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Amilcar Shabazz II Anthropology

October 13, 2009 Ms. Camera

RESEARCH PAPER #1

The Tuaregs of West Africa

Long before European colonial powers created the borders that divide Libya, Niger, Mali

and Algeria, the Tuaregs practiced a nomadic lifestyle following their herds deep into the Sahara,

crossing back and forth over those imaginary lines that defined colonies and today define

nations. I first learned about Tuareg women and men from pictures and stories my parents related

to me after they visited with the Tuareg almost a decade ago. I was about six at the time of their

trip and they determined that I was too young to travel with them to a malaria-infested area.

When I heard about all the required shots and drugs they had to take before and during their trip I

was happy to stay behind. Looking back now I wish I would have had the opportunity to meet

and experience the culture of a people so like and unlike my own. In this paper I will attempt to

examine the cultural construction of gender relations among the Tuareg. I will also consider the

sexual division of labor among a people who have learned throughout the centuries to survive in

the difficult desert environment. Finally, through available scholarly work on the Tuaregs I will

discuss the status of women both historically and in contemporary terms. A unique facet of

Tuareg culture is that men's roles and status are uniquely defined.

The most important distinction of Tuareg culture is the definition of the home space.

The Tuaregs maintain a predominantly acephalous society where the home space community

members determine reputation and social contribution. Traditionally, the Tuaregs practiced

Nomadic agro-pastoralism where the men would take their camels and herd animals through the

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desert from pasture to pasture. In the past women would accompany men on the herd trails. Men

also would take longer trips through the desert in caravans to trade in the cities. In times long

before the colonization of West Africa, the Tuareg women and those of the Tuareg slave class

would tend the fields at home while the men were on their long leaves. Since those times social

identity and obligation in Tuareg culture have centered around the home space and those that

leave do not become socially independent of their home space once they leave their isolated

encampments. The structure of Tuareg society is such that those who are dependent on the profits

gained from caravan trade retain power and the men are held to many obligations including the

responsibility to provide for their community. In many ways the honor of a man belongs to and is

decided upon by the community of women he leaves behind.

An Overview of Tuareg Kinship and Gender Relations

The day-to-day relations and interactions between Tuareg men and women are quite

fascinating and reveal a complexity born of changing societal, environmental, and cultural

factors. In Tuareg society women and young children work and live in the home space while

some males leave on caravans to trade with neighboring towns and farther to cities where they

may find work (Rasmussen). Due to the political-social tensions surrounding the Tuareg and the

natural disasters that afflict their environment, they are unable to rely on traditional agriculture,

pastoralism, and caravanning (trading), and have had to interact with technologically developing

or developed areas in order to survive. Before the French colonization of Niger, the Tuaregs

relied on agriculture, herding, and trade. But then the French colonial government discovered the

fertile oasis lands, which the Tuaregs farmed, and the uranium-rich areas located in the territories

of some Tuareg confederations. The colonial government administration forced oasis Tuaregs out

of their traditional agricultural practices to farm more intensively for the colonial markets.

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Tuaregs located on the Uranium-rich land were forced to relocate. Many northern-Nigerois and

Libyan Tuaregs moved south during the colonial period to join others in escaping Niger colonial

oppression.

Gender relations stand out as a major factor in both popular accounts that contrast the

Tuaregs with western society as well as that of anthropological studies. James A. Standifer notes,

a curious cultural trait of the Tuareg is [that] it is the men who wear veils, not the women (53).

Tuareg men are also a part of a traditionally matrilineal society that since the 900s has come

under the influence of Qur'anic patrilineal inheritance systems dominant in many parts of

northern and western Africa.

The institution of marriage in Tuareg culture is a mesh of the North African Qur'anic

interpretations and the Tuareg's own matrilineal inheritance and kinship-social structure. Simply

put, the female children of a marriage remain a part of the mother's kin even after marriage. As a

people who spend a lot of their time isolated in the desert, Tuaregs developed an endogamous

marriage culture where they marry only into their own society, often to a cross cousin as the

preferred mate. The Tuareg distinguish the male cross cousin as the Tabubazand the female

equivalent as theAbubaz, but these connections do not differ based on the ego's gender. Tuareg

kinship terms are applied based on the ego's inter-generational relationships and the relationships

between the ego's nuclear family.

The Tuareg kin-terms resemble Hawaiian kinship terms in that most people who ascribe

themselves to an ethnic group consider each other to be related genealogically. Cross cousins are

the daughters and sons of the mother's brother or father's sister, but the same term is also applied

to an unknown relative, anyone of the same generational class becomes a classificatory cross

cousins of a Tuareg individual. The order of preferred potential mate goes Tabubaz and Abubaz

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on the mother's side, then the Tabubaz and Abubaz on the father's side, and finally of a

classificatory cross-cousin. The figure below depicts the pattern of Tuareg kinship.

