Word: tuareg
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...Tuareg folklore, the hills are alive with the sound of jealous rage. Once upon a time, a tall lava plug called Mount Amjer spurned the advances of a volcanic vixen named Mount Tioueyin and refused to leave Mount Tahat, even though Tahat was already married to another mountain. So Tioueyin did what any self-respecting monolith would do: she left town. She moved 150 km southwest and took a suitor, Mount Iherh?, with...
...Sahara Man: Travelling with the Tuareg (John Murray; 274 pages), British anthropologist Jeremy Keenan returns to that land of lusty mountains, his first visit to Algeria in three decades. In the 1960s, he lived in the camps of the blue-veiled tribesmen, immersed in their language and culture. He studied the people intensely?"as academic subjects," he now says, "not as human beings"?before leaving to tell the world. His academic ambitions and the region's politics prevented his return. It wasn't until 1999 that this man, who still considers himself a Tuareg expert, realized that he couldn...
...Adam Mahamoudane surveys the scene below him. The dry, sandy riverbed is a sea of color. Some 60 camels mill about, stirring up the dust and leaving apple-shaped footprints in the sand, while riders rest on their haunches in the shade of acacia trees. Most of the men - Tuareg nomads from the small oasis town of Timia in the West African nation of Niger - wear loose fitting, black trousers, with yellow or white edging around the hem. Over the trousers hangs a cotton robe held at the waist by a colorful belt. Many wear turbans and sunglasses. One rider...
...couple of men collect names of the riders entering the big race. Adam is on their list. At age nine, he is the youngest competitor. The race will be a rite of passage for Adam, into the traditions of the Tuareg people of the central Sahara. The competition is both a demonstration of skill, and an opportunity for the village of Timia to celebrate the wedding of Adam's sister. A cry goes up and all the camels rise at once. One lets out a low growl. Women ululate and clap...
...Nigeria, where they will sell their cargo to Hausa traders. It is an age-old example of the "comparative advantage" theory of international trade: the salt farmers, the transporters and the traders each stick to what they do best. There was a time when the salt ferried by the Tuareg was worth more than gold or silver, and trade routes crisscrossed north Africa from Timbuktu to Cairo. Today, the camel caravans have mostly disappeared, replaced by overloaded trucks which tire less easily and require fewer men. Adam and his town folk are part of a dying breed. "It's very...