Editing Western Sahara (section)

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of Western Sahara}}
{{See also|Western Saharan cuisine}}
[[File:Exhibicion de camellos en la wilaya de Dajla (campamentos de refugiados saharauis de Tinduf, abril de 2007).jpg|thumb|[[Sahrawi people]]]]
[[File:Museo de la Guerra en Rabuni, sede del gobierno de la RASD.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[People's Liberation Army Museum|Museum of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army]]]]
The major ethnic group of Western Sahara are the [[Sahrawi people|Sahrawis]], a nomadic or [[Bedouin]] ethnic group speaking the [[Hassaniya|Hassānīya]] dialect of [[Arabic language|Arabic]], also spoken in much of Mauritania. They are of mixed Arab-Berber descent, but claim descent from the [[Beni Hassan]], an Arab tribe that migrated across the desert in the 11th century.

Like other Saharan Bedouin and Hassaniya groups, the Sahrawis are mostly Muslims of the [[Sunni]] branch and the [[Maliki]] [[fiqh]]. Local religious custom ([[Urf]]) is, like other Saharan groups, heavily influenced by pre-Islamic Berber and African practices, and differs substantially from urban practices. For example, Sahrawi Islam has traditionally functioned without mosques, in an adaptation to nomadic life.{{Citation needed span|text=|date=November 2013}}

The original [[clan]]-/tribe-based society underwent a massive social upheaval in 1975 when the war forced part of the population to settle in the [[Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf Province, Algeria|refugee camps of Tindouf]], Algeria, where they remain. Families were broken up by the dispute.

The [[People's Liberation Army Museum|Museum of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army]] is located in this refugee camp. This museum is dedicated to the struggle for the independence of Western Saharan people. It presents weapons, vehicles and uniforms, as well as abundant documentation history.

=== Cross-cultural influence ===
The contemporary history of the territory has experienced long-term international presence and occupation that has deeply influenced the cultural practices of the people, such as languages spoken throughout the territory and its institutions.<ref name="San Martin 2005 565–592">{{Cite journal |last=San Martin|first=Pablo|year=2005|title=Nationalism, identity and citizenship in the Western Sahara|journal=The Journal of North African Studies|publisher= Taylor & Francis|volume=10 |issue=3–4 |pages=565–592 |doi=10.1080/13629380500336870|s2cid=144988314}}</ref> Spanish colonization lasted roughly from 1884 to 1976, following the creation of the Madrid Accords where Spain absolved all responsibility over the territory and left it to Morocco and Mauritania.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Zunes|first1=Stephen|last2= Mundy| first2= Jacob|title=Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution|publisher= Syracuse UP|year=2010}}</ref>

Throughout the nine decades of Spanish colonial presence, one of the primary spoken languages in Western Sahara came to be Spanish. The reasons for its widespread usage was due to the necessity of communicating with Spanish leadership and administrators throughout the territory, who ultimately established institutions modeled after those of Spain.<ref name="San Martin 2005 565–592" /> The importance and prevalence of Spanish has persisted to the present day, even after Spanish withdrawal from Western Sahara in 1976, due to various education exchanges and host programs for Sahrawi children to Spain and Cuba.<ref>{{Cite journal |last= Fiddian-Qasmiyeh|first= Elena|date= 14 July 2009|title= Representing Sahrawi Refugees' 'Educational Displacement' to Cuba: Self-Sufficient Agents of Manipulated Victims of Conflict?|journal= Journal of Refugee Studies|publisher= Oxford Journals|volume= 22|issue= 3|pages= 323–350|doi=10.1093/jrs/fep019}}</ref>

One such exchange program to Spain is Vacaciones en Paz (Vacations in Peace), which is an annual holiday program that was created in 1988 and is organized by the Union of Sahrawi Youth (UJSARIO) in collaboration with 300 other associations throughout Spain.<ref name="Fiddian">{{Cite journal|last1= Fiddian|first1= Elena|last2= Chatty|first2= Dawn|author-link2= Dawn Chatty|last3= Crivello|first3= Gina|date= December 2005|title= Sahrawi Refugee Children in a Spanish Host Program|url= http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/expert-guides/sahrawi-refugee-children-in-a-spanish-host-program/alldocuments|journal= Forced Migration Online|publisher= University of Oxford, Department of International Development|access-date= 16 March 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140318022402/http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/expert-guides/sahrawi-refugee-children-in-a-spanish-host-program/alldocuments|archive-date= 18 March 2014|url-status= dead}}</ref> The program itself allows 7,000 to 10,000 Sahrawi children between the ages of 8 and 12 the opportunity to live in Spain for the summer outside of the refugee camps. Sometimes children return to the same Spanish household year after year while they are still eligible, and forge strong relationships with their host families.<ref name="Fiddian" /> These types of exchange programs that successfully create cross-border and cross-cultural relationships reinforce the usage of the Spanish language throughout subsequent generations of Sahrawi children.

