Alvaro Velasco Perez has published the article Displacements of Mohammed Abdalah during his life in the latest issue of the Journal of Architectural Education. The journal volume is titled Deserts and is edited by Ersela Kripa, Francesco Marullo and Stephen Mueller, with a focus on discussing contemporary regime in the desert.

Perez's essay argues that while recent discussions on the desert have challenged colonial approaches to this landscape, there is a risk of remaining within an imperial mindset. However, analysing the ongoing process of decolonisation in the Western Sahara opens the possibility of understanding the desert in another way. Perez highlights the tensions between politics and geology, and argues that the Western Sahara’s contemporary development forefronts the nomadic paradigm. The article is available to read here.

Image: Alvaro Velasco Perez, Map of the Western Sahara, 2023.