ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTEBOOKS 25 (3): 5–22.
ISSN 1408-032X
© Slovene Anthropological Society 2019
Ana Sarah Lunaček Brumen: Beyond occidentalism: Critique of life in Europe by Tuaregs in Niger
Beyond occidentalism: Critique of life in
Europe by Tuaregs in Niger
Ana Sarah Luna~ek Brumen
University of Ljubljana, sarah.lunacek@ff.uni-lj.si
Abstract
This article focuses on the narratives of Tuaregs in northern Niger, which discuss life in
Europe. The repetitive topoi identified within their rather critical narratives about Europe
refer to the lack of time and space and consequently, the lack of freedom; appreciation of
infrastructure against the backdrop of poor social ties; and absence of atmosphere. While
Occidentalist perspective interprets narratives on Europe as the affirmation of identity and
cultural values, I will introduce habitus into the analysis in order to include the embodied
experience impact on the narratives and practices. I argue that contact and interaction
with Europeans and travelling to Europe influences perceptions of Europe by Tuaregs.
Furthermore the dialogic construction of ideas about Europe needs to be acknowledged.
It is becoming increasingly visible how interaction, exchange and legal travel facilitate
alternative versions of Occidentalism.
Keywords: Tuaregs, Occidentalism, perceptions of Europe, habitus, migration
Introduction: Tuaregs1 encountering Europeans and
travelling to Europe
In the last two decades, there has been growing media coverage and public discourse
within Europe that claims how the sole objective of non-Europeans is to live and work
within the EU. This perception of non-Europeans is based on the idea that life in Europe is
better than elsewhere and that those who arrive, want to stay indefinitely. Therefore, this
forms another kind of European Orientalism upon which right-wing discourses regarding
fear of invasion and the need for the militarisation of borders are built. Despite narratives
depicting Europe as a destination of escape in order to gain rights, status and/or economic
1 The term Tuareg is an external definition and is the plural of Targui. Other emic names are used such as Kel
Tamasheq (people who speak Tamasheq), Imajeghen, Imuhagh, Imushagh (compare with Claudot-Hawad
2001:6, Kohl 2010: xii), depending on the dialect and region. In Northern Niger, the term Imajeghen (m.pl.;
Chimajeghen f.pl, Amajeq m.sg., Tamajeq f.sg.) was used most often. It is the same word used for the highest
social class of free people, imajeghen. Here I will use the terms Tuareg and Tuaregs, in order to avoid confusion
as they themselves use those terms when communicating with Europeans. Tuaregs live in five different countries
surrounding the Sahara (Niger, Mali, Libya, Algeria and Burkina Faso). Traditionally pastoral nomads, they are
adapting to urban and semi-sedentarised livelihoods.
5
wellbeing exists, they are nevertheless embedded in diverse local economic and political
realities, values, gender and generational aspirations, and often include temporary or circular mobility and transnational aspects (Monga 2000, Martin 2007, Lo Sardo 2010, Treiber
2007). The narratives do not necessarily idealise Europe nor does everyone want to remain
in Europe. Here, I focus on the discussions concerning life in Europe by Tuaregs who live
in the North of Niger, paying particular interest to how encounters, contact and travelling
experiences shaped their perceptions of Europe. I will concentrate on the narratives of those
Tuaregs from Northern Niger, who have either visited Europe or who have had a European
co-worker or friend. Most of the narratives presented in this article originate from before the
recent political changes2
in the region, when there were more opportunities to meet Europeans and it was also less complicated to get a tourist visa for Europe.
