2 - Aïd-al-Adha and the Livestock Trade in Senegal, Sudan and Iraqi Kurdistan

The trade in livestock, particularly sheep, to and within the Muslim world, is spectacular in terms of its scale, its impact on people's daily lives and its territorial impact (urban, peri-urban and rural areas). Aïd-al-Adha (Aïd-El-Kébir Tabaski in Africa and Qurbān in the Persian world), as a total social event in which nothing can be understood in isolation from everything else (Brisebarre 1998), is the paroxysmal periodic event. While many studies have already talked about Eid as a major or minority social event, a logistical and urban challenge, or a moment of intense focus for local production sectors (Brisebarre 1998, Ninot et al. 2009; Franck et al. 2016), few studies talk about it in its global dimension (i.e. as a little-known embodiment of globalisation which requires an international and multi-sited comparative approach), and in its current reconfigurations in connection with the covid crisis and the context of current geopolitical tensions. The complexity and variety of the changes observed, and their causes and effects, mean that we need to broaden our approaches and analytical frameworks. On the one hand, by combining disciplinary perspectives, and on the other, by varying the focal points, scales and objects of study. With this in mind, our presentation takes a cross-view of the livestock trade from three focal points: Senegal, Sudan and the autumn region of Iraqi Kurdistan. The first two fields will talk about the subject through the Eid-al-Adha festivities. The last presentation will place the subject in a context of war and economic crisis.
Paper co-authored with: Alice Frank