Tuareg - Sociopolitical Organization

Precolonial Tuareg society was characterized by servility in a multiethnic setting (Baier and Lovejoy 1977, 393). This pattern arose partly as an adaptation to cycles of drought in the Sahara. In the core area of Tuareg operations, the desert, outsiders were acquired as domestic servants, herders, and farmers. Formerly, persons could belong to individuals, tribal sections, or to offices. Those persons who were in areas beyond direct control, particularly the herders, were more like clients than slaves. Still further away, in the savanna, some were settled on agricultural estates administered by resident agents and occupied a position somewhat between that of tenant farmers and serfs. The former clients and slaves now simply owe hospitality to their former masters. Traditionally, Tuareg social stratification guaranteed that power to make economic decisions remained in the hands of a few. Yet political power in the pastoral nomadic society was fragmented. At the lowest level was the camp ( eghiwan ) of five or six families of four or five members each, with dependents (including slaves). There were half as many dependents as free Tuareg. Two to twenty camps formed a descent-group section ( tawsit ). The male noble heads of the noble clan of the descent-group section traditionally have chosen chiefs from members of their own clan, but election usually is confirmed by all components of the section. Officeholders keep their positions for life, but traditional powers have been curtailed by colonial and postcolonial governments. Tenure of office has depended on the willingness of all nobles of the section to pay a small tribute to the chief each year (Briggs 1960, 146; Jean 1909, 175-176; Baier and Lovejoy 1977, 397). These traditional chiefs, called chefs de tribus, now serve as government links in collecting taxes and registering children for school. A group of sections recognizing a common leader constitutes the next level, the drum group, or confederation. Together, the noble clans of the confederations elect the amenokal, or sultan. His precolonial function was to conduct peaceful relations with outsiders or to lead expeditions against enemies; today he acts as a liaison with the central government.

Social Control. In the traditional segmentary system, no leader had power over his followers solely by virtue of a position in a political hierarchy. Wealth was traditionally enough to guarantee influence. Nobles acted as managers of large firms and controlled most resources, although they constituted less than 10 percent of the population. Even traditionally, however, there were no cut-and-dry free or slave statuses. Below the aristocracy were various dependents whose status derived from their position in the larger system (e.g., whether attached to a specific noble or noble section); they had varying degrees of freedom. Tuareg assimilated outsiders, who formed the servile strata, on a model of fictive kinship: a noble owner was expected to be "like a father" to his slave. Vestiges of former tribute and client-patron systems persist today, but also encounter some resistance. On some oases, nobles still theoretically have rights to dates from date palms within gardens of former slaves, but nowadays the former slaves refuse to fetch them, obliging nobles to climb the trees and collect the dates themselves.

Conflict. In principle, members of the same confederation are not supposed to raid each other's livestock, but such raids do occur (Casajus 1987). In rural areas today, many local-level disputes are arbitrated by a council of elders and Islamic scholars who apply Quranic law, but individuals have the option of taking cases to secular courts in the towns.