Defining diversity in Mauretania's abolition movement

Meanings of identity and recognition are mobilising forces within Mauritania’s marginalised class of newly freed slaves (Black Moors or Haratine). This thesis explores the meanings and approaches to freedom and the abolition of slavery, within and alongside, the Haratine community and manifestations of agency in Mauritania, particularly around ideas of self-worth. The Mauritanian government officially ended slavery in 1981 (Marlin and Mathewson 2015, p.3) and since that time has failed to address structural racism, the existence of de-facto slavery, and religious attitudes toward inculcation of the Haratine. These external factors are additional to an already disenfranchised community. This ethnography examines narrations of empowerment and the embodiment of agency that go against societal and structural forces of discrimination, to demonstrate that human resilience and mobilisation are transformational meanings of identity.