A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words:

The Tuareg of Timia, Niger

by
David J. Keeling
Photograph by the author
Fiercely independent and proud of
their rich cultural heritage, the Tuareg
number just over one million members
today (Figure 1). Of Berber heritage, they
range across the northwestern Sahara, from
Morocco to Algeria and Libya, and south
to Mali, Niger, and beyond. I captured this
image near Timia, in the A r Mountains of
northern Niger, in November 2006, during
a desert festival celebrating Tuareg culture.
The Tuareg travel signicant distances to
attend these occasional festivals. With tra-
ditional poetry, camel racing, liberal
amounts of dancing, singing, and eating,
and electric guitar-driven songs of the ic-
houmars (poorly educated young men) that
romanticize rebellions past, these Tuareg
festivals celebrate the very existence of the
people. Yet they also serve a broader pur-
pose to remind the younger generation,
who are increasingly inuenced by more
sedentary, Western-inuenced lifestyles, of
the cultural traditions and values of the
Tuareg community.
Organized into distinct tribes with a
millennium-long history of convoying car-
avans across the vast Saharan region, the
Tuareg face one of the modern worlds
most challenging geopolitical struggles.
Generations of Tuareg leaders have envi-
sioned an independent country for their
nation called Azawad that would incor-
porate territory currently part of southern
Algeria, northern Mali, and northern
Niger. Modern Tuareg do not t easily
into the political-territorial structure that
Figure 1. Tuareg men arriving at a festival near Timia in northern Niger.
28 FOCUS on Geography Volume 55, Number 1
has dened our world over the past two
centuries. The construction of articial
political boundaries that dene a states
territory is anathema to communities like
the Kurds, Yupik Eskimos, Bedouin, or
Tuareg that have ranged historically over
land that today sits astride multiple politi-
cal states. Countries such as Niger, Mali,
and Algeria, for example, have all tried to
enforce state-based political identities on
the Tuareg in recent decades. But the Tua-
reg do not want to be Malian, Algerian, or
Nigerian they are, militantly at times,
proudly Tuareg.
At the festival where I took this photo-
graph, I engaged a young Tuareg man in
conversation about this seemingly irresolv-
able clash of civilizations. Between his
halting, broken English and my abysmal
French, we talked about the long history
of struggle for Tuareg Independence. His
grandfather fought against the French dur-
ing the long period of European hegemony
over Africa between the 1880s and 1950s.
In recent decades, following devastating
famines and droughts, the Tuareg have
fought against the governments of Libya,
Mali, and Niger. During the late-1970s to
early 1980s, loss of livestock and govern-
ment indifference about the long-term con-
sequences of drought forced many Tuareg
into refugee camps inside Libya. They
became increasingly radicalized and many
were recruited into Qaddas brutal Isla-
mic Legion that aimed to create a Sahelian
Islamic State. From this experience
emerged the well-known Tuareg desert
blues musical group Tinariwen, whose
politically charged lyrics were banned
by governments throughout the region.
In an intriguing twist, Qadda had
begun hiring Tuareg mercenaries to help
put down the pro-democracy rebellion
against his regime that broke out in Febru-
ary 2011.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Tua-
reg groups continued attacks against the
Mali and Niger governments. Motivation
for these ongoing conicts certainly came
from a Tuareg desire for greater autonomy
and, eventually, independence. However,
many Tuareg have pointed to the devasta-
tion of ecological change, particularly peri-
odic droughts, which has changed their
traditional migration patterns, forced them
into urban environments, and exacerbated
conict with farmers over access to scarce
resources. Many hundreds, and perhaps
thousands, of Tuareg have died as a conse-
quence of these changing environmental
circumstances. Tuareg leaders complain
that government insensitivity to their
plight radicalized many young men and
pushed them into rebellion. In addition,
military abuses such as poisoning water
wells, slaughtering Tuareg livestock, and
terrorizing women and children did not
encourage a climate of rapprochement.
Despite signicant Tuareg losses to gov-
ernment forces, various peace treaties, and
international engagement in the region,
the relationship between the various Tua-
reg groups and their host governments
remains fragile at best.
During my visit to the Timia-Iferouane
communities, our educational expedition
co-sponsored by the American Geographi-
cal Society participated in Tuareg camel
races to raise money for a school in Timia.
Much merriment, confusion, and a $1,500
donation to the school resulted from this
fun event. Equally important, however, is
that this encounter with the Kel-Timia
Tuareg community revealed a world
unknown to most foreigners and shed
light on a culture that is both fascinating
and endangered. Known vernacularly as
the Blue People because of their indigo-
dyed robes, the Tuareg retain many cus-
toms and religious rites predating their
conversion to Islam. Their society is matri-
lineal, with inheritance and descent follow-
ing the female line. Tuareg women enjoy
signicant inuence and respect in their
communities, including independent prop-
erty ownership and the right to divorce if
mistreated. Men wear the veil or tagelmust,
whereas women generally do not. Myth
has it that the tagelmust wards off evil
spirits, but the more practical explanation
is the veils usefulness in protecting the
Tuareg against the ill-effects of wind-
blown sand.
Listening to Tuareg music at the festi-
val, the subtle inuences of American
blues musicians like John Lee Hooker and
Ry Cooder, along with the rhythms of
Mali exemplied by guitarist Ali Farka
Toure, were evident. Musicologists suggest
that the guitar style exemplied by the
Tuareg group, Tinariwen, developed
mostly in isolation and is rooted in West
African musical traditions. The foundation
for Tuareg music comes from traditional
poems, melodies, and instruments, partic-
ularly the shepherd ute and tende or
small tambourine. Women often accom-
pany male musicians by playing a one-
string bowed instrument called an imzad.
Music, poetry, and story-telling also
play a critical role in preserving the Tua-
reg language, Tamasheq, part of the Berber
language family. Many young Tuareg
who became urbanized have started to
mix French and Hausa with their native
language, and there are fears that fewer
Tuareg are still speaking Tamasheq u-
ently, perhaps as few as 250,000 today.
Their struggles for autonomy and cultural
integrity in an increasingly Westernized
and globalized world are familiar to those
who study the human condition.
Undoubtedly, the Tuareg face an uncer-
tain future within their traditional Saha-
ran territory.
Spring 2012 FOCUS on Geography 29