Fig. 1, Source:

Marital arrangements facilitate capital exchange between two families. The male must

provide his affines with gifts before and after the marriage ceremony. He performs two to four

years groom service at the home of his mother-in-law, operating with extreme reserve and

respect, although remaining at his mother and father's residence. Other small rites convey the

husband's more subordinate position and his even subservient role in early marriage in having to

please his parents-in-law. Each year, the wife gains more of her inheritance and tent structures

are built by her husband near her residence in preparation for their house-hold. (Tuareg

Techawait, 393)

In many discussions of gender in anthropology and African Studies, it has been noted thathistorically, women in matrilineal African groups have had the advantage of direct access

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to property.... Through their grandmothers, mothers, and other matrilineal relatives. In

groups where uxorilocality was the rule, moreover, women were at home among their

fields because they remained in the matrilineal village of their birth. They also controlled

the allocation of labor, especially in uxorilocal households. Women in virilocal residence

retained some control, although they had to travel to their own fields to farm. Womenwho had no surplus resources had to depend on their own labor and that of their children.

In such situations in Africa, the absence of a husband or son who periodically returnedwas taken in stride. (Predicament of Women, 291)

Married Women who live uxorilocally live at their mother's home, likewise living virilocally

means that they live at their husband's home. The quote is telling of conflicts that arise from

contradictions that form between Qur'anic and matrilineal inheritance systems. To balance the

unfairness of the Islamic inheritance arrangements between the brothers and sisters, the women

are given Akh Huderan (living milk) from their mothers and mother's brother's (nurturing

uncles). Akh Huderan usually takes the form of livestock or date palms; things that the woman

could cultivate while remaining at home. Otherwise the usual arrangement is that two-thirds of

the property goes to the sons and the daughters receive one-third (Predicament of Women, 306).

Meanwhile, the Techawait conveys a changing balance of power: now the wife, near her

husband's relatives, is in a more ambiguous position. The Techawait ritual is the transformation

of the couple from the uxorilocal residence, where the husband is subservient to his affines, to a

virilocal residence, as an introduction (During the course of the groom-service, there are many

ritual benchmarks, where the affines, usually the sisters of the husband, visit the couple's village

to compliment their matchmaking) to her new sex roles for the support of their new household

(Tuareg Techawait, 408). Rasmussen in Tuareg Techawait, (394) writes; In the Techawait, there

is the inverse of this: the husband in effect attempts to reverse this relationship and transform his

wife into an outsider in the compound of his own family (or, in the case of close cousin marriage,

his own side of the family), emphasizing male, patrilateral kinship links. The Techawait ritual

is a ceremonial raid in which the husband and his brothers and sister's male affines steal the

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wife and her belongings including her tent to the virilocal home. At this point the husband and

wife may argue for the living arrangements, in many ways, which place, to actually establish

their home:

In uxorilocality, most visiting and sharing of re-sources occurs among close,

maternally related women (mothers, sisters, and first cousins on the maternal

side). In virilocality, the wife is more isolated and consequently more dependenton her husband and his family. She is subject to a strict reserve relationship with

her parents-in-law and obtains a bit less assistance with household tasks from her

sisters-in-law than she would from her siblings if she lived uxorilocally. Post

marital residence, ownership of land and buildings, and some men's polygyny aretherefore sensitive points in the life course for many couples and are the primary

causes of divorce. This was shown by substantial numbers of women who refused

to follow husbands during my field residence in the early 1980s. By the 1990s,

however, more women had begun following their husbands. This later trend seemsto coincide with greater sedentarization and loss of herds from droughts and war

in the Air region during that time period. This practice still varies, however, andvirilocal moves seem particularly favored among gardeners, who nowadays have

greater economic security than herders.

(Tuareg Techawait, 394)

Women, who live virilocally, particularly if they do so out of convenience, may risk being

viewed as weak or from a weak family (Claudot-Hawad). The tent is symbolic of the

woman's autonomy as it will always be her property no matter where they decide to live. The

uxorilocal residence is also another social device that the women use to retain their power.

Living virilocally would leave her in complete isolation, as her husband was caravaning.

