Borders are not static but fluid spaces, a reality that is particularly evident in Mali’s southern Sikasso region. While borders have historically had minimal impact on everyday interactions between Malian and Burkinabe communities, the presence and mobility of jihadi groups around these border areas have made social and spatial imaginaries more salient. This presentation draws on Beldé & Baldaro's forthcoming paper, which incorporates insights from the mobility turn in conflict studies to analyze insurgent dynamics in the Sahel. In that work, we critically engaged with dominant territorial and spatial frameworks of insurgency by employing concepts from the so-called “spatial turn" (Lefebvre, 1974; Massey 1992) and the "mobility turn" (Schouten, 2022; Agbiboa, 2022). In doing so, we argued that Malian jihadi groups prioritize controlling the mobility of people and goods over occupying fixed geographical territories, thereby placing borders at the forefront of their strategic considerations.
Grounded in eight months of fieldwork in Bamako and Sikasso, this paper and presentation examines how the ebb and flow of jihadi incursions in Sikasso reshape local understandings of community, identity, and mobility around the border. The roaming presence of jihadis is examined in relation to other actors vying for control over local populations, most notably the state. The paper also considers the implications of recent security initiatives—such as the enhanced cooperation between the AES states and the creation of Burkina Faso's "Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland" (VDP)—on cross-border relations and mobility within the Sikasso region. Although cross-border mobilities are in constant flux, the current shifts in identity formation are profound and likely to have lasting effects. This paper proposes an analytical framework (inspired partly by Paasi, 1988) to better conceptualize these ongoing transformations.
