road mythographies: space, mobility, and the historical imagination in postcolonial Niger ADELINE MASQUELIER Tulane University In this article, I explore how some Hausaphone Mawri in postcolonial Niger materialize their experience of modernity. I examine the fundamental role that space plays in local perceptions of modernity by discussing stories peo- ple tell about what happens on the road. In particular, I focus on their atten- tion to the road as part of a complex economy of violence, power, and blood. By linking the road and its deadly spirits to the region's history of civil engi- neering, emergent capitalism, and religious transformation, I show that rather than simply being iconic of modernity, the road is a hybrid space that con- denses past histories at the same time that it concretizes the perils and possi- bilities of modern life for rural Mawri. [space, roads, mobility, modernity, imagination, spirits, Niger] The road swallows people and sometimes at night you can hear them calling for help, begging to be free from inside its stomach. QO %J —Ben Ochri, The Famished Road I heard people talk of demons of the road, and of the road itself as a fickle god, a compas- sionate, jealous, violent, hungry being. —Peter Chilson, Riding the Demon: On the Road in West Africa Thinking historically is a process of locating oneself in space and time. And a location . . . is an itinerary rather than a bounded site—a series of encounters and translations. —James Clifford, Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century For the Hausaphone Mawri of Arewa (southern Niger), roads are the embodi- ment of colonial experience (Charlick 1991; Collion 1982; Miles 1994). In many ways, the first and most enduring aspect of colonialism affecting Mawri villagers was the construction of roads. When I asked old men what they remembered of the colo- nial period, they would invariably recall being conscripted for road work. They would evoke poignant memories of having to leave behind entire fields ready for sowing or harvest, knowing that their absence would mean starvation, illness, and despair the following year. Villagers who were greeted by the dreaded words "Corvee des Routes!" (forced road labor) knew there was no escape from the grueling work. Ni- ger's Route Nationale 1, which stretches for nearly 905 kilometers along the Ni- ger-Nigeria border and remains the main artery of the country's social, economic, and political life, is itself associated with some of the most tragic moments of Nigerien history. Now a "relic of colonial lust" (Chilson 1999:126), its original course was un- knowingly plotted by Captain Paul Voulet, who commanded the Voulet-Chanoine American Ethnologist29(4):829-856. Copyright© 2002, American Anthropological Association.