Tazz’Unt
Tazz’Unt

Author: Helene E. Hagan

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2011-05-12

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 1477170723

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Tazzunt presents a group of Berbers (Imazighen), the Ait Arbaa, who live in the Tessawt Valley of the High Atlas of Morocco, eking out a meager existence from the eroded soil of their rugged environment, by harvesting turnips, millet and maize, and one cash crop of walnuts. They depend also on a simple form of summer pasture. Tazzunt means limit: and it refers to an annual ritual which gathers around the shrine of a local Saint, Sidi Asdal, several villages of the Valley for its celebration. A ceremony, a feast, songs and dances accompany the rite. The book is based on a French ethnographic description recorded by a member of that group, Hassan Jouad, and a Frenchman, Bernard Lortat-Jacob during the celebration of the opening of the Summer Season Festivities, the Tazzunt ceremony, in 1978. The original English analysis based on this description was a spring paper written in 1982 at the Department of Anthropology of Stanford University. Because such material is so lacking in the anthropological literature of Morocco, and given the fact that American universities are beginning to become more interested in Amazigh studies (North African Berbers and Tuaregs), this small book might be appreciated by a number of people entering that field. Hopefully, it will also be of interest to anyone else interested in ritual and religious practice in Africa. The document opens with an introduction to the Berbers of the High Atlas of Morocco, who speak Tamazight, a form of a Berber language which has a number of different dialects through North Africa. A whole section is devoted to the analysis of their segmentary type of tribal organization, and what has been discussed in the past by anthropologists interested in segmentary structures of social organization in past anthropological literature. The various mechanisms of affiliations and alliances, recognized by Berbers (Imazighen) in this part of the world about the middle of the twentieth century, are also examined and assessed as to their function and place in the tapestry of relations not just among the Ait Arbaa, but more generally among the Berbers of that region. The presence of marabouts, saintly men such as Sidi Asdal, the local saint of the upper Tessawt Valley, and a maraboutic complex which antedates the arrival of Islam and has been incorporated into religious practice in Moorcco, are also introduced and discussed in a separate section of the book. The concept of Baraka (blessing, and power of blessing) is introduced and analyzed. Social order and the segmentary structure of social organization are singularly modified by the presence of these powerful saintly men with Baraka as opposed to the rule of elected, temporal chiefs, or amghars. A model of equilibrium, fluidity, and flexibility emerges from such a factor at the core of a structured, hierarchical society. The ritual of Tazzunt itself is presented, explained, and analyzed. An anthropological reflection on the importance of ritual, song and dance, rounds up the presentation. All aspects of the presentation of the ritual of Tazzunt and its meaning for the villagers and mountain people of the Tessawt Valley are backed by a series of poems and songs which were translated from their original Tamazight composition into French by Hassan Jouad, and subsequently translated from the French into English by the author of the book, Helene Hagan. The poetry is essential to the actual substance and meaning of the actions described. In addition to the importance of the poetry which accompanies the prose of the explanatory text, the author had the extraordinary luck to come across a set of photographs taken in that valley, around the very time that this document was being written. These photographs were taken by two architects, Anne and Olivier Fougerat, who were kind enough to share their beautiful photography taken in May of 1984 in the Upper Tessawt Valley of the High Atlas of Moroc

Sixty Years in America
Sixty Years in America

Author: Helene E. Hagan

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2019-08-27

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1796053449

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The author entered the United States at age twenty as a student, schooled in French Literature, Classics and Philosophy. After twenty years of marriage, raising three children and running a French Import business in Palo Alto,, she embarked in her American career as a cultural and psychological anthropologist. She has documented some forty years of fieldwork through a variety of substantial essays, crafting a rare collection of fascinating papers about American Indians and Amazigh (Berber and Tuareg) people , a unique book by an immigrant to the United States. From fond memories of Mustapha and her childhood in Morocco, to extensive scholarly research on Egyptian civilization and late writings about the unexplored topic of intermarriages between American Indians and French explorers of North America, the book captivates the reader's attention, always informs, and in some instances, as in The People of Niram, delights in unsuspected irony and wit.

