Pastoral nomadic Tuareg in transition : the case of Igorareine Tuareg in Echagh, Northern Mali

Abstract

This thesis is about how the Igorareine Tuareg are coping within transition in northern Mali. They are in a process to cease their nomadic way of life without having yet become fully sedentary. My focus is mainly on the strategies used within this transition, how they can transform their current situation into a better life and how the whole process affects the social relationships between kinsmen. The strategies identified are both the formal education and local knowledge. In my fieldwork I focus on the school, the setting for the introduction of formal knowledge, and on one family using traditional knowledge as their main coping strategy. Using participant observation and an observational film style as data collection methods enabled me to collect both text and non-text based data. An interdisciplinary approach is used to interpret my empirical material in this thesis. The main theoretical sources are: relationship between power and knowledge (Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu), Modernity and identity (Anthony Giddens), the nation-state (Pierre Bourdieu, Ernest Gellner); Identity and belonging (Anthony Cohen), De-tribalization and re-tribalization (Abner Cohen). The film Echagh (the well) forms an integral part of this thesis.