Increasing the likelihood that the woman would divorce. Divorce among the Tuareg is a light-

weighted consideration, if a man becomes un-supportive, she may divorce him, then go to marry

again among her peer group, usually second marriages are with the classificatory cross-cousins

(Tuareg Kinship,169). The same practice also applies to the death of a husband or wife, the

Tuaregs do not have long periods of mourning and do not respect the Qur'anic restrictions placed

on divorced women or men.

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Gender Relations

Divorce negatively impacts women in modern Tuareg society because many women

choose to live virilocally in modern marriage arrangements to farm their husband's land. When

divorce is decided upon, the woman will get nothing and if she has no children her tent will be

left there to be destroyed. Divorce rates are rising as men begin to practice polygyny, taking on

another wife in the cities where they work. Polygyny is taboo among the Tuareg especially

among communities where there are no Teneslemen or Islamic Scholars (Tuareg men and women

in dress, 153). Colonization sparks major social upheaval among the Tuareg. French-Malian

Colonial and post-colonial governments put pressure on the Tuareg to become more sedentary

and to produce surplus goods for trade .

...the Tuareg remained influential right up until the start of the twentieth century,running the cattle and caravan trades. Their leadership in the resistance to

colonization meant that their territories were among the last in Africa to be

colonized with Mali and Niger only signing peace treaties with the French in 1905and 1917 respectively. However, their role in resisting colonization and their

reputation as a fierce and rebellious people, led the French to marginalize the

Tuareg. Tight restrictions were placed on nomadism and Tuaregs were heavilytaxed and their labor exploited. The French also refused them schooling and when

Niger and Mali achieved independence in the early 1960s the Tuareg immediately

found themselves a disadvantaged and under-represented minority within newnation states ruled predominately by members of sub-Saharan ethnic groups. In

Mali, Tuareg uprisings, seeking autonomy for their regions, began soon after

independence but these were brutally put down by the Malian military.

(Struggle of the Tuareg, 71)

During the 90s the Tuareg violently rebelled to regain their lands and to develop a

trans-Saharan state. As part of a peace agreements with the Niger and Mali, the Tuareg

called for greater government support after having been stripped of their trade system and

nomadic lifestyles. The governments of Mali and Niger would have to create aid

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programs and jobs for the isolated Tuaregs , especially in times of drought, as reparation

for their group's oppression. The Tuaregs re-militarized as of the 2000s as part of sub-

Saharan revolutionary initiative responding to the governments' reneging of the peace

deals. The key changes affecting Tuareg gender relations came from the colonization of

West Africa and the resulting pressures towards sedentarization and urbanization.

Life in the desert has made the Tuareg an adaptive and resilient people. At least

two decades before the colonization of Libya the Tuareg had abolished their slavery. The

labor that had supported their economy and lifestyles was taken up by children and

women. Tuareg women were the primary caretakers of the pasture lands and the herds,

but with more tasks to do at home they could not afford to pastorize far from home. After

colonization there were more patterns of sedentarization among Tuareg women.

I haven't traveled anywhere. Even little children don't know me. I have never been

anywhere. Only to my noble patrons [nearby] to style their hair and sing at their

weddings. And only to a village about twenty miles away. When I went there, my

daughter was very young. We went [there] by camel. I left with my child who was

ill [there is a clinic there]. I stayed there for several days. I didn't like it [that

village]. I only like my village, here. -- Air Mountain Tuareg Woman

(Travel and Gender, 161)

This woman says that her she distrusts the outside world from her home. A

contemporary Tuareg woman lead sedentary lives, a much different reality than

the women from older generations:

At one time....we did nomadism. It was good....We could walk a lot. We were [at

one time] also to the east [near Tabelot], and on Mount Bagzan. In the rainy

season, instead of remaining in the big camp, it was better to be in the wild

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outside. In the cold season also, instead of remaining in the large camp, it was

better in the wild. In the dry season, it was better to return to the large camp,

where water from the well was nearby. That's what is different from the formertimes. The travel that I did was entirely nomadic with animals. I was young then. I

used to travel. I was everywhere. I saw every place. At that time, I knew

happiness. (Tuareg and Migration, 160)

The women of her generation were nomadic herders, the elders would stay at the large

camp while the adult men were on their caravans (also raiding) and the women and

children were herding their animals. Herding lifestyles have almost been eradicated in

Tuareg communities. The forest and grasslands have been dug up and the precious

groundwater spent for obtaining Uranium from the quarries surrounding Tuareg land.

Traditional cultural values have decreased the power of rurally living women.

The intentions of these traditions were in balancing the power between the sexes, but

interestingly their adaption to the western world did not retain their sex role balances.

