Synopses & Reviews
The Tuareg are an ancient nomadic people who follow Islam and have inhabited the Sahara for millennia. In what ways have the lives of the Tuareg changed, and what roles do they have, in a modern and increasingly globaliZed world? Here, leading scholars explore the many facets of contemporary Tuareg existence: from transnational identity to international politics, from economy to social structure, from music to beauty, from mobility to slavery. A tribe able to move freely across national borders, the Tuareg face the risk of marginalization by national and international politics, and are left without nationality or citizenship. At the same time, the Tuareg are seen as a link between the Arab and African worlds, and their familiarity with the Sahara makes them a port of call for African migrants traversing the desert to reach Europe. This is the first comprehensive study of the Tuareg today, which also explores the ways in which the Tuareg themselves are "moving global."
About the Author
Ines Kohl is Lecturer in the Centre for Studies in Asian Cultures and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna. Anja Fischer is Lecturer within the Department for Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna.
Table of Contents
Preface * 'Tuareg' Moving Global: An Introduction -- Ines Kohl and Anja Fischer * Theoretic Frame * A Systemic Approach to Networks of Mobility and Stasis of Local and Global Tuareg -- Alexandra Giuffrida * Tuareg City Blues: Cultural Capital in a Global Cosmopole -- Sebastian Lecocq * Research and Nomads in the Age of Globalisation -- Anja Fischer * Multidimensional Changes: From Past to Present * Foreign Cloth and Kel Ewey Identity -- Gerd Spittler * Genesis and Changes in the socio-political Structure of the Tuareg: Some Elements of Reflection -- Dida Badi * Tuareg Trajectories of Slavery: Preliminary Reflections on a Changing Field -- Benedetta Rossi * Global Aspects in Local Fields * The Price of Marriage: Shifting Boundaries, Compromised Agency and the Effects of Globalisation on Iklan Marriages -- Annemarie Bouman * The Ishumar Guitar. Emergence, Circulation and Evolution: From the Exiled Zahuten to the World Scene -- Nadia Belalimat * Libya, 'The Europe of Ishumar': Modern Nomads between Border Crossing and Family Life -- Ines Kohl * Debating Beauty: Contested and Changing Female Bodily Aesthetics of Fatness among the Tuareg -- Susan Rasmussen * Between the Worlds: Tuareg as Entrepreneurs in Tourism -- Marko Scholze * Ambigous Meanings of Ikufar and their Role in Development Projects -- Sarah Lunacek * Resisting Imperialism: Tuareg threat to US, Chinese and other Foreign interests -- Jeremy Keenan