The Poetics of Diplomacy: Poetry, Creative Short Prose and Diplomatic Discussions in Western Sahara and the Saharawi Diaspora

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This project has two overarching aims: firstly, to contribute to the preservation of endangered Saharawi cultural heritage by creating, and promoting engagement with, an accessible and multilingual resource of recorded, transcribed and translated Saharawi poetry and short creative prose; and secondly, to further interdisciplinary (Cultural Studies and International Relations) conversations on the role of poetry in diplomacy, and how perspectives on diplomatic intrigues are communicated through poetry. The project pursues four lines of exploration: 1) the PI will explore how the texts (written or spoken poetry and short creative prose) engage with the process of international diplomacy; 2) Beyond the texts themselves, the PI will ask how the texts act as a springboard for discussions among Saharawis, and other readers or listeners, on issues of diplomatic interest; 3) The PI will explore how the texts and their circulation together constitute an act of public diplomacy and 4) The PI will provide a cultural history of Saharawi poetry's engagements with diplomacy, by tracing the evolution of historical poetic battles between nomads, to today's poetic-diplomatic exchanges in a digital universe. With regards to the cultural heritage part of the project, activities are as follows: 1) The PI will record twelve Saharawi poets reciting three of their works (36 works will be recorded in total). She will record four 'Friendship Generation' poets, who compose in Spanish and mostly live in Spain, four refugee nomad-poets, who reside in the refugee camps/state-in-exile in Algeria, and four 'modern' poets composing in Arabic and/or Hassaniya, based in the occupied territory or recently exiled from there. She will record poets from the latter group in Nouadibou, Mauritania, where there is a large community of exiled Saharawis and where Saharawis from the occupied territory travel for holidays. 2) The PI will also conduct semi-structured interviews with all poets. All interviews will focus on the poet's life history and their poetic output. With regards to the older nomad-poets, interviews will also focus on their understanding of the history of poetic battles and the use of poetry in conflicts between tribes as a tool for mediation. Interviews with younger generations of poets in Spain and in the occupied territory will focus on their intentions, as poets, with regards to audience and impact. All interviews will be transcribed and translated into English, for publication. 3) The PI will conduct participant observation at three poetry performances, and semi-structured interviews with audience members at three performances, one in each of the three fieldwork locations. This will be complemented by a digital ethnography in which, with their approval and consent, the PI will follow the social media profiles and comments of ten poetry enthusiasts. 4) The PI will conduct a close reading of the recorded and transcribed poetry. 5) The PI will work remotely with Saharawi poet-translators to translate the poetry and short prose texts from Hassaniya, Arabic and Spanish into English, preparing the translations, poetry recordings and interviews with poets for archive in digital collections (the British Library Sounds Archive, and the Saharawi Republic's national archive), and for an open access, online anthology. 6) The PI will produce three journal articles based on the research, drawing out the relationship between poetry and diplomacy.The outputs will be further disseminated through an online conference that showcases new work in Afro-Hispanic Studies, and Saharawi poet participation at online readings hosted by various UK-based poetry circles. Online, open access pedagogical materials for promoting teaching of Saharawi poetry on Hispanic Studies courses will be included with the online anthology.