''The Shining Ones''
''The Shining Ones''

Author: Helene E. Hagan

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2001-08-17

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 1462836496

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Introduction of the book indicates the necessity to start with the archaeology of the early settlements of the West Bank of the Nile , a territory to be considered as the mother or matrix of all Egyptian civilization. It establishes the pioneer nature of this Etymological Essay in the English language, as most of the studies in keeping with its findings are to be found in the scholarly literature of Europe and North Africa. 1. Archaic Terminology: The chapter traces the origins of early settlements of the northwestern region of Egypt, the desert oases, the Fayum, the region of the Lakes, and the western portion of the delta of the Nile, by Saharan and Libyan archaic people, with specific emphasis on archaic topography which can be directly related to Modern Amazigh spoken today in North Africa (Tamazirt.) 2,The Pillar People: The review of a number of terms from the mythology and ceremonial procedures of dynastic Egypt shows the influence of those early settlers named The People of the Pillars (Intui) on the beliefs and practices perpetuated through centuries in Egypt, and the presence of an all pervasive worship of these early origins: (cult of ancestors.) 3.The Holy rulers of First Princes of Egypt: An intensive comparative review of ancient Egyptian and Modern Amazigh terms reveals that the first noble rulers of the area were of Amazigh origin. A series of families of terms link quite clearly a number of beliefs and practices to the North African cultural complex. 4.Tehuti, time and the Wisdom of the stars is a chapter delving a little more deeply into the cosmogony and cosmology of the early Egyptians, and the roots of that knowledge in archaic practices, which have parallel indicators in North Africa. 5. The Innermost Shrine from The Book of the Dead: The geography of the Land of the Beyond, Tu-at (Du-Ament), and a variety of important indices throughout the Book of the Dead indicate quite clearly that the final return of the defunct to the Blessed Land of the Ancestors was also a step by step description of their claim of descent from these original beings. The rule of “Ma-aa-at,” the organizing principle of an entire civilization for centuries, or ‘NTR,” originated in the area of the Sacred lakes and the ancient settlements of the Fayum and oasis complex. Linguistic comparison with Modern Amazigh continues to indicate the kinship of those people with North African Imazighen (also known as Berbers.) 6. A Conclusion, Notes, and an Appendix, which is the reproduction of an article published in The Amazigh Voice, a publication of the Amazigh Cultural Association in America, indicate the pioneer aspect of such a work and the direction in which further linguistic studies could bring increasing light into areas of Egyptian scholarship heretofore deemed as obscure and/or of barbarous origin. .

The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music

Author: Ruth M. Stone

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-09-25

Total Pages: 868

ISBN-13: 1351544365

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Explores key themes in African music that have emerged in recent years-a subject usually neglected in country-by-country coverage emphasizes the contexts of musical performance-unlike studies that offer static interpretations isolated from other performing traditions presents the fresh insights and analyses of musicologists and anthropologists of diverse national origins-African, Asian, European, and American Charts the flow and influence of music. The Encyclopedia also charts the musical interchanges that followed the movement of people and ideas across the continent, including: cross-regional musical influences throughout Africa * Islam and its effect on African music * spread of guitar music * Kru mariners of Liberia * Latin American influences on African music * musical interchanges in local contexts * crossovers between popular and traditional practices. Downloadable resources included. Also includes nine maps and 96 music examples.

The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 1
The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 1

Author: Garland Encyclopedia of World Music

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 786

ISBN-13: 1136095705

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music comprises two volumes, and can only be purchased as the two-volume set. To purchase the set please go to: http://www.routledge.com/9780415972932

Russell Means
Russell Means

Author: Helene E. Hagan

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2018-08-20

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1984547704

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book examines the origin of many Plains Indian families, which began with the union of French trappers and traders with young Indian women in the early days of contact between Europeans and American Indians of the Dakota territory and the Sioux Indian territory of Nebraska. The famous Indian activist Russell Means, who made a name for himself through the activities of the American Indian Movement, the 1973 occupation of the Village of Wounded Knee, an unsuccessful political life, and a more successful Hollywood movie career, is at the core of the book. Though he proclaimed he was an Oglala Lakota patriot, Russell Means was in reality a European descendant of mostly French-Indian intermarriages on both paternal and maternal sides of his family. Indeed, he was more French than Indian, as documented in the carefully researched genealogy presented by French Moroccan anthropologist Hélène E. Hagan. The genealogy presented in this book dispels the fictitious claims advanced by Russell C. Means about his father’s and mother’s family surnames in the autobiographical account he wrote with the help of independent author Marvin J. Wolf, Where White Men Fear to Tread (St. Martin’s Press, 1996). The book also addresses the unfortunate use of fictitious material attributed to Chief Seattle for the publication of a small book purportedly on ancestral Indian spirituality, If You’ve Forgotten the Names of the Clouds, You Lost Your Way, published under his name shortly before he succumbed to a fatal cancer in 2012. In addition, the author evokes her fieldwork among the Oglala Lakota people of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the 1980s, the research she conducted with traditional elders as a volunteer with the archives of the Oglala Lakota College in her reservation-wide photo project covering years 1890 to World War II of the history of Pine Ridge families and her involvement with the Yellow Thunder Camp in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The last part of the book describes her later collaboration with the American Indian activist for the Public Access Television series of The Russell Means Show, which she conceived and produced in Los Angeles from 1999 to 2003.

