Nomads of Niger


Book Description

A photographic celebration of the nomadic Wodaabe of Niger with a narrative that follows a herdsman and his family and kinsmen through one year's journey in parched, sub-Saharan Africa. This volume documents their life, culture, traditions and celebrations.




Nomads who Cultivate Beauty


Book Description

"The author describes Wodaabe cultural choices as "active archaisation". Different art forms are analysed in the light of identity construction by the Wodaabe. Their elaborate cultivation of beauty in make-up, tattoos, body paintings, calabash carvings, embroideries, and architecture all follow the principle of symmetry and order in the cosmos. The author emphasizes the gendered aspects of social life and identity construction and explores masculinity among nomadic Wodaabe men, who are living sculptures displaying their beauty as a spiritual act, full of honour and dignity."--BOOK JACKET.




Space, Place and Identity


Book Description

Known as highly mobile cattle nomads, the Wodaabe in Niger are today increasingly engaged in a transformation process towards a more diversified livelihood based primarily on agro-pastoralism and urban work migration. This book examines recent transformations in spatial patterns, notably in the context of urban migration and in processes of sedentarization in rural proto-villages. The book analyses the consequences that the recent change entails for social group formation and collective identification, and how this impacts integration into wider society amid the structures of the modern nation state.




Faces of Africa


Book Description

Presents a selection of full-color photographs from across Africa, covering topics including sense of place, the joy of being, inner journeys, patterns of beauty, rhythm from within, and capacity to endure.




Nomads of Niger


Book Description

Het leven van het Woodaabe-volk in woord en beeld.




African Ceremonies


Book Description

A newly designed, affordable one-volume edition of this definitive work on the traditional rituals of Africa, containing more than half the photos that were in the original edition plus new images that will focus fresh attention on specific ceremonies. The book is accompanied by a CD of African ceremonies. 473 photos.




Savannah Nomads


Book Description

This 1959 account of the Nomadic pastoral Fulani of Bornu, Northern Nigeria, begins with a brief historical sketch of the ancient kingdom of Bornu, and the Holy War of the nineteenth century and its repercussions. A detailed analysis of the family structure of the pastoralists (or Wodaabe) follows. The volume covers their organization into lineage groups, their forms of marriage and of inheritance, the status and functions of leaders in the lineage group and the cattle camps, and the central place the herds occupy in the social structure. The volume covers the impact on the traditional structure and way of life of the British administration, in particular the effects of the introduction of village headships and of new methods of taxation. A concluding chapter describes current plans for improving the general economy of the pastoralists, by developing various modifications of their methods of agricultural and animal husbandry, and by establishing forms of settlement.




No Five Fingers are Alike


Book Description

Snake charmers, bards, acrobats, magicians, trainers of performing animals, and other nomadic artisans and entertainers have been a colorful and enduring element in societies throughout the world. Their flexible social system, based on highly specialized individual skills and spatial mobility, contrasts sharply with the more rigid social system of sedentary peasants and traditional urban dwellers. Joseph Berland brings into focus the ethnographic and psychological differences between nomadic and sedentary groups by examining how the experiences of South Asian gypsies and their urban counterparts contribute to basic perceptual habits and skills. No Five Fingers Are Alike, based on three years of participant research among rural Pakistani groups, provides the first detailed description in print of Asian gypsies. By applying methods of anthropological observation as well as psychological experimentation, Berland develops a theory about the relationship between social experience and mental growth. He suggests that there are certain social conditions under which mental growth can be accelerated. His work promises to stand as an important contribution to the cross-cultural literature on cognitive development.




Walking with Abel


Book Description

In Walking With Abel, journalist Anna Badkhen joins a family of Fulani cowboys as they embark on their annual migration across the Savannah. Although their present is increasingly under threat from Islamic militants, climate change and urbanization, the Fulani are no strangers to uncertainty - brilliantly resourceful and resilient, they've contended with famines, droughts and wars for centuries. Dubbed 'Anna Ba' by the nomads, who embrace her as one of theirs, Badkhen narrates the Fulani's journeys with compassion and keen observation.




The Tuaregs


Book Description

As a minority in these two countries, the Tuaregs have come into a difficult situation and today they are in heavy troubles. Since independence in 1960, the Tuaregs have been ignored constantly by the different governments. Today the consequences of this are visible in their areas which are underdeveloped and the Young Tuaregs are mostly illiterate and untrained and with no hope in the future.