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Security in Niamey: an anthropological perspective on policing and an act of terrorism in Niger*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2012

Mirco Göpfert
Mirco Göpfert*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Forum Universitatis 6, 55099 Mainz, Germany
*
Email: mirco.goepfert@uni-mainz.de
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Abstract

The abduction of two Frenchmen in January 2011 in Niamey's supposedly most secure neighbourhood has led many to question the functioning of the city's security apparatus. This paper analyses Niamey's security landscape, initially from an historical and then from a spatial perspective. It argues that for a comprehensive analysis of security, we must first decentre our perspective on security construction, and thus take informal non-organised modes of policing just as seriously as policing by state and vigilante organisations; and second, take into account the inseparability of sociality and security, a fragile balance of trust and acceptable risk. In conclusion I argue that this focus may be one way of comprehending the kidnapping: how was it possible and what were its implications for Niamey's security landscape?

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , March 2012 , pp. 53 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

Previous drafts of this paper were presented at the Centre de Recherches Sociologiques sur le Droit et les Institutions Pénales (CESDIP) in Guyancourt, France, in April 2009, and in the panel ‘Spaces of (In)Security’ during the European Conference on African Studies, Leipzig, in June 2009. The fieldwork it is based on was made possible by the financial support of the Volkswagen Foundation, the Sulzmann Foundation, the German National Academic Foundation, as well as by the support offered at the Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local (LASDEL), Niamey. For constructive comments on earlier versions of this text, many thanks go to Carola Lentz, Thomas Bierschenk, Mahaman Tidjani-Alou, Jan Beek, Jan Budniok, Julia Dieckmann, Julia Eckert, Fabien Jobard, Thomas Kirsch, Julie Poppe, Chris Willott and three anonymous referees.

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Newspapers (published in Niamey)

Le Damagaram, Le Flic, Le Sahel, Sahel Dimanche, tamtaminfo.

Interviews

Boubacar Gandah, founder and director general EPSIG (Établissement Privé de Sécurité Incendie et Gardiennage), private security enterprise, Niamey, 24.12.2008.

Boubacar Souleyman, former yan banga, during my fieldwork watchman, Niamey, 4.10.2009.

Chef de quartier Lacouroussou, Niamey, 14.12.2008.

Chef de quartier Poudrière, Niamey, 27.12.2008.

Gendarme A, EPSIG regional supervisor in the Zinder region, Zinder, 17.11.2009.

Gendarme B, native of Zinder, Gouré, 29.6.2010.

Issifi Alzouma, commercial director GED Services, Niamey, 19.11.2008.

Mohamed, private security agent, Niamey, 2.12.2008.

Sarah, private security agent, former soldier in the Nigérien army, Niamey, 8.11.2008.

Tahirou Issaka, director general GED Services (Gardiennage Entretien Désinsectisation), Niamey, 6.11.2008.