El océano oral: apuntes sobre la poesía beduina en el Sahara Occidental

The following paper intends to draw an incomplete map of some possible routes to guide an approach to the poetry written by Saharawis, an ancient Bedouin community who currently lives divided between the Western Sahara’s Liberated Territories, the territories occupied by Morocco and the refugee camps in southwest Argelia. This text seeks to emphasize the priority role that the Saharawi people have given to poetry as part of their daily work, and how it is inseparable from their vital relationship with memory, conceived not as a steady acquis, but as an endless fountain that flows and renews the arteries of life. Hence, the legacy of these nomadic poets is not limited only to their written traces: in the languages of gestures, as well, there is a po-ethic to be discovered, an ethic of patience and lightness to safeguard our future steps.