For the month of June 2026, the REPAiR Project’s Rangeland Myths series explores the myth that ‘Healthy ecosystems are green’ – including an online discussion on 17 June, part of our engagement with the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP). In this episode of the REPAiR Podcast, Linda Pappagallo explores aspects of this myth with one of the speakers at our event.

Brahim El Guabli is an Amazigh scholar and associate professor of Arabic studies and comparative literature at Williams College. Brahim’s work moves fluidly across languages, timescales, disciplines, and geographies, bringing them into conversation in ways that challenge established assumptions and open new avenues for thought.

His most recent book, Desert Imaginations: A History of Saharanism and its Radical Consequences, examines how many societies have come to imagine deserts through what he calls ‘Saharanism’: an ideological framework that portrays deserts as empty and available for exploitation.

In doing so, Saharanism invites us to rethink not only deserts themselves, but also the cultural and political assumptions that shape our understanding of landscapes more broadly.

This episode is part of the REPAiR podcast, a series of interviews and recordings linked to our project on issues around ‘nature-based solutions’, rangelands and restoration.

You can listen and subscribe to the podcast on Substack, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.