Al Khadra Mabrook

Al Khadra Mint Mabrook (Arabic: الخضرة منت مبروك‎; born c. 1938), known as Al Khadra, is an internationally recognised Sahrawi poet.

Al Khadra Mabrook
Native name
الخضرة منت مبروك
Bornc. 1938 (age 82–83)
Tiris
Pen nameAl Khadra
OccupationPoet
NationalitySahrawi
GenreSahrawi oral poetry
SubjectSahrawi resistance and struggle for independence

Biography

Al Khadra was born circa 1938 in Tiris.[1] Her family were Bedouin and her childhood was spent moving through the region so her family could find grazing for their animals.[1] She learnt poetry from a young age by listening to others perform.[1]

The first poetry she learnt celebrated female beauty, but after the movement for self-determination from Spain started in the 1970s, her poetry changed to become socially conscious and celebrate the military achievements of the Polisario.[2] Al Khadra is one of several poets, whose work has become a vital part of cultural resistance for the Sahrawi people.[3][4] She is the only female Sahrawi poet to have documented the Western Sahara War from 1976 to 1991.[5] Subjects of her poems include the Moroccan Western Sahara Wall, also known as the Berm; the Polisario's first tank; the refutation of 'Moroccanisation' of her homeland; and providing fuel for 'revolution'.[3]

In 1975, she was forced to move to the Tindouf refugee camps by the Moroccan army.[2] In 2012 she was living in the El Aaiún refugee camp.[6]

Media

Al Khadra's granddaughter is the singer Aziza Brahim, who has performed poetry by her grandmother worldwide.[7] The album Mabruk is dedicated to Al Khadra and records her work with backing by electric guitars and drums.[5]

In 2012, Al Khadra was the subject of a documentary film entitled Al Khadra: Poet of the Desert, screened at the Africa in Motion Film Festival that year.[8]

References
  1. Berkson, Sam; Sulaymān, Muḥammad (2015). Settled Wanderers. London: Influx Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-9927655-4-5.
  2. Berkson, Sam (23 September 2020). "Voices of a lost homeland: The poetry of Western Sahara". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  3. Calleja, Jen (20 September 2015). "Verfreundungseffekt – Poets Of The Rifle: Cultural Resistance From Saharawi Refugee Camps". The Quietus. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  4. "'Settled Wanderers': Kickstarter for Collection of Sahrawi Poetry". ArabLit Quarterly. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  5. Posada, Violeta Ruano; Moreno, Vivian Solana (2015). "The Strategy of Style: Music, Struggle, and the Aesthetics of Sahrawi Nationalism in Exile" (PDF). Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World. 5.
  6. "Poets of Protest – Poet of the Desert (2012)". Scottish Documentary Institute. 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  7. "Africa Beats: Aziza Brahim voices Western Sahara blues". BBC News. 20 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  8. Bisschoff, Lizelle (2013). "Representing Africa in the UK: Programming the Africa in Motion Film Festival". Research in African Literatures. 44 (2): 142–162. doi:10.2979/reseafrilite.44.2.142. JSTOR 10.2979/reseafrilite.44.2.142. S2CID 144036092 – via Jstor.
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