Tuareg Jewelry
Tuareg Jewelry

Author: Helene E. Hagan

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2006-06-06

Total Pages: 139

ISBN-13: 1477165606

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

For you, it may look like a small unimportant detail, like your thumbnail. But for me, it is the whole vast world. Look at this jewel... here is the ant, here is the hyena, the jackal, the hoof of a horse, that of a gazelle, the sun, the moon, the stars, the good eye... this triangle, this is woman, and here are the eyebrows of the Malignant One, there, laughter... it is all of our lives in one piece of silver. (Translated from the French by Helene E. Hagan, from original Tuareg words of an artisan cited by J. Gabus, 1971) An extensive study of the symbolism of Tuareg jewelry has not yet been undertaken to date. It is this simple realization that brought the authors together in a decision to collect information on the topic, from past scholarly journals and books, contemporary articles and web sites, but also from Tuareg informants whose expert knowledge was sought. Though this book is small and does not aspire to be all encompassing, it is the first work totally dedicated to the presentation of the elaborate silver jewelry of Tuareg men and women of Northern Niger in the English language, and the only one we know that is solely dedicated to providing information concerning the function, meanings, and symbols of that jewelry. The book introduces the reader to the culture of the Tuaregs, a remarkable group of African nomads of the Sahara Desert, which has fascinated the Europeans who came into contact with them in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the last decade or so, as the Tuareg societies of Niger and Mali underwent major change, a number of American researchers began to document some of their ways. Research and publications in the English language are, however, lagging far behind those in the French language. Fortunately, the primary author of this book, Helene Hagan, was originally educated in the French language, and as an Amazigh (Berber) herself, is very familiar with North African scholarship in the Amazigh culture. Thus, as a bilingual anthropologist of Berber ancestry, born and raised in Morocco, and an activist for Amazigh cultural, linguistic and human rights, she benefits from a fourfold source of valuable information: French scholarship, American contemporary accounts, the latest Amazigh research emanating out of North Africa, and Northern Niger Tuareg informants she knows. This unique set of circumstances gives the book an extra dimension of depth and insight. The book recounts the myth of origin of the Kel Tamasheq of Niger, and looks at the continuity and development of symbols from archaic inscriptions and rock art of the Sahara to present-day engravings on silver jewelry and the Tifinagh alphabet. The second chapter is entirely devoted to retracing this development and showing the correspondence between Tifinagh characters of the Amazigh alphabet and the elegant, clear lines of geometric designs, which characterize the silver jewelry of the Tuareg people. The two are deeply connected. Modern Tifinagh Calligraphic Art is also featured in this chapter. The next chapter delves into the mystery of the famous Cross of Agadez and the various hypotheses that have been offered as to its meaning. It depicts the artisanal mode of production, and the functions the crosses hold for Tuareg people themselves. Nowadays, the production of crosses for the western world diminishes the role this cross, Tenghelet tan Agadez, had as a clan identifier. It has become, like other less well known pieces of Tuareg jewelry, a simple ornament or necklace devoid of any particular significance, and the markings on those crosses are losing some of their intentions of yore. The book reviews specific masculine jewelry and feminine adornment in the next two chapters, and looks at the role various pieces of silver jewelry play in the relations

Thami al-Glaoui
Thami al-Glaoui

Author: Orit Ouaknine-Yekutieli

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2024-04-30

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1399520709

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Orit Ouaknine-Yekutieli examines the life and deeds of Thami al-Glaoui (1879-1956), and the multiple ways in which his story has been told. She investigates his biography as a creation continuing beyond the demise of its protagonist, asserting a conflation of history, story and storytelling. The book also reconfigures the story of major events and processes in modern Moroccan history and historiography. Thami al-Glaoui, leader of the Amazigh Glaoua tribe and Pasha of Marrakesh throughout Morocco's colonial era (1912-56), was the third most powerful person in Morocco, after the Sultan and the French Resident-General, by the 1930s. In 1953, he was a key supporter of the deportation of Sultan Mohamed V by the French. After recanting three years later, he was pardoned by the returning Sultan, but died shortly afterwards. In the four decades that followed, al-Glaoui became a synonym in Morocco for betrayal and corruption. In the 21st century, however, the ways in which he is told became more complex, and his reputation has been somewhat revised.