Majid Shabbeer
Pronouns: he/him
Research Mentor(s): Kelly Askew
Research Mentor School/College/Department: DAAS/Anthropology / LSA
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Authors: Celia Burke, Kelly Askew, Eliah Madukuli, Majid Shabbeer
Abstract
This research centers around various instances of human rights abuses against indigenous peoples in Africa. Cases are divided by their impacts, whether that be cultural erasure, the removal of nomadic settlements for agriculture, the impacts of industrialization, and others. Specifically, the two main cases that were analyzed were both of the Sahrawi people in Morocco, specifically around land grabbing and resource extraction on the part of the Moroccan government. While each of these cases have their similarities and differences, the analysis conducted sought to find common threads to help predict possible future instances of human rights abuses. A variety of both qualitative and quantitative threads were looked at, including ethnic tensions, economic development, and history of conflict. Drawing on both current news sources and empirical, historical data, correlations were drawn between these primary examples and other incidents from across the region. While no definitive conclusion has yet been made, the methodology used indicates that similar factors do exist, even when comparing the most far flung regions of the continent. The root causes, factors such as economic opportunity, ethnic divides, and blurry or unenforced international law, all give insights to these case studies. Case studies from East and North Africa tend to have similar experiences, though unique facets to the abuses going on in the Western Sahara still exist.