Government and international aid communities pressured pastoralizing nomadic Tuaregs

to adopt sedentary lifestyles. The industries encroaching on their lands have irreparably

damaged their economy by upsetting their trade-value system. Such pressuring adds

potential risk factors for Tuaregs that begin to rely more on agricultural practice. Women

are often left to tend large gardens with the intentions to produce surplus goods. Can

become a problem if she is living virilocally (she cannot tend her own gardens) for her

mother and children there.

Slaves are gone: need large communities therefore not all sons can caravan,daughters desired at home. Sons may not go to do rites of passage until much

later, the women keep them back to maintain fields at home. Daughters are needed

at home as well, matrilineal inheritance is inherited earlier so that directly afterher groom service she will return home while her husband is on leave to work her

fields.

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Class in Tuareg Society affects what the men and women of that order are responsible for:

{This is especially important in the divisions of labor, may list in intro paragraph}

A. Iklan or Bella (Slave-servant) class: Ancestry may correspond to Fulani ethnic group.

Iborghelitan are people free from low status, [If found to be important enough provide

information about the slave class, but does not really relate to labor divisions except for theirliberation that changed the distribution of labor at home]

B. Imghad (Vassal) class : Use their lands to forage or pastures for Camel herds and other

grazing animals . Tribute is expected for the nobles. Peasants care for the designated camel herdsof the nobles.

C. Imhaden (Craftsmen/ Artisans) class: receives some service from Peasant/ farm class in

return for tools, weapons and other utilities. They perform services for the noble classes.

D. Imushar (Nobles/Warrior) class: Warriors do not go on caravans but travel between tuaregoutposts to protect Tuareg that travel on the trade routes from raiding. Warriors are responsible

for settling disputes between families.

The proportions of labor between men and women differ according to the class that they

belong.

Women inherit land, males inherit Camels: Labor expectations Women had slaves for farm work,

when the slaves are freed, women must take over the farm work. Camel Caravan get household

supplies, also leave to gain capital to provide gifts to their connected families. [Refrence Tuareg:Travel & Migration Article]

Women forage, Men Caravan for millet/ house hold goods

Topic III: Status of Women in historical/ contemporary terms:

Cannot rely solely on caravaning, therefore: pastoralizing and gardening (Oasis)

Government and international aid communities pressure pastoralizing nomadic Tuaregs to adopt

sedentary lifestyles, such pressuring adds potential risk factors for Tuaregs that begin to relymore on agricultural practice. Women are often left to tend large gardens with the intentions to

produce surplus goods. Can become a problem if she is living virilocally (she cannot tend her

own gardens) for her mother and children there.

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Slaves are gone: need large communities therefore not all sons can caravann, daughters

desired at home. Sons may not go to do rites of passage until much later, the women keep them

back to maintain fields at home. Daughters are needed at home as well, matrilineal inheritance isinherited earlier so that directly after her groomservice she will return home while her husband

is on leave to work her fields.

Norms/ Ceremonies/ and Groom Service: need lots of resources, since husbands are

needed at home with wives to work fields today, they cannot do work for their affines, money

and gifts must be sent, therefore immigrant labor must be done for their affines gifts, but thismeans less time spent with their family. Women spend time in husband's home near their family

and her home.

Dance ceremony Men perform dances and women drum and provide musicalaccompaniment, important because it is found that in other nearby cultures the women are

strictly forbidden from playing on the men's drums.

The Tuaregs share an Ancestress origin story. Their history tells that the founders

of their cultural community were Iman Hinan the first queen of the Tuareg and her vassal.The descendants of whom are the noble and vassal Tuareg classes (warrior-aristocrats,

vassal-herdsmen, blacksmith-clients, religious clerics, the marabout) (Rodd, pg) .

Terrible droughts in 1972-74 and 84-85 had a devastating effect on the

Tuareg, exacerbated by neglect from the national governments who deniedthem economic support, food aid and medical care. They fled in large numbers

to refugee camps in Algeria and Libya where they were to remain until

economic difficulties in their host countries led them to be repatriated. Newlypoliticized and with military training from their time in exile, the Tuaregs rose

in rebellion in the early 1990s in an attempt to create a separate trans-Saharan

state. After years of futile negotiations, they settled for peace agreements inMali (1992) and Niger (1995). Both agreements called for a decentralization

of power and the integration of Tuareg fighters into their respective national

armies. However, the peace accords did not resolve the Tuaregs' politicalfrustrations and in the ensuing years there was widespread feeling that the

governments had not fulfilled their promise to provide greater development

in the shape of jobs, education, medical care, economic programs, and

environmental protection. As a consequence a second Tuareg rebellion beganin Niger in 2007 led by the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ).

