Tuareg - Orientation

Identification. The Tuareg, a seminomadic, Islamic people who speak a Berber language, Tamacheq, live in the contemporary nation-states of Niger, Mali, Algeria, and Libya. They are believed to be descendants of the North African Berbers and to have originated in the Fezzan region of Libya but later to have expanded into areas bordering the Sahara, assimilating into their traditionally stratified society the sedentary farming peoples from regions south of the Sahara. Tuareg traded with these populations and also raided them for slaves. Thus, Tuareg display diverse physical and cultural traits ranging from Arabic influences to influences stemming from south of the Sahara. "Tuareg," the term by which they are most commonly known today, is actually a term of outside, possibly Arabic origin. It was imposed as a gloss, or cover-term, to designate the ethnicity and culture of a people who, although unified by their common language and culture, belong to diverse social strata based on descent, have different geographic origins, and practice varied subsistence patterns of stock-breeding, oasis gardening, caravanning, professional Quranic scholarship, and smithing. There are also names for numerous subdivisions of Tuareg, based upon precolonial descent groups and confederations. Many Tuareg call themselves "Kel Tamacheq" (people of the Tamacheq language), "Kel Tagelmust" (people of the veil, a reference to the distinctive practice of men's face veiling), and other more specific terms. There are names referring to the precolonial social categories based on descent, still ideologically important in rural communities: imajeghen, denoting nobility, refers to those Tuareg of aristocratic origin; imghad refers to those of the tributary social stratum; inaden refers to smith/artisans; and iklan and ighawalen denote, respectively, peoples of various degrees of servile and client status. Currently, there is disagreement regarding which term to use to refer to these peoples as a group. "Tuareg" still predominates in most English-language historical and ethnographic literature. "Touareg" and "Targui" are often found in French-language sources. Many contemporary local intellectuals of Niger and Mali refer to themselves as "Tuareg," but some have expressed a preference for "Kel Tamacheq." For purposes of standardization, the term "Tuareg" is used in this article.

Location. The Saharan regions where Tuareg originated—southern Algeria, western Libya, eastern Mali, and northern Niger—are still the regions where they predominate today. During the late twentieth century, many Tuareg have migrated to rural and urban areas farther south—into Sahelian and coastal regions of West Africa—because of drought, famine, and political tensions with the central governments of Mali and Niger. Since the early 1990s, some Tuareg have joined an armed insurrection against those governments (Bourgeot 1990, 129-162). A few Tuareg have emigrated to France. The Saharan and Sahelian regions of Mali and Niger, where most Tuareg still live are the principal biomes to which the culture is adapted (Baier and Lovejoy 1977; Bernus 1981). The topography includes volcanic mountains, flat desert plains, rugged savanna, and desert-edge borderlands where agriculture is possible only with daily irrigation. The major ranges are the Ahaggar Mountains in Algeria and the Aïr Mountains in Niger. Temperatures range from 4° C at night in the brief cold season, from December to March, upward to 54° C during the day in the hot season. There is a short and unreliable rainy season between June and September; annual precipitation often amounts to less than 25 centimeters. Pasturelands have been diminishing, and, consequently, livestock herds are shrinking. Many herds were decimated in the droughts of 1967-1973 and 1984-1985. During the brief cold season, there are high winds and sandstorms.

Demography. Tuareg constitute about 8 percent of the population of Niger (U.S. Department of State 1987). The total population of Tamacheq speakers who identify themselves culturally as Tuareg has been estimated at about 1 million (Childs and Chelala 1994, 16).

Linguistic Affiliation. There are numerous dialects of Tamacheq, a language of the Berber Family. French sources (Fraternité Charles de Foucauld 1968, 1) list the three major dialects as "Tamaheq" (in the Ahaggar Mountains of Algeria and in the Tassili mountain range in the Ajjer region of Mali), "Tamacheq" (in the desert-edge region along the River Niger and in the Adrar des Iforas of Mali), and "Temajeq" (in the Aïr Mountains of Niger). In many other sources (Rodd 1926; Nicolaisen 1963; Bernus 1981), the major language is called "Tamacheq," without specifying dialectal distinctions, a usage also adopted in this article. Tuareg also use a written script known as Tifinagh. Many contemporary Tamacheq speakers also speak Songhay, Hausa, or French.