=== Gender relations ===
[[File:Urgencias campamentos refugiados saharauis.jpg|thumb|upright|Two women outside a hospital emergencies at a Sahrawi refugee camps]]
Much Spanish literature and recent refugee studies scholarship has been dedicated to the exploration of the major role women play in Sahrawi society, and the degree of freedom they experience within the occupied territory and the refugee camps. There is a consensus among Sahrawi women that they have always enjoyed a large degree of freedom and influence within the Sahrawi community.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Juliano|first=Dolores |author-link=María Dolores Juliano |title=La causa Saharaui y las mujeres: "siempre hemos sido muy libres"|publisher=Icaria Editorial|year=1998}}</ref>

Traditionally, women have played pivotal roles in Sahrawi culture, as well as in efforts to resist colonialism and foreign interference in their territory.<ref name="Lippert 636–651">{{Cite journal |last=Lippert|first= Anne|date=Spring 1992|title= Sahrawi Women in the Liberation Struggle of the Sahrawi People|jstor= 3174626|journal= Journal of Women in Culture and Society|publisher= The University of Chicago Press|volume= 17|issue= 3|pages= 636–651|doi=10.1086/494752|s2cid= 144819149}}</ref> Similar to other nomadic traditions on the African continent, Sahrawi women traditionally exercised significant power and roles both in the camp and in their tents.

Sahrawi women could inherit property, and subsist independently from their fathers, brothers, husbands, and other male relatives.<ref name="Lippert 636–651" /> Women were key for establishing alliances through marriage, being that the Sahrawi culture values monogamy, with their tribe and to others.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mohsen|first= Safia|date=Fall 1967|title= Legal Status of Women among the Awad'Ali'|publisher= Institute for Ethnographic Research|volume= 40|issue= 3|pages= 153–66}}</ref> Furthermore, Sahrawi women were endowed with major responsibility for the camp during long periods of absence by the men of the camp due to war or trade. Among the responsibilities women had were setting up, repairing, and moving the tents of the camp, and participating in major tribal decisions.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=de Chassey|first=Francis|title=L'etrier, la houe et le livre, societés traditionnelles au Sahara et au Sahel Occidental|journal=[[Archives de sciences sociales des religions]]|publisher=Editions Anthropos|year=1977|volume=48|issue=2|pages=267–268|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/assr_0335-5985_1979_num_48_2_2199_t1_0267_0000_3}}</ref>

In the contemporary history of Western Sahara, women have occupied central roles and been highly represented in the political sphere.<ref name="López Belloso 159–76">{{Cite journal |last1=López Belloso|first1= María|last2= Mendia Azkue|first2= Irantzu|date= December 2009|title= Local Human Development in contexts of permanent crisis: Women's experiences in Western Sahara|journal= Journal of Disaster Risk Studies|publisher= JAMBA|volume= 2|issue= 3|pages= 159–76|doi=10.4102/jamba.v2i3.24|doi-access= free}}</ref> During Spanish colonial rule, Sahrawi women actively provided financial and physical support to the resistance movements during the 1930s, 1950s, and the late 1960s.<ref name="Lippert 636–651" /> In more official ways, women were consistently part of the Polisario Front, which in 1994 created the National Union of Sahrawi Women (NUSW).<ref name="López Belloso 159–76" /> The NUSW was structured at the local, regional, and national levels and concentrated on four areas: the occupied territories and emigration, information and culture, political and professional development, and foreign affairs.<ref name="López Belloso 159–76" />