Cannot rely solely on caravaning, therefore: pastoralizing and gardening (Oasis)

Government and international aid communities pressure pastoralizing nomadic Tuaregs to adoptsedentary lifestyles, such pressuring adds potential risk factors for Tuaregs that begin to rely

more on agricultural practice. Women are often left to tend large gardens with the intentions to

produce surplus goods. Can become a problem if she is living virilocally (she cannot tend herown gardens) for her mother and children there.

Slaves are gone: need large communities therefore not all sons can caravan, daughters

desired at home. Sons may not go to do rites of passage until much later, the women keep them

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back to maintain fields at home. Daughters are needed at home as well, matrilineal inheritance is

inherited earlier so that directly after her groom service she will return home while her

husband is on leave to work her fields.

{Education taking Tuareg slave men, women aren't allowed}

Norms/ Ceremonies/ and Groom Service: need lots of resources, since husbands are

needed at home with wives to work fields today, they cannot do work for their affines, money

and gifts must be sent, therefore immigrant labor must be done for their affines gifts, but thismeans less time spent with their family. Women spend time in husband's home near their family

and her home.

Dance ceremony Men perform dances and women drum and provide musical

accompaniment, important because it is found that in other nearby cultures the women are

strictly forbidden from playing on the men's drums.

Ethos T&G Quotes:

What are gender relations, according to: us what gender relations,

Male Veil and women drummers, cultural customs for gend. Relations: Dance article, Clothingarticle by Rasmussen.

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Works Cited

Heath, Jennifer. The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics. New York:

University of California, 2008. Print.

"Mali, Niger, Tuareg rebels pledge peace - Libya."Reuters.com - World News, Financial News,

Breaking US & International News. Ed. Alison Williams. Thompson Reuters, 7 Oct.

2009. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. .

Massalatchi, Abdoulaye. "Niger seeks mediation with Tuareg rebels | International | Reuters."

Reuters.com - World News, Financial News, Breaking US & International News.

Thompson Reuters, 3 Apr. 2:14. Web. 11 Oct. 2009.

.

Murphy, Robert F. Tuareg Kinship.American Anthropologist69.2 (Apr., 1967): 163-170.

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/669431 Accessed: 12/10/2009 19:26

Rasmussen, Susan J. Within the Tent and at the Crossroads: Travel and Gender Identity among

the Tuareg of Niger.Ethos 26.3 (1998): 153-82.Anthrosource. Web. 11 Oct. 2009.

.

Rasmussen, Susan J. Tuareg Labor Migration, Gendered Spaces, and the Predicament of

Women. City & Society 14.2 (2002): 281-31.

Standifer, James A. The Tuareg: Their Music and Dances. The Black Perspective in Music 16.1

(Spring, 1988): 45-62. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1215126 Accessed:

12/10/2009 19:27

Grief at Seeing a Daughter Leave Home: Weeping and Emotion in the Tuareg Techawait

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Postmarital Residence Ritual

Susan Rasmussen

The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 113, No. 450, Holidays, Ritual, Festival, Celebration, and

Public Display (Autumn, 2000), pp. 391-421

Published by: American Folklore Society

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/542039

Claudot-Hawad, Helene. 1993. Touareg: Portrait enfragments. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud

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http://www.jstor.org/stable/542039http://www.jstor.org/stable/542039


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For next Paper on: Current Struggles of the Tuareg

**********************

Uxorilocal Vs. virilocal living.

Native matrilineal inheritance system vs. the Qu'rranic patrilineal inheritance system:

Marriage (Tabubaz= cross cousin, child of opposite-sexed sibling, preferred match): Family ties:

Labor divisions

Labor divisions in Tuareg Culture are divided according to their social class.

A. Iklan or Bella (Slave-servant) class: Ancestry may correspond to Fulani ethnic group.

Iborghelitan are people free from low status, [If found to be important enough provide

information about the slave class, but does not really relate to labor divisions except for their

liberation that changed the distribution of labor at home]

B. Imghad (Vassal) class: Use their lands to forage or pastures for Camel herds and other

grazing animals. Tribute is expected for the nobles. Peasants care for the designated camel herds

of the nobles.

C. Imhaden (Craftsmen/ Artisans) class: receives some service from Peasant/ farm class in

return for tools, weapons and other utilities. They perform services for the noble classes.

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D. Imushar (Nobles/Warrior) class: Warriors do not go on caravans but travel between

Tuareg outposts to protect Tuareg that travel on the trade routes from raiding. Warriors are

responsible for settling disputes between families.

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