Tuaregs working in tourism or in development industries formed acquaintances
and friends with Europeans, which fostered relations, conversations and an exchange of
views. Tuaregs included Europeans in their social networks and some of them travelled
to Europe to visit them. During their visits, many sold Tuareg jewellery or promoted
tourist agencies. Some married a European partner and lived between the two countries,
rarely establishing the desire to permanently remain in Europe on their agenda. Some
young Tuaregs were able to study in France. In Europe, Tuaregs form Niger did not form
a diaspora in the strict sense of the word since very few stayed permanently and did not
occupy a specific economic sector or locality. Those few who did stay became part of
knots within a network (Giuffrida 2010, Lunaček 2013), which were composed mostly of
European friends whom Tuaregs leaned on during their visits. Travelling to Europe was
only one example of many forms of mobility adopted by Tuaregs (Bernus 1981; Claudot
Hawad 2002; Rasmussen 1994, 2005; Kohl 2010) or mobilities in Africa more generally
(De Brujin, van Dijk & Feoeken 2001; Klute & Hahn 2007, Grätz 2010). The return, not
necessarily with means or things, but with knowledge and connections was implied in the
nomadic concept of travel (Claudot Hawad 2002; Lunaček 2013) and is often suggested
in any idea of travel or practice of mobility (Gregorič Bon & Repič 2016).
From conversations with Europeans and through the experiences of Tuaregs visiting Europe, a rather critical reflection upon life in Europe emerged in their narratives – and
of another kind than that transmitted in Niger by media and education system. I will present
the main topoi in those narratives and analyse them through the concept of Occidentalism,
therefore placing them in the context of cultural values and identity. Experience-based Occidentalism, where contact and travel are accessible, does not tend to either demonise or
idealise life in Europe, but rather enables realistic and pragmatic representations. Occidentalism as a discursive concept requires complementary concepts to integrate experiencebased attitudes. Therefore, I suggest habitus to interpret the embodied real-life experiences
2
The decline of tourism and projects occurred with the Tuareg rebellion in 2007 and 2008, which involved
claiming a better share of state revenues by all regions. Dramatic changes took place with the fall of Khadafy in
2011, which also influenced the 2012 Tuareg rebellion in Mali while the role of Libya in regional and international
migration changed. At the same time, radical Islamic movements in the region strengthened. Destabilisation in the
region enabled France and USA to increase their military presence while EU externalisation politics was enforced
in Niger. Due to all those changes, experiences with Europeans and Americans, discussions on the EU and US
politics, and perceptions of Europe and America are changing, but those issues deserve a separate article.
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Anthropological Notebooks, XXV/3, 2019
that influence those narratives. Occidentalism is present in academic and also in public
debates, but it does not include research about experience-based perceptions of Europe by
those from other continents who visited Europe or lived in Europe. Since I will endeavour
to introduce experience and interaction in Occidentalism debates, I did not take as a starting point a perspective derived from the study of migration, mobility, movement and place,
where perceptions of Europe or “the West” are not the main focus.
The main part of the research I refer to in this article was conducted between
May 2003 and August 20043
among Tuaregs in Northern Niger using a multi-sited approach which encompassed the regional urban centres Agadez and Ingal and their surroundings, the oasis Timia and the nomadic region of Azawagk. The methods employed
included participant observation, spontaneous conversations, thematic biographies and
semi-structured interviews. Part of the information is also based on my personal experience as a host for a Tuareg friend in 2006, as well as a visit to see Tuareg friends in another European country. Later updates originate from one month research visits in Niger
in 2011, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Here, I will focus on narratives on Europe, and less so on
the categories of ikufar (“the Westerners”, literally non-believers), which have diverse
and historically contextualised content as well (see Rasmussen 1994, Lunaček 2010).
Conceptual frame: Occidentalism
Since I am discussing the narratives of Tuaregs on Europe as part of my research into their
perceptions of the West4
, I will start with Occidentalism as an interpretive frame. Before
acknowledging the benefits and limits of this approach, I will outline the ways in which
Occidentalism can be used in anthropological analysis.
Diverse approaches in the study of Occidentalism and various definitions of Occidentalism itself have emerged in the last decades (see e.g. Jouhki 2016). The Western
academic notion to study Occidentalism arose after Said’s Orientalism was written, which
does not mean that images and the discussion of the West did not exist earlier in other
parts of the world (Bonnet 2004). The importance of Said’s work (1996) is the revelation
that Orientalism was a corporate institution producing a regime of knowledge, which accompanied colonial military conquest and administrative dominance during European colonialism, neo-colonialism and later on, the imperialism of the United States. Occidentalism can be understood as the other side of Orientalism: the creation of a Western identity
as opposed to its constructed Oriental Other (Said 1996)5
. Otherwise, Occidentalism was
3
The research was financed as PhD young researcher employment by the Research Agency of the Republic of
Slovenia.
4
“The West” is a problematic and ideologically burdened term, with a shifting content; does it mean geographically
Europe and USA? Is Japan included in the West or does it rather mean the Global North, or G8 or G20 countries
since it is related to old and new imperialism? Or is it not a geographical place at all, but rather an imaginary
place related to certain attributes of dominance, technology and modernity? Obviously, the content of imagining
‘the West’ and the consequences of facing its effects need to be researched in each specific context.
5
It is impossible to find as much globalised Occidentalism within such a violent context as was the case with Orientalism
combined with imperialism, which is still in transformation; the exception perhaps being the most extremist Islamist
movements promoting jihad. Hence, the panic of Margalit and Bureima (2004), resulting in their simplified categorisation
of Occidentalism as a kind of “Muslim rage”, further interpreted as borrowed from totalitarian regimes.
Ana Sarah Lunaček Brumen: Beyond occidentalism: Critique of life in Europe by Tuaregs in Niger
7
used to frame ideas which Non-Western peoples articulated about the West. Those ideas
of the West have been appropriated locally in a cluster of traits along or against which
local identity and power struggles were articulated. Most of those studies are related to
literature and philosophy in Japan and China, and to literature, media and political studies
in the Middle East (e.g. Hutchinson 2011, Meltem 2010, Woltering 2011).
In anthropology, focusing on Occidentalism was not very popular, despite Orientalism influenced the reflection of anthropology’s position in relation to colonialism
and the questioning of ethnographic authority (Clifford 1986). Occidentalism can be considered as a particular form of constructing the Other, which differs from concepts of
ethnicity in its subject, ‘the West’. James Carrier (1995) elaborated upon a most comprehensive systematisation of the scope of Occidentalisms in anthropological analysis. He
reaffirms, as a starting point, that by producing the Other at the same time, self-identity
is produced as its opposite and therefore, attention needs to be focused upon the hidden
part of the relation. In other words, the complementarity of essencialisation and dichotomisation processes implies that discourses on modernisation imagined as westernisation,
produce on the other hand self-orientalisation, which can take the form of the invention
or reification of tradition. Particular customs or habits can become established as markers of national difference, as was the case of kerekere in Fidji, the custom of hospitality,
despite ironically already having been encouraged by British colonisers (Carrier 1995:7).
Occidentalisms are related to historical and national contexts, and different currents in inner power struggles. Gewertz in Errington (1995) demonstrates, for example, how Tolai
elites in Papua New Guinea used opportunity to stop an attempt to export shell money by
an art dealer in order to establish their position as protectors of traditions in their community and nationwide.
Woltering (2011), a political scientist, emphasises the internal dynamic of diverse Occidentalisms in his analysis of Egyptian media. He argues that Occidentalisms
are quite diverse and are constantly evolving, because they depend on particular ideologies (in the case of Egypt, moderate Islamist, nationalist-leftist and liberal) and on uses
of attributes ascribed to the West in their articulation and argumentation of one position
against the other (Woltering 2011). Sandra Nasser El Dine’s (2016) adds more fluid individual perspective in her ethnographic study, where she discusses Syrian and Jordanian
youth negotiating gender relations between liberal pro-Western narratives and conservative anti-Western counterparts. As she demonstrates, Occidentalisms are diverse and
Occidentalist or auto-Orientalist identities created in relation to the imagined West are
negotiated, situational and fluid. Most importantly, they are not just reproductions or reactions to hegemonic Orientalist discourse, even when they use the same stereotypical list
of traits. Rather, they use Occidentalism as a means of creating and negotiating one’s own
identity while contesting other identities and political agendas in local and international
contexts (Nasser El-Dine 2016).
It is worth noting what those approaches have in common: they put into focus
how actors outside the presumed West not only create images of the West, but adapt and
negotiate them in conjunction with their respective ideologies or creation of their collective or individual identities. On the other hand, Occidentalism was used in anthropology
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Anthropological Notebooks, XXV/3, 2019
and the history of colonialism to frame categorisations formed through encounters with
the Western Other by Non-Western peoples. The study by Robert Thornton (1995) for
example, shows that during the colonisation of South Africa, the Zulus did not interpret
all Westerners as belonging to the same category (they differentiated between British and
Boer); neither was it obvious which of the involved parties was the strongest (Thornton
1995). Spittler (2003) and Klute (2006) likewise demonstrate how knowledge about and
the changing attitudes of Tuaregs towards incoming Europeans was in constant flux during colonisation, the perception shifting from interesting travellers to invading forces,
where strategies of alliance or rebellion were adopted to confront them.
When Nyamjoh and Page (2002) present a very diverse scope of narratives in
Cameroon on the whites and Whiteman kontri (country of White men), they argue Cameroonian students themselves participated in creating images of “the whites”. Their ideas
of whites are ambiguous, because they are derived from two different sources: one direct
experience, and the other from television. Through experience with the whites in Cameroon, they find them rather repulsive, ugly, dirty, feeble and poor while at the same time,
the overall image of the United States in particular is glorified as a land of opportunity
with high standards and beautifully well-dressed rich whites as seen on TV. They notice
themselves those images are contradictory and therefore, whites in Cameroon are seen
as second-class versions. Concurrently, Cameroonian students feel injustice when whites
are automatically valued more in institutions, despite their competences possibly being
much lower than those of Cameroonian students. Following disappointment through firsthand experience in France, the USA has been labelled as a land of wealth and promise.
Yvette Djachechi Monga (2000) also discovers that for Cameroonian women, the USA
functioned as ‘a vessel in which to pour their dreams’ (Monga 2000: 193). American
beauty products did not only guarantee quality, but were able to relate a person to the
promised world of opportunity. Female heads of households made the effort to invest in
their children’s schooling in the USA in order to gain social capital and economic benefits
in the longer term. Monga’s analysis shows those dreams enact a claim for economic
survival and for participation in a globalised world (Monga 2000).
I argue that we need to consider both aspects: not only the images and narratives
produced by the media, consumed, adapted, invested and refashioned locally, but also the
perceptions produced in other ways – such as through contact by travelling, and transmitting those experiences orally in narratives. In this way, I aim to make the discursive space
occupied by different Orientalisms and Occidentalisms more complex and nuanced.
On the basis of my fieldwork research, I will present the topoi prominent in Tuaregs’ narratives on Europe: the lack of place and time related to the lack of freedom; appreciation of infrastructure against poor social relations and the absence of “atmosphere”.
While it is possible to interpret them in the frame of Occidentalism, in order to really
grasp the issue of the lacking social atmosphere, I will introduce habitus as a complementary concept in the second part of the analysis.
Ana Sarah Lunaček Brumen: Beyond occidentalism: Critique of life in Europe by Tuaregs in Niger
9
No time, no place, no freedom
The question of time in relation to social atmosphere was the most common and most elaborated reproach on the European lifestyle. It was often connected to the sociality of visiting
people. This kind of contrast with Europe was expressed almost by all those visiting Europe, observing their European host arranging meetings and constantly struggling to stay on
time with the myriad of diverse activities. The idea of over-organised time was perceived as
limiting in several senses – not only by limiting the openness of social relations, but also by
producing stress and taking away freedom, as the following examples illustrate.
Mohamed,6
from a village in Aïr who was in his fifties, had been collaborating
with several development projects and with European researchers. He had also visited
Europe several times. In terms of time, he could not understand how people managed to
deal with the pressure of scheduling:
As an African, I am asking myself how people can always keep on time. This
day, at this time, they are programmed for a month in advance. I could do
that, but not all the time. There are moments I can keep on time, but there
are other moments when I want to be free, to give my brain a rest. For me,
this makes old. Because one needs time to think, for freedom, to rest. If you
want to keep on time, you are at risk to be always worried. Even if one is
rich. This makes old, to think constantly how to make everything.
After visiting Europe, Mohamed therefore made a distinction between Africans
and Europeans, which might look like a kind of self-Orientalism, contrasting his African
perception of time with a European one. However, to look at this as Occidentalist essencialisation is too restrictive, and does not permit the understanding of his insight. He
exposed his personal need to have time in order to think and feel free in comparison to
the conditions in which Europeans live, where they ‘are programmed for a month in advance’. The difference was identified on the basis of his embodied need, observation and
comparison. In this case, he related freedom to time; not to be organised all the time so
as to keep one’s thoughts free – a critique which European academics and non-academics
would easily recognise in themselves and identify with.
Another aspect of freedom related to time and space was expanded upon, contrasting Tuareg freedom with European enclosure. Taher, who possesses a high-level university degree, married a European woman and they lived and raised their children in
Agadez. Working in tourism, he gave a critical analysis on the life of Westerners enslaved
by their work. Taher’s elaborate reflections are presented below more extensively: first,
he exposes the different value systems, relating the lack of time and freedom to excessive
work and the need for money.
There are other values. For example, Tuareg can take his car, or a camel, or
even he can walk and then spend all day lying down and thinking. I want
to say, to what serves the work? It is for survival. If it becomes something
just opposite it means work, work, as people in Western countries do, it is
6
All the names are replaced with other names in order to ensure anonymity.
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Anthropological Notebooks, XXV/3, 2019
only that what is left. Overwhelming work, you are 80 years old and still
you work. They never had anything from life. What is this kind of life good
for? To accumulate money? In order to do what?
Here he defines overwhelming work as responsible for taking over all the time,
removing the freedom to think and to live. He further elaborates on this issue in terms of
the constraints imposed by the system:
There is no aim or the aim is hidden, if the system is such, in which you do
not dare to have something from life. You have to work, if you do not work,
you do not have social security. You take a credit, because you need to buy
your little flat and then you can’t leave the job anymore, because you have
credit. Then your kids are at school and you say you cannot do this and that
or go. … This really becomes too limited. It has no taste of life … and then,
even when you understand what is going on, you cannot exit any more.
Therefore, you are in prison. You are free, but you are in prison.
His analysis of the West is based on his experience, observation and on conversations with his European and American guests. He lived in Europe for several years, but
returned to Niger and when possible, worked with tourists. He was very critical of the
situation many Europeans and Americans found themselves in, where they were caught in
the daily rhythm of work not having time for anything else nor being able to change the
situation. On this basis he also explains why Europeans and Americans are so fascinated
by Tuaregs living in the desert:
And this is one of the things that brings together Westerners, when they
come here, with Tuaregs. When they come here people dream about life.
They, Tuaregs, become as their dreams. And what do they do? When they
come here into the desert and see people there, they keep asking: ‘But from
where he comes? What does he do? What does he eat?’ They almost ask
‘where is the supermarket, doctor, fire brigade, police….?’ For them, all this
seems necessary, and it is not possible to explain that Tuareg can live under
the tree, without all this, with some goats and this is all. For me, there is
a luxury in poverty. Great luxury and this is the only thing that gives the
taste to poverty.
Taher explains the Orientalism of tourists by their fascination with the nomadic
ability to live “with nothing”, where the presumed freedom of nomads is in stark contrast
with European enslavement through material needs and dependence on infrastructure.
He appreciates the freedom of nomads, but at the same time, he admits it is related to the
poverty; nomads appear to him as free, but poor. With luxury in poverty, it seems that he
is referring to the ability of nomads to live as their own masters, independent of consumer
products or modern state infrastructure: therefore, they supposedly do not depend on paid
jobs nor on the state. Simultaneously, they appear poor from the perspective of access to
comfort that certain goods and services can provide. They are also seen as poor compared
to the prosperity of the past, when animals were more numerous, representing and providAna Sarah Lunaček Brumen: Beyond occidentalism: Critique of life in Europe by Tuaregs in Niger
11
ing wealth. Taher succeeded in achieving freedom without poverty precisely by working
in tourism and also being able to take the time to drive freely in the desert, alone or as
the host with his guests. Growing up in the countryside near the nomads, his perception
of nomadic life was ambiguous since he knew their life conditions were harsh. On the
one hand, he identified with the feeling of freedom ascribed to the nomads, but on the
other, he appreciated the possibility to choose to live in the city and school his children in
order to provide them with another kind of freedom: that of choice, more global than the
nomads had, the freedom related to having enough means to travel the world and choose
their jobs.
The issue of freedom as a certain kind of positive self-Orientalism, particularly
among some of the schooled Tuaregs living partly in the cities, emerges against imagined
Occidentalism: Tuaregs’ freedom is related to open time, movement and place in contrast
to Europeans caught in their time and spatial enclosures.
The issue surrounding the importance of open spaces, where one is free to move
in any direction, was confirmed even in casual conversations, such as when talking to
random villagers near Agadez while watching a camel race. One of the villagers asked
me: ‘You don’t have open spaces like here, no? That you could go anywhere you want?’
This issue of moving freely in etakas (the uninhabited space outside the villages and
camps) was again related to the issue of freedom. Space in Europe was often perceived
as limited, enclosed – particularly in the cities – where even parks are behind the bars as
Taher complained (for Paris), and many had the impression that even in the countryside
you could not go where you wanted since land was privately owned.
In this light, I would have to re-read the sentence which Souleymane, a Tuareg
amateur photographer and friend who visited me in Slovenia, composed for an exhibition
on Tuareg nomads; he wrote: ‘For the nomads, space is infinite and time is non-existent.’
I contested this sentence, worried it would re-produce Orientalism by imagined visitors
of the exhibition. Souleymane defended the sentence as being true. Souleymane belonged
to imghad, who were a social category of free people. He has spent part of his life working in the city and recently returned home to live as a nomad. He was right to defend this
sentence as true to him and in a way to the nomads, despite knowing very well how contested nomadic territory is and how aware nomads are of the struggle to control territory
and resources. Although urban schooled Tuaregs usually stay in the countryside during
the holidays to visit family, while nomads depend on the bush for survival, both share an
appreciation of open views and a kind of self-organisation of time. The freedom of living
in the bush with enough animals not to be obliged to work for others, was expressed as a
value by the older nomads I spoke to in different locations.
The need for the feeling of freedom arising from open spaces, where it is possible to walk, ride or drive was particularly important for urban and schooled Tuaregs, as
they related to the idea of nomadic freedom. When nomads visited a city in Niger, such as
Agadez, they complained about enclosed courtyards and limited views, while gardeners
and craftsmen have not paid attention to this. It seems everyone observed the landscape
and noted information about it through the biased lens of what was most important for
their own activities and identity which was related to social category they belong to.
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Anthropological Notebooks, XXV/3, 2019
Open spaces and time to think in relation to the feeling of freedom were most
emphasised by those who belonged to the social categories of imajeghan and imghad,
which were traditionally identified as free people (for more on Tuareg social categories,
see Bernus 1981, Nicolaisen & Nicolaisen 1997, Claudot Hawad 2001). Inadan, blacksmiths and craftsmen more often stated they appreciated the positive sides of work in
relation to Europe. Musa, a blacksmith form Timia, was in France with an association to
demonstrate his working skills and knowledge in making silver jewellery. He observed:
In Europe everybody works, there is less time to just sit idle. Here people
gossip a lot, instead of working. Someone who doesn’t work comes to talk
when you are working, but you do not have time for this. There, everyone
has his work, this is very good.
By observing everyone as busy, travellers concluded that everybody works. Minata, a blacksmith woman from the oasis of Timia who went to Europe to perform traditional music, related working men and women to prosperity. She said:
In France everyone has work, women have work, men have work. Here
women don’t have jobs, they only have their goats. In France all women were
in school and have jobs. Every morning they go to their job. Now, when girls
go to school also here, if they will study, they will have jobs as well.
Certain observations about Europe included in the narratives are connected to a
particular social category, because this influences certain activities individuals take an interest in and identify with. Indadan, like Musa, were in Europe to present their knowledge
how to work with jewellery and they have also put more attention to appreciation of work
in general in Europe. Nomads retained information about the greenness of the landscape
and the abundance of water in Europe, despite never being there. The values between
traditional social categories (Bernus 1981, Claudot-Hawad 1996, 2001, Nicolaisen and
Nicolaisen 1996), are not all the same: while for imghad and imajeghan, honour and freedom are highly valued and heavy physical work is seen as a burden, inadan are proud of
their manual skills. Still, it would be hard to interpret different narratives on Europe and
the West in the context of ideological and power struggles at home, as El Dine (2016) and
Woltering (2011) did. This possibility is not excluded, for example on questions concerning ideologies related to religion or slavery7
, but I did not collect data on these issues nor
is this my focus in this particular analysis.
Infrastructure vs. social relations
Some positive aspects of Europe were also observed. Technology (masnet) was an aspect
that stood out in the imagining of Europe. Those who travelled to Europe were eager to see
achievements such as the TGV, modern ports and skyscrapers. Others who studied natural
7
Non-Governmental organisations, like Timidria in Niger, have been continuing to prove existence of slavery in
Niger and work in connection with anti-slavery and human rights international organisations. At the same time
imagheran and imghad, I spoke to in Azawak and Aïr regions claimed slavery was over long time ago. For more
details about this see Tijani Alou (1996).
Ana Sarah Lunaček Brumen: Beyond occidentalism: Critique of life in Europe by Tuaregs in Niger
13
sciences and technology in Europe and receiving job offers stayed longer to improve their
technical knowledge. Certain people, including those who did decide to live in Europe,
appreciated the level of organisation and planning facilities. In addition, the provision of
social services including health benefits and schooling were known to be more accessible
in Europe than in Niger. Jusuf, who worked in direct contact with people in the countryside
within the development programme, proposed, without having visited Europe himself:
This is what I like, is that nothing lacks there, because you have all possible
health services and education is simply available. I do not know Europe,
but I suppose that what I would like is exactly this: you can get treatment
everywhere and education as well. It is not possible they would let someone
suffer as here. Because here one can be very ill and die for nothing, only
because health services are not available he can die; or from hunger because
he doesn’t have means and there is nobody who can find a solution.
His appreciation of Europe was marked by the problems of the people he had
encountered in his work in the development program. This, therefore, translates to the
critique of development projects and particularly the critique of the state, which does not
provide access to basic social services.
Although Jusuf was not alone in noticing this, as some people who had the
opportunity did go to Europe to receive specific medical treatment, others judged they
would not be able to access those services. Ghabidin, a retired public official of nomadic
origin, who briefly visited Europe and USSR in the context of his job, stated that in Europe you cannot do anything without money. In his view:
If you have means, it is better to live in Europe. If you have money to stay
in good place. If you do not have money is better to be here. Because here
mutual help is much more developed. There the development led to the point
where you need to sleep outside if you don’t have work.
He suggested in Niger another kind of social security is accessible, not in the
form of social services, but rather in the context of family and social networks. Ghabidin
moved to the countryside after retirement in order not to be alone in the big city, taking
on cows and returned to herding.
The idea prevails that social relations are richer at home (in Niger), because they always take precedence. Due to reciprocity, money is not always a necessity, because a network
of relations provides security. Mohamed (previously mentioned), who comes from the oasis and
has experience in Europe made a similar point when recounting how one can get fruit from the
garden el her (as a blessing, for free), as one gives el her. He was a person able to get different
jobs with Europeans, particularly due to his curiosity. His existence depended more on social
relations than on money. Furthermore, his travels to Europe were possible through social relations. In terms of social care, one of the most shocking things he observed in Europe was that
people placed their elders in institutions instead of keeping them with family; he understood this
practice as the ultimate sign of alienation and degradation of social values.
Abderahmane, who had a university degree and worked on development projects, had
the chance to go to Europe occasionally. He reinforced and added to the point under discussion:
The habitus of the tea ceremony was on the one hand a process of confirming.
- not only in case of Tuaregs in Niger, but more generally when considering Occidentalisms.
Ana Sarah Lunaček Brumen: Beyond occidentalism: Critique of life in Europe by Tuaregs in Niger
19
Conclusion
In this article, I was interested in how encounters, contact and travelling experiences
participated in shaping the narratives on life in Europe by Tuaregs living in the North of
Niger. While Occidentalism can be reproached for reproducing dichotomisation and essencialisation (in positive and negative extremes), alternative, more ambiguous, nuanced
and pragmatic views on the West do exist. Not only in the scope of appropriation of the
ideas of the West as part of inner ideological debates and negotiations of identity but also
when experiences influencing perceptions of Europe are considered.
Tuareg narratives on life in Europe are rather critical; in main topoi they claim
there is no time, no place and consequently no freedom and there is absence of atmosphere. They acknowledge certain technological and social infrastructures, but this cannot replace social security and social embeddedness at home. Occidentalism can explain
the particular distinction of one’s own values and confirm positive self-identity. In order
to include lived experience influencing those narratives, the embodiment in habitus was
introduced into my analysis. Habitus simultaneously explains the need to reproduce and
adapt habitus in Europe connected with the choice of environment. Consequently, it explains the individual choice of lifeworlds, which are considered to fit better preferred
habitus. Studies of Occidentalism and (auto) Orientalism, particularly when related to
migration and travelling, may consider the ambiguous meaning of the West more comprehensively when taking into account habitus. The reproduction of habitus in Europe serves
as a ‘teleporting device’ to home and encourages intercultural sharing. On the other hand,
embodied habitus facilitates the assessment and selection of where to live and where to
travel. What enabled Tuaregs to choose pragmatically preferred habitus, which was often
the case in Niger, was precisely the possibility of autonomous legal travel.
The Tuareg concept of travel enables adaptation and the acquisition of knowledge, but it also favours the possibility of return. The pragmatic decision to visit more
distant places was less motivated by dreams of ‘somewhere better,’ than by the practical
choice of bringing benefits home. Knowledge of Europe was collected through observation of Europeans and conversations with European friends. Instead of the scriptural
transmission of Occidentalism, Tuareg narratives on Europe are based on experience,
produced in dialogue and transmitted orally; therefore, they are more open to experience
than Orientalism. Finally, it can be stated that contact with Europeans and the possibility
of legal travel facilitated alternative Occidentalisms.
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Izvle~ek
Članek se osredinja na pripovedi Tuareogv iz severnega Nigra o življenju v Evropi.
Posveča se temu, kako stik in sodelovanje z Evropejci in potovanje v Evropo vplivajo
na te pripovedi. Ponavljajoči se topoi v precej krtičnih naracijah o Evropi se nanašajo
na: pomanjkanje časa in protora in posledično pomanjkanje svobode, priznavanje večje
dostopnosti infrastrukture v Evropi, ki ne more nadomestiti družbenih vezi doma in na
pomanjkanje socialnega vzdušja. Naracije obravnava skozi teoretski pristop okcidentalizma z namenom širitve perspektive okcidentalizma tako, da vključuje pomen izkušnje
za naracije. Medtem ko okcidentlizem interpretira naracije skozi potrjevanje identitete in
kulturne vrednote, avtorica v analizi vpelje habitus, da bi vključila utelešene izkušnje, ki
vplivajo na naracije. Ugotavlja, da so naracije o življenju v Evropi ustvarjene v dialogu z
Evropejci. Pokaže, da je prav možnost stika in leglanih potovanj omogočila alternativne
Okcidentalizme.
Klju^ne besede: Tuaregi, okcidentalizem, percepcije Evrope, habitus, migracije
CORRESPONDENCE: SARAH LUNAČEK, Department of Ethnology and Cultural
Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, sarah.lunacek@ff.uni-lj.si.
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