=== Art and cultural expression ===
[[Sahara International Film Festival|FiSahara International Film Festival]] is an annual film festival that takes place in one of the southwestern refugee camps in Algeria.<ref>{{Cite news |last= Isaacson|first= Andy|date= 28 July 2009|title= A Desert Film Festival Complete with Camels|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/movies/02isaa.html?_r=0|newspaper= The New York Times|location= Dakhla Refugee Camp, Algeria|access-date= 16 March 2014}}</ref> At this event, actors, directors, and film industry insiders from around the world join the Sahrawi people for a week-long festival of screenings, parallel activities, and concerts. The festival provides entertainment and educational opportunities for Sahrawi refugees alongside cultural celebrations for visitors and spectators. It aims to raise awareness of the humanitarian crises in the refugee camps, and expose the Sahrawi people to this medium of art and expression.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |url= http://www.festivalsahara.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=191&Itemid=186&lang=es/|title= FiSahara Film Festival|author=<!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. --> |website= FiSahara International Film Festival|access-date=17 March 2014}}</ref>

Spanish filmmakers and actors, such as [[Javier Bardem]], [[Penélope Cruz]], and [[Pedro Almodóvar]] have supported and attended the festival. In 2013, the festival screened over 15 films from around the world including comedies, short films, animations, and documentaries. Some of the films were made by the refugees themselves.<ref name="auto" /> Art as embodied in film has been a strong and popular medium that Sahrawi youth have used to express themselves, and share their stories of conflict and exile.

ARTifariti, the International Art and Human Rights Meeting in Western Sahara, is an annual art workshop set up in the Liberated Zone and refugee camps, specifically in Tifariti, that brings artists from all over the world. This event led to the introduction of graffiti art to the camps, and popular graffiti artists have come to the workshop to work with refugees.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.artifariti.org/en/about-artifariti|author= <!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. -->|title= About ARTifariti|access-date= 17 March 2014|archive-date= 18 March 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140318020841/http://www.artifariti.org/en/about-artifariti|url-status= dead}}</ref> One such artist was Spanish street artist MESA, who travelled to the Sahrawi refugee camps in 2011 and displayed his own graffiti throughout the landscape.<ref name="Abba">{{Cite news|last= Abba|first= Agaila|date= 17 February 2014|title= These artists are transforming the dreary environment of the Saharawi refugee camps|url= http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/culture/these-artists-are-transforming-the-dreary-environment-of-the-saharawi-refugee-camps_21663|access-date= 16 March 2014|archive-date= 24 February 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140224034348/http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/culture/these-artists-are-transforming-the-dreary-environment-of-the-saharawi-refugee-camps_21663|url-status= dead}}</ref> His canvases of choice were destroyed walls, which he brought back to life through his art.

MESA inspired other Sahrawis to express themselves and embody their national struggle through art and graffiti. One such artist is Mohamed Sayad, a Sahrawi artist that has been transforming the refugee camp landscape by creating works of art amongst the devastation in camps that have existed for four decades.<ref name="Abba" /> His canvases, much like MESA, are walls that have been ruined by massive floods in the Sahrawi refugee camps in southwestern Algeria. Sayad's work tells a consistent story, one that draws on his experience of protracted conflict and a life under Moroccan occupation. Sayad's graffiti depicts aspects of Sahrawi culture and includes actual Sahrawi people as his subjects.<ref name="Abba" />

Poetry is a popular artform in Sahrawi culture, and is composed by both men and women.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Voices of a lost homeland: The poetry of Western Sahara|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/western-sahara-algeria-badi-poetry-exile|access-date=2 January 2021|website=Middle East Eye|language=en}}</ref> Notable poets include: [[Al Khadra Mabrook]], [[Hadjatu Aliat Swelm]], Beyibouh El Haj.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/910977882|title=Settled wanderers|others=Berkson, Sam,, Sulaymān, Muḥammad|year=2015|isbn=978-0-9927655-4-5|location=London|oclc=910977882}}</ref> Traditionally, Sahrawi poetry was performed and passed on orally: younger poets would undergo 'apprenticeships to more experienced ones, today the internet is a key way in which Sahrawi poetry is transmitted between and within generations'.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Deubel|first=Tara Flynn|date=1 March 2012|title=Poetics of diaspora: Sahrawi poets and postcolonial transformations of a trans-Saharan genre in northwest Africa|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2011.610591|journal=The Journal of North African Studies|volume=17|issue=2|pages=295–314|doi=10.1080/13629387.2011.610591|s2cid=145103012|issn=1362-9387}}</ref> However Sahrawi poets find it difficult to be published, especially by Arabic publishers, due to the political nature of much of their output.<ref name=":0" />