Let's talk about the Tuaregs

[buddyrydell]

Anybody here happen to see the movie "Sahara?" I thought it was fairly decent, but it featured a subplot concerning Tuareg rebels in Mali. The Tuaregs were depicted as Black Africans but who true is this in real life, or does it vary by the North African country? I know that the Tuaregs are a subgroup of Berbers, but are they usually ordinary Caucasoid Berbers, the mixed descendants of Berbers and their Black slaves, or Black Africans who have adopted Berber speech and customs?

Perhaps Berter or Igu could help with this one .

[mike2]

I think they started as black African Sudanids who were linguistically and to some extent genetically Berberized by Saharan Berbers (who are not fully Caucasian themselves).

Some of them look very Negroid. Others look intermediate. Some rarely approach an almost fully Caucasoid look, though this is certainly not the norm. Most of them look intermediate. Even moreso than Fulanis on occasion. Others approach an almost fully Sudanid appearance, and that's certainly more common the further south you'd go I'd imagine. It's hard finding good pictures though because the men cover their faces.

[alexandrian]

These two look very Caucasian to me:







There's no way that second one is Tuareg. It's from a Spanish website and the url says "carnaval", I'm guessing its a Spaniard in costume.

[mike2]

Sue me. I googled.

[buddyrydell]

Thanks for the pics Mike. Indeed it seems that they are a mixture of original Caucasoid Berbers and Sub-Saharans. Many of them display that intermediate "Saharan" look.

[Circe]

There is a great Touareg band called Tinariwen
here are some pics of the band members





(for a bigger pic go here)

p.s. They're nomadic Touaregs from the Malian Sahara desert.

[mike2]

Wow, awesome. I think they're very representative of what the Tuaregs look like.

[Circe]

Mike said:

Wow, awesome. I think they're very representative of what the Tuaregs look like.

I think you did a better job, Mike, but thanks anyway

For the interested, some audio/video samples

[amksa]

Buddyrydell said:

Anybody here happen to see the movie "Sahara?" I thought it was fairly decent, but it featured a subplot concerning Tuareg rebels in Mali. The Tuaregs were depicted as Black Africans but who true is this in real life, or does it vary by the North African country? I know that the Tuaregs are a subgroup of Berbers, but are they usually ordinary Caucasoid Berbers, the mixed descendants of Berbers and their Black slaves, or Black Africans who have adopted Berber speech and customs?

Perhaps Berter or Igu could help with this one .

read the book of Malika hachid : "Les Premiers Berbères : entre Méditerranée, Tassili et Nil "

[Crimson Guard]

You know what the problem with Modern pictures,is that is not really reprsentive of their ancient selves.North Africa today more than ever before has a large Sub-Sarahran immigrat influx.

Most of those Tuaregs look Caucasoid,with perhaps some asiatic infleunce.

[amksa]

Buddyrydell said:

Anybody here happen to see the movie "Sahara?" I thought it was fairly decent, but it featured a subplot concerning Tuareg rebels in Mali. The Tuaregs were depicted as Black Africans but who true is this in real life, or does it vary by the North African country? I know that the Tuaregs are a subgroup of Berbers, but are they usually ordinary Caucasoid Berbers, the mixed descendants of Berbers and their Black slaves, or Black Africans who have adopted Berber speech and customs?

Perhaps Berter or Igu could help with this one .

The tuaregs are known to be the descendants of the Lemtuna (ilemtiyen), founder of the Almoravid dynasty, part of the Sanhadja (iznagen) confederation, which ironic is that now there is a tribe (in anti-atlas and Siroua), called Iznagen (Sanhadja), but among them there is a high frequency of blondiness and redness. in this tribe, they call "aarab" a person with a dark tan.

discussion, in a Berber message board, on the subject of the black Berbers, among shluh ethnic group and tuaregs (in french) :
www.souss.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&order=0&topic_id=5025&forum=17&post_id=&refresh=Allez