West-Central Asia as a particular arena of interaction suitable to comprehend the networks, ‘third spaces’ or zones of interaction (e.g. Moscow and Yiwu), and forms of connection fostered by these students’ trajectories

Crossing Eurasia: trans-regional Afghan trading networks in China and beyond

An expanding body of literature in the field of Central Asian studies has brought attention to the problems of considering the region's complex dynamics through the lens of its nation-states. Comparatively less attention has been paid to the role played by trans-regional circulations in connecting parts of Central Asia to the wider world. This paper situates ethnographic work on trans-regional networks of Afghan traders in China, Central Asia, Russia, Ukraine and the UK in relation to the literature on trans-regional connections and circulation societies. Ethnographically it demonstrates the multi-polar nature of these trans-regional networks, and the importance of trading nodes, especially the Chinese city of Yiwu, to their formation and ongoing vitality

Géopolitique du Sahara

Les migrations internationales au Sahara représentent aujourd'hui un enjeu central des relations géopolitiques entre les États d'Afrique subsaharienne, d'Afrique du Nord et d'Europe. Elles ne constituent pas un phénomène nouveau puisque dès le milieu du XXe siècle des ressortissants des États sahéliens se rendaient au Maghreb pour y travailler, ces mobilités se réalisant en étroite relation avec la mise en valeur du Sahara. Pourtant, depuis le début des années 2000, la médiatisation des migrations à destination de l'Europe, très minoritaires au regard de l'ensemble des flux, a radicalement changé la donne. Chaque migrant de la région est suspecté d'être un "clandestin en transit vers l'Europe". Les politiques migratoires depuis lors mises en oeuvre dans les régions sahariennes perturbent l'ensemble des mobilités dans cet espace en passe de devenir une nouvelle frontière migratoire de l'Europe