Images from my ongoing research on water scarcity, vulnerability and adaptation in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. See more at www.christianvium.com

1. Nomad_Scapes
Christian Vium

2. project brief Few countries have witnessed as extreme
transformations over the last decades as the Islamic
Republic of Mauritania.
The project NOMAD_SCAPES documents the impact
of climate change on human adaptation in its most
concrete expression: massive desertification and the
ensuing sedentarisation of an entirely nomadic nation.
In 1969, 80 percent of the population in The Islamic Republic of Mauritania lived as nomadic pastoralists, relying predominantly on mobile livestock rearing strategies.
Today 85 percent live in and around the major cities, two thirds of them in the dusty labyrinths of the so-called kébé, urban slum, impoverished, marginalised and with
no title to land or access to basic sanitation.
In four decades, the capital city of Nouakchott, which was constructed ex-nihilo in 1957, exploded from 5,000 to 800,000 inhabitants, an urbanisation rate
unparralled anywhere in the world. The reasons for this extraordinary transformation are manifold. To a great extent it can be attributed to two particularly severe
droughts which swept through West Africa in 1968-1973 and 1982-1985, largely decimating the livestock of vast numbers of nomadic pastoralists, thus causing a
veritable exodus from the rural areas. Many families lost their animals and thus their means of subsistence, causing them to give up their nomadic livelihood and
become sedentary in and around the few cities of considerable size. Subesequent droughts in the last two decades have only intensified the processes of
sedentarisation and urbanisation.
The project NOMAD_SCAPES investigates the tremendous socio-cultural and political transformations in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, which are intricately
linked to the precarious entanglement of severe and recurring droughts (disequilibrium environment), politico-ideological disjuncture and the interpenetrations of
nomad and sedentary lifeworlds, by focusing on the nexus of these amalgamations : contemporary nomadism.
From an actor-oriented perspective I focus on mobile adaptation strategies and local spatio-temporal perceptions of the precarious environment in two distint
settings : the arid Hodh Ech Chargui province in South Eastern Mauritania and the urban slum of El Mina, on the outskirts of the capital city, Nouakchott. Within this
framework, the notion of adaptation in disequilibrium environments is expanded beyond the prevalent discussion of human-nature relationship, climate change and
ecology. By analysing nomad-sedentary interpenetrations, urbanisation and political developments since independence in 1960, the project NOMAD_SCAPES
provides detailed documentation of a severely understudied context while revitalizing and expanding existing debates on climate change, social resilience, human
adaptation and socio-cultural transformation.
www.christianvium.com

3. 75 percent of Mauritania’s total area of 1 million square kilometres is comprised of the Sahara
desert, which is steadily expanding due to intense desertification. In this arid environment,
nomadic pastoralism constitutes the only means of survival, as the soil does not support
cultivation. rough exceptional skills in wayfinding, ecological knowledge and human resilience,
nomads are able to navigate what is best characterised as a disequilibrium environment, which
most stable feature is its instability and impredicability.
nomad_scapes_01
Ouadane, Adrar, 2001.
Christian Vium

4. Achmed, a camel herder from the Kounta tribe, explains the growing difficulties in
predicting the availability of pastures and water. Recurring droughts and a general
experience of increased instability has made him realize that he may have to give
up his nomadic livelihood in order to ensure the survival of his family.
Nomad_Scapes 02
Hodh Ech Chargui, 2006. Christian Vium

5. A small summer camp, or aïal, consisting of three families, who are waiting for
the rains to arive, before they will regroup with other families some 30 kilometres
to the south east. Depending on the composition of the herds and the availability
of pastures and water, this aïal changes location everywhere in between every
third week and every 2 month all year round.
Nomad_Scapes_03
Hodh Ech Chargui, 2006. Christian Vium

6. Mahmoud and Ishmael, two goat herders from the Tagant, are walking with
their herds. Typically, they spent every day from before sunrise till just after
sunset walking with the herds, before returning to the camp. Increasing
droughts have forced them to undertake longer daily journeys, putting increased
strain on the animals.
Nomad_Scapes_04
Le Tâgant, 2004. Christian Vium

7. A young boy returns with water from the well as a dust storm picks up.e well
is located some three kilometres from camp and due to sweeping sand it is in
danger of drying out.
Nomad_Scapes_05
Hodh Ech Chargui, 2006. Christian Vium

8. e increased difficulties facing nomads in the arid, rural areas have forced vast numbers of nomads
to seek refuge in and around the few larger cities of Mauritania. An estimated two thirds of these live
a precarious and impoverished existence, without political rights, proper housing and access to basic
sanitation and water. In the capital city of Nouakchott, the rapid and ongoing sedentarisation has
created an infrastructural chaos to which the government has few solutions. Every day, new arrivals
from the rural areas who have lost their means of survival, contribute to the urban congestion. Nomad_Scapes_06
Kébe El Mina, Nouakchott, 2006. Christian Vium

9. Lakhsara, a sedentary nomad from the Brakna province has just seen her rudimentary shack be
taken apart by government officials who demand her to evacuate the land she inhabits, to make way
for a new road. Like most other residents in El Mina, she has no title to the land, despite having
lived there for 15 years. She will now have to find a plot somewhere else, and most likely even
further away from basic sanitation and wells.
Nomad_Scapes_07
Kébé El Mina, Nouakchott, 2006. Christian Vium

10. Abdul, 14, recently arrived with his family from the Hodh Ech Gharbi
province in Southern Mauritania, were a local drought has resulted in the death
of many animals and the subsequent displacement of large parts of the nomadic
population.
Nomad_Scapes_08
Kébé El Mina, Nouakchott, 2006. Christian Vium

11. Hassan, one of the local chefs du quartier (neighbourhood leaders), returning
from friday prayers in the late afternoon. e inhabitants of El Mina are trying
to establish local political institutions that will permit them to govern the
limited resources in a more egalitarian way, and permit them to engage in a
more productive discussion with the political leaders – something which is next
to non-existent today. Nomad_Scapes_09
Christian Vium
Kébé El Mina, Nouakchott, 2006.

12. A woman begs for money on Avenue De Gaulle, in central Nouakchott. e text on the sign reads :
‘e Nouakchott of Tomorrow’. Despite recent discoveries of substantial oil reserves in both
maritime and inland territories, there are no tangible signs of substantial progress in terms of
alleviating the devastating poverty in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Successive coups d’état
and a notoriously instable political climate governed by nepotism and corruption has resulted in a
general ignorance from international donors, particularly since the last coup in august 2008. Nomad_Scapes_10
Nouakchott, 2006. Christian Vium

13. Christian Vium
Born 1980 in Aarhus, Denmark.
Christian Vium is an anthropologist, photographer and director primarily working on long‐term documentary projects related to migration, nomadism,
marginalisation, human rights, urbanisation, youth, conClict and reconciliation. Among his clients are Amnesty International, The International
Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) and the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS).
Currently employed as a Ph.D. Fellow at the Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, doing long‐term research in relation to water
scarcity, desertiCication, vulnerability and human adaptation in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in West Africa.
Christian has been awarded a number of awards for his work, including a 1st prize in the portrait category at the PGB Photoaward 2009 for his work on
domestic violence, 1st, 2nd & 3rd prize in the categories General News, Political Issues and Portrait of the IPA 2008 for his series on ’illegal’ migration from
West Africa to Europe, juvenile detention in Africa, Boxing and old‐age gangsters in South Africa. A Canon Explorer of Light Scholarship in 2008 as well as
Best Student Work in PDN 2008 for his work on ’illegal’ migration from West Africa to Europe. In 2007 he was awarded the Grand Prix du Paris Match
Étudiant for his work on marginalised youth in Manenberg, a ’coloured’ township outside Cape Town, South Africa. His work has been exhibited in New
York (Hasted Hunt Gallery – IPA 2008 best of Show), Stockholm (PGB 2009 best of show), Paris (Sorbonne – Grand Prix du Paris Match Étudiant) and
Venice (Monastero de San Nicolo – Visualising Democracy and Images of Social Inclusion).
In 2007, the feature documentary ‘Afghan Muscles’, on which Christian was assistant director and researcher, was awarded Best Feature Documentary by
the American Film Institute at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles. He is currently in post‐production with the feature documentary ‘Struggling Along’ about
youth in the township Manenberg outside Cape Town in South Africa. The Cilm, which is scheduled for release in the autumn 2009, is co‐directed with
anthropologist Karen Waltorp.
See www.christianvium.com for full CV and portfolio.

14. For more information
www.christianvium.com