PROJECTS
MIDDLE EAST

LOCALITY AND PIETY IN ISLAMIC NORTH AFRICA AND WEST ASIA
(1) Gebhard Fartacek | Zones of Uncertainty: Ritual and Taboo in the Near East from the Perspectives of Space and Time.
(2) Gebhard Fartacek | Pilgrimage Cities in the Syrian Periphery. An Ethnographic Study of the Cognitive Construction of Sacred Places and their Practical Relevance.
(3) Günther Windhager | From Lemberