5
Foreign Cloth and Kel Ewey Identity
Gerd Spittler
Kel Ewey caravaneers who live in the Aïr Mountains always had close
contacts with other ethnic groups: with the Arabs in the north, the Hausa
in the south, and the Kanuri in the east. The Kel Ewey were familiar with
foreign clothing. How did they react to it? Did it impress them? Did they
imitate it? Or did they resist the foreign influence? I shall first give an
outline of Kel Ewey clothing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
and then go on to attempt an explanation. My sources are European
travellers who visited the Kel Ewey, and my own observations made
among the Kel Ewey of Timia since the 1970s. Starting in the lateeighteenth century they were as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Friedrich Hornemann in Murzuq, Fezzan (1798)
George Francis Lyon in Murzuq, Fezzan (1819)
Heinrich Barth in Tintellust and Agadez (1850)
James Richardson in Tintellust, Aïr (1850)
Erwin von Bary in Ajirou, Aïr (1877)
Fernand Foureau in Iferouane, Auderas and Agadez (1899)
C. Jean in Agadez (1904)
Angus Buchanan in the Aïr (1921)
Francis R. Rodd in the Aïr (1922)
Johannes Nicolaisen in the Aïr (1955)
Gerd Spittler in the Aïr (1976–2006)
KEL EWEY MEN’S CLOTHING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
For over 1000 years, Arab travellers and historians have given us accounts
of the ‘People of the Veil’. In these descriptions the veil worn by men
always figures prominently. It is the origin of the name given to these
62
TUAREG SOCIETY WITHIN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
groups – Mulathamin. Among European travellers, Hornemann was the
first to provide a description of the Tuareg at the end of the eighteenth
century. Coming from Cairo, he arrived in Murzuq in 1798 where he saw
Tuareg traders from the Ahaggar and from the Aïr (Kel Ewey). He notes
that the Tuareg are a mighty people, whose territory covers the Sahara
from Morocco in the west to Tibesti in the east. He connects the language
of the Tuareg with that of the oasis of Siwa. Linguists afterwards used the
words he collected as the basis for the argument that the languages in the
Moroccan Atlas and Siwa are related. Hornemann speaks in very positive
tones about the Tuareg, and especially the Kel Ewey:
These are thin in growth, rather tall than short; their walk is swift
but firm; their look is stern, and their whole demeanour is warlike.
Cultivated and enlightened, their natural abilities would render
them, perhaps, one of the greatest nations of earth. Their character
(particularly that of Kolluvi [Kel Ewey]) is much esteemed.1
Hornemann describes the clothing of the Tuareg as follows: ‘The
clothing of this nation consists of wide dark-blue breeches, a short narrow
shirt of the same colour, with wide sleeves. … They wind a black cloth
round their head in such a manner that at a distance it appears like a
helmet, for their eyes only are seen.’2 In view of this description, the
copper engraving in his book is surprising. There, the Kel Ewey and Kel
Ahaggar are not wearing veils but a pointed cap. Their face is not covered.
It may be that they did not wear their veils because they were relaxing in
their camp. However, it is unlikely that this picture is based on a sketch by
Hornemann. The picture appears neither in the first German edition of
1802 nor in the first English edition of the same year, but only in the
second German edition of 1803. It is probably not based on a sketch by
Hornemann but drawn from the imagination of an artist who had
disregarded Hornemann’s description.3
Some 20 years after the publication of Hornemann’s journal, Lyon’s A
narrative of travels in northern Africa in the years 1818–20 was published. Lyon
also went to Murzuq and was very impressed there by the Tuareg, who
came with caravans from Katsina, Agadez and Ghat: ‘They are the finest
race of men I ever saw.’ They behave proudly, even in the presence of the
Sultan of Fezzan: ‘They never kiss the hand as other Mohammedans do,
not even that of the Sultan himself, but advance, and, taking the hand,
FOREIGN CLOTH AND KEL EWEY IDENTITY
63
shake it, and then retire, standing erect, and looking him full in the face –
a striking contrast of manners to that of the natives of Fezzan.’4 Lyon
describes their clothing in detail:
Their costume is very remarkable, and they cover their faces as
high as the eyes, in the manner of women on the sea-coast. Their
original motive for doing so is now forgotten; but they say it must
be right, as it was the fashion of their forefathers. This covering
extends as high as half way up the bridge of the nose, from whence
it hangs down below the chin on the breast, much in the same way
(but longer) as crepe or lace is hung to a lady’s half mask. This
cloth is generally of blue glazed cotton; but yellow, red white, and
many other colours are worn according to taste, or the ability of
the wearer to purchase them. … Their red caps are generally very
high but some wear yellow or green ones, fitted close to the head:
others have no caps at all. … All wear turbans, which are never of
any fixed colour: blue is the most common and cheap; but gaudy
hues are preferred. A large loose shirt … called Tobe, is the
common dress; it is of cotton, generally blue, or blue and white,
and is of their own manufacture, although some wear those of the
Sudan, which are considered the best that are made. The
merchants generally dress very gaudily while in the towns, wearing
kaftans of bright red cloth, or very gay silk and cotton striped,
which they procure from the Tripoline traders. A leather kaftan is
also much worn, of their own manufacture, as are leather shirts of
the skins of antelopes, very neatly sewed, and well prepared.5
Lyon, who often conversed with Tuareg in Murzuq, first gives a
detailed description of the veil, which he several times compares with
women’s veils. Further, he describes the other garments and their
variations. He also shows an interest in the origin of these garments.
Some, especially those made of leather, are made by the Tuareg
themselves, while others come from the Sudan, in other words Hausaland,
or from Tripolitania. Lyon’s book contains three lithographs showing
Tuareg men. They were produced on the basis of drawings made by Lyon.
Each picture bears the remark: ‘Drawn from Nature by G. F. Lyon’.
In precolonial times, home-made leather clothing was widespread in
many Tuareg areas. It was still common among poor Kel Ahaggar at the
64
TUAREG SOCIETY WITHIN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
Lithograph showing a Tuareg wearing a leather shirt and a Tuareg from Agadez
(Lyon, A narrative of travels in Northern Africa in the years 1818–1820, p. 110).
beginning of the twentieth century.6 For the Kel Ewey, on the other hand,
leather clothing is only mentioned in connection with children and during
times of crisis like the Kawsen war (1916–18). During the whole of the
nineteenth century, the Kel Ewey wore cloth imported from the south or
from the north. That they also wore coloured clothes is mentioned not
only by Hornemann and Lyon, but also by Barth and Richardson, who
visited the Kel Ewey in their home area, the Aïr. After his first meeting
with the Kel Ewey in the Aïr, Barth comments on how they differ from
the Ahaggar Tuareg: ‘Their dress was more gay, several of them wearing
light blue instead of the melancholy-looking dark blue tobes.’7 The German
edition contains an additional remark: ‘Their headdress was made higher
by a band of white cloth with a red stripe.’8
Richardson and Barth report that the Kel Ewey wear green caps on
their heads, like those worn by the Hausa (baki n zaki), around which the
turban is wound. According to Richardson, in the mid-nineteenth century,
wealthy Kel Ewey in the Aïr were still wearing the coloured clothing
originating from the North African coast that Lyon described at the
beginning of the century: ‘The great men, and indeed all those that can
FOREIGN CLOTH AND KEL EWEY IDENTITY
65
afford it, despise the simple Kailouee costume, and indulge in all the rich
dresses which are so much liked by the Moors of the coast, burnouses,
shasheahs, turbans, veneeses, caftans, tobes of silk’.9 Some also wear
coloured trousers.
Barth describes the clothing that wealthy Kel Ewey wore during the
feast of the sacrifice of the ram in Agadez on 16 October 1850:
The people were all dressed in their greatest finery, and it would
have formed a good subject for an artist. It recalled the martial
processions of the Middle Ages, the more so as the high caps of
the Tawarek, surrounded by a profusion of tassels on every side,
together with the black tesigelmist, or litham, which covers the
whole face, leaving nothing more than the eyes visible, and the
shawls wound over this and round the cap, combine to imitate
the shape of the helmet, while the black and coloured tobes (over
which, on such occasions the principle people wear a red burnus
thrown across the shoulders) represent very well the heavier
dress of the knights of yore.10
In a footnote, Barth adds an interesting comment: ‘These red caps,
however, are an article quite foreign to the original dress of the Tarki, and
are obnoxious to the tribes of pure blood.’11 However, unlike the German
edition,12 the English edition of Barth fails to mention the garment most
prized at this festival, the ‘guinea fowl robe’ (tekatkat taylelt). In the English
edition, Barth gives a description some pages later:
All the Tawarek, from Ghat as far as Hausa, and from Alakkos to
Timbuktu, are passionately fond of the tobes and trousers called
taylelt (the guinea fowl), or filfil (the pepper) on account of their
speckled color. They are made of silk and cotton interwoven, and
look very neat. The lowest part of the trousers, which forms a
narrow band about two inches broad, closing rather tightly, is
embroidered in different colors.13
These dark-blue or indigo tobes were made in Hausaland and in Nupe,
and they were very expensive (18,000 to 20,000 cowries). Barth himself
could not afford one of these garments, which were very popular among
both the Hausa and the Tuareg, until more money arrived for him in
66
TUAREG SOCIETY WITHIN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
Guinea fowl robe (Menzel, Textilien aus Westafrika, p. 593).
Kano. He sent samples to the Foreign Office in London. A fine example,
which is illustrated as a woodcut in the English edition, is kept today in
the Ethnographic Museum in Berlin, and can be seen as a photograph in
an exhibition catalogue.14
In 1877 another German traveller, von Bary, visited the Kel Ewey in
the Aïr. In Ajirou he met Belcho, the leader of the Kel Ewey at that time.
At their first meeting Belcho wore a ‘black litham’ and ‘an old, blue
robe’.15 Von Bary offered him a gift of ‘a gold embroidered kaftan and red
trousers’.16 Yet, the sheikh returned the splendid clothes with the remark
that they were good for the sultans of the Sudan but not for him; if he
wore such clothes, everyone would soon be begging to borrow them and
thus he would lose all pleasure; and he hinted that he would like a gun or
some money or agate stones for his children.
Belcho’s refusal to accept the valuable clothing as a gift can be interpreted in different ways. First, there is the argument that Belcho himself
offered, namely that because the men are very fond of this kind of
clothing, he would constantly have to be lending it out. But the first part
of his statement can also be interpreted as meaning that this kind of
clothing is inappropriate for the Tuareg and for himself. At their first
meeting Belcho wore simple, classical indigo clothing. But perhaps Belcho
refused the gift because he would prefer to have had a gun!
The Saharan Mission led by Foureau and Lamy marks the transition
FOREIGN CLOTH AND KEL EWEY IDENTITY
67
Contest for the best-dressed man (photograph taken by Gert Spittler, 2005).
from a scientific expedition to a journey of conquest. In 1899 the
expedition arrived in the Aïr and met the Kel Ewey. The mission’s
scientific documents contain a number of black and white photographs of
Key Ewey.17 They are wearing blue or white clothes. In some cases, the
white cloth is striped. Like Barth, Foureau also mentions that wealthy
Tuareg wear the taylalt robe.18 And he does not fail to mention the red fez
around which the turban and the veil are wound.19 In his travel account,
Foureau mentions that both in Iferouane and in Auderas, the blue and white
checked fabric the expedition brought, which is used in France to make
cooking aprons, was very popular because it resembled the taylalt fabrics.20
Lieutenant Jean, who founded the post in Agadez in 1904, thus
installing colonial rule, essentially confirms Foureau’s reports.21 He distinguishes the Kel Ewey from the Kel Ferwan by the fact that the former
almost always wear white trousers, while the latter are dressed completely
in black.22
KEL EWEY MEN’S CLOTHING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
In the nineteenth century, the Kel Ewey were much more colourfully
dressed than what we think of as ‘authentic’ Tuareg. These colourful
68
TUAREG SOCIETY WITHIN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
garments were adopted from the Hausa in the south and the Arabs in the
north. Indigo-dyed or white clothing has always been in use but became
firmly established as the ‘classical’ Kel Ewey dress only in the twentieth
century. The English traveller Buchanan, who travelled through the Aïr in
1920, as well as Rodd, who travelled there in 1922, describe the clothing
of the men as exclusively indigo or white.23 Only once does Rodd remark:
‘some wear the conical hats of Kano basket ware associated with the
Hausa countries, but the practice is regarded as an affectation and is not
very common.’24 Thus, something that was widespread 70 years earlier had
become rare and excited no respect. Today, indigo or black and white
clothing is still widespread on festive occasions, and dominate at contests,
such as the Festival de l’Aïr.
The men in the photograph on the previous page were contestants
for the best-dressed man at the Festival de l’Aïr in 2005. Indigo and, to a
lesser degree, white are the dominant colours. The veils (tigulmas) are
made with expensive aleshu cloth (turkudi in Hausa). This indigo-dyed
and beaten cloth consists of narrow hand-woven strips that are sewn
together. The gown (tekatkat) is also indigo-dyed, but in this case they
used machine-made fabrics imported from Europe or Asia.
Although the clothes worn at this contest are what is considered to be
authentic Tuareg dress in the Aïr, it is not the clothing predominantly
worn today on festive occasions. Many men, including the jury, do not
wear indigo-dyed or white tekatkat, but rather a coloured boubou made of
damask (shadda in Hausa). This clothing resembles that of Hausa men.
THE CLOTHING OF KEL EWEY WOMEN
We have much less information about women’s clothing in the nineteenth
century. In Murzuq, Hornemann and Lyon did not see any Tuareg
women. In the Aïr and in Agadez, Barth saw women, but he does not give
us much information about their clothing. Richardson describes the
woman’s tobe as follows:
The dress of the women whom we see about is a simple cotton
tobe, covering them from neck to heels. The colour of these tobes is
generally blue-black, dyed with indigo; some are glazed with gum.
Many, however, are white, and ornamented in front about the neck
with silken embroidery, a costume which gives them a very chaste
and elegant appearance. Sometimes the tobes are variegated in
FOREIGN CLOTH AND KEL EWEY IDENTITY
69
colour, as are the trousers; but the sombre, or pure white, are the
most popular.25
The most widespread colour is indigo, sometimes with a brilliant
sheen.26 This is followed by white, and more rarely a bright colour as with
the men’s trousers. Later on, Richardson gives a different description:
The dark-blue cotton skirt of this lady was turned up behind over
her head, so as to form a kind of hood; but underneath she wore a
coloured petticoat. Generally, the women of Tintellust wear a
frock, or chemise, and a piece of cotton wrapper over their head
and shoulders.27
The lady first mentioned is ‘a fine dame, a person of fashion in this
Saharan capital’. The first sentence is rather puzzling. How can a skirt be
turned up over the head? Probably this is a kind of shawl. Underneath it
she wears a coloured skirt. For ordinary Kel Ewey women, he mentions a
head covering that he refers to as a shawl.
A quarter of a century later, von Bary observes that all women wear a
black cloth over their head and shoulders, that is called alesho.28 Foureau
mentions blouses in blue, white or taylalt, the white blouse having coloured
embroidery.29 Possibly this latter is worn by the women in Agadez.30
Rodd mentions an indigo wraparound skirt, an indigo or black blouse,
and an indigo shawl (of the aleshu type). For the blouse he mentions
simple embroidery, but does not say that it is coloured: ‘this upper
garment is sometimes embroidered with a simple cross-stitch pattern
around the neck.’31
That is how the women in Timia were dressed until recently.
However, there has been a dramatic change in women’s clothing in
recent years. Instead of indigo, the women increasingly prefer the
colourful patterned fabrics that are common all over West Africa. In
Hausa they are called attanfa. When I first visited Timia in the mid1970s, no woman wore attanfa. When the first women started wearing it,
at first only in the house, the others made fun of their Hausa clothing.
But today it is very common.
At the end of 2003, this woman in the following two photographs
won the contest for the best-dressed woman at the Festival de l’Aïr. She is
wearing the traditional indigo shawl, and traditional jewellery. Her victory
70
TUAREG SOCIETY WITHIN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
Young woman in festive clothing (left) and in everyday clothing (right)
(photographs by Gert Spittler, 2003)
may have been due to her blouse, which cannot be seen fully here. It is her
mother’s wedding blouse, made of aleshu and embroidered in the classical
manner. On ordinary days, she does not wear just a plainer version of this
clothing, but the ‘modern’ attanfa. This now applies to all young women.
For several years now, young women have worn the coloured fabrics
common in Hausaland, even on festive occasions. In particular, this means
the glittering synthetic fabric known as leshi.
I have very briefly outlined 200 years of Kel Ewey clothing. We can
discern some constants during this time. The men always wore a veil
(tagelmust). Indigo-dyed cloth was always a widespread variant for men and
women, but it became exclusive only in the twentieth century. In the
nineteenth century, clothing could include many colourful items. At the
end of the twentieth century and beginning of the third millennium, this
seems to be the case again. How are these differences to be explained? Is
indigo cloth the authentic clothing of the Tuareg, and the rest just
deviations? Before answering these questions, I will give a short account
of different types of reaction to foreign influence.
FOREIGN CLOTH AND KEL EWEY IDENTITY
71
TYPES OF REACTION TO FOREIGN INFLUENCE:
RESISTANCE, SELF-ASSERTION, APPROPRIATION32
Resistance to colonial influence has long been a key topic in African
studies. Research on resistance is mainly concerned with questions like
‘resistance to whom?’, ‘strategies of resistance’, ‘successes and failures of
resistance’. There is less focus on what resistance preserves. The question
of preservation belongs to the domain of self-assertion. Values, norms and
institutions can be preserved unchanged. In this case we speak of tradition,
preservation, continuity, persistence or conservatism. Now interest in this
area has faded. In present-day anthropology, traditions are not seen as
persistent or unchanged but as constructed, strengthened, revived and
hence modified. We find concepts such as revitalization, the invention of
tradition, construction of autochthony and cultural renaissance.
Appropriation means taking over foreign elements. In the concept of
appropriation there is a certain emphasis on voluntary activity, even a kind
of dominance (to appropriate in the sense of seizing something, taking
possession of it). Foreign goods, institutions, cultural elements can be
taken over unaltered and integrated in the group. They can be simply
added to the existing elements or substitute them. As a rule, however, they
are not taken over unaltered but are modified and adapted. Their meaning
becomes subject to a new interpretation. Depending on the various disciplines and approaches, this modification process is referred to by
different terms: indigenization, localization, globalization, cultural integration, incorporation, syncretization, or domestication.
Most anthropologists today see the appropriation of foreign elements
as a more important indicator of vitality than resistance to what is foreign.
Appropriation is seen as a sign of dynamism, creativity, self-assurance, in
contrast to stubborn resistance. But is appropriation always a sign of selfconfidence? There is another interpretation possible, which is common in
sociology but seldom used in anthropology. If we assume a system of
stratification, then appropriation very often means imitation. The lower
strata imitate the behaviour of the higher strata. If we take the international system as a system of stratification, then nations on the lower
level take over goods and convictions from the higher strata. Imitation is a
kind of appropriation because it implies an appropriating activity and not
just passive surrender. But is it a sign of vitality, of creativity and selfassurance?
72
TUAREG SOCIETY WITHIN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
KEL EWEY REACTIONS TO FOREIGN MODES OF DRESSING
First of all we must note one thing. In the whole period considered here,
the Kel Ewey did not adopt European clothing. This is not surprising for
the precolonial period. Some of the European travellers they saw were
dressed as Arabs (like Hornemann) or Turks (like von Bary), or had at
least adapted their clothing to some extent (like Barth). But even in the
colonial period, the Kel Ewey did not adopt European dress customs.
Here they showed complete resistance and were self-assured enough to
retain their own style of clothing.33 When they did adopt other styles, they
borrowed these from their neighbours, the Arabs and Hausa.
This does not, however, apply to the fabrics used. The Kel Ewey
neither produce any of the fabrics they use for their clothing nor are they
produced locally. They are all imported. In the nineteenth century, handwoven cotton fabrics from Hausaland were predominant. Only a few
machine-woven cotton fabrics came to the Tuareg from England via
Tripoli and the Sahara. Only since the construction of the railway from
Lagos to Kano (1911) did the machine-made fabrics imported from
Europe begin to replace the hand-woven fabrics from Hausaland. There is
one exception to this, namely the hand-woven indigo-dyed cloth that was,
and still is, produced in and around Kano. For at least the last 200 years,
the most valuable items of clothing, aleshu veils for men and aleshu shawls
for women, have been made in Kura, a small town south of Kano, which
depends for its living almost exclusively on manufacturing this cloth.
As far as cloth is concerned, there is no authentic Tuareg cloth. Even the
indigo colour is not as exclusive as it might appear to be. In the nineteenth
century, hand-woven, indigo-dyed turkudi cloth and white cotton cloth were
widespread in Hausaland, even if coloured cloths were also common there.
Only the veil worn by men (tagelmust) was without doubt genuinely Tuareg.
Nevertheless, the travellers regarded indigo-dyed cloth as genuine Tuareg
clothing. White cloth is not regarded as genuinely Tuareg, and coloured
fabrics even less so. Barth reports, in the footnote quoted above, that ‘pureblooded’ Tuareg do not wear red caps. Indeed, all travellers observe that the
Kel Ewey had become mixed with the Negro race and were therefore darker
than other Tuareg. From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, this
observation acquired a critical racial undertone. For the Kel Ewey themselves, this was no problem; on the contrary, they were proud of their dark
skin. Annur, for instance, the leader of the Kel Ewey at the time of Barth
and Richardson, even made fun of Richardson’s white skin: ‘I was much
FOREIGN CLOTH AND KEL EWEY IDENTITY
73
amazed by the predilection of En-Noor (who is not absolutely a white man)
for black people. … As for me, his highness was almost inclined to express
his disgust for the whiteness of my skin.’34
Why did Kel Ewey people choose to wear the colourful cloth of the
Hausa in the nineteenth century and again today? The appropriation of
cloth has different meanings in changing historical situations. I distinguish
between three periods. In the nineteenth century, the Kel Ewey took over
many types of clothing from the Arabs and the Hausa. The men wore red
or green caps under their veils. Trousers and gowns were sometimes
coloured. During festivities they wore the famous guinea fowl gown (riga n
zaki). In my interpretation, this was a sign of self-confident appropriation.
In the nineteenth century, the Tuareg were politically dominant in this
area. I remind you that in Lyon’s description they did not kiss the sultan’s
hand as the natives of Fezzan did. This domination made possible the
self-confident appropriation of foreign goods. The Kel Ewey did not lose
their identity by appropriating foreign cloth.
Kel Ewey political dominance was broken during the colonial period
in the twentieth century. As a result, we may observe seclusion in Kel
Ewey society, a resistance to Hausa influence. The Tuareg continued to
buy machine-made fabrics, but they no longer accepted the fancy,
colourful Hausa cloth. Instead, they preferred dark blue or white cloth. In
my interpretation this was a defensive resistance to Hausa culture. The Kel
Ewey were no longer self-confident enough to adopt Hausa fashions for
fear of losing their identity. Over the last twenty years, Hausa fashions
have come back to the Kel Ewey. Thirty years ago, all Tuareg women
made fun of Hausa women who wore colourful cloth called attanfa. Today
old women continue to make fun of them, but the young women wear
attanfa in everyday life and even at festivities. Is this a sign of selfconfidence; do they no longer need to resist foreign influence to preserve
their Tuareg identity? Or is this a case of imitating Hausa culture, which is
the leading culture in Niger?
Up to now I have described how the Kel Ewey adopted clothing from
the Hausa and the Arabs. But there is one reverse case as well: the
adoption of the Tuareg veil by others. Barth mentions this in the case of
the Hausa and Fulbe elite on the occasion of a visit to the governor of
Katsina: ‘Most of them wore black “rawani”, or shawls, round their faces, a
custom which the Fulani or Hausa have adopted from the Tawarek merely
on account of its looking warlike, for they have no superstitious reason for
74
TUAREG SOCIETY WITHIN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
covering the mouth.’35 In Barth’s interpretation we have here a case of
appropriation by imitation, because the people recognize Tuareg military
superiority. But for them the veil does not have the same meaning that it
has for the Tuareg. During the twentieth century, the Tuareg no longer
served as a model for Hausa culture. But even today veils and other
Tuareg customs are spreading among the nomadic Wodaabe Fulbe, for
whom the Tuareg serve as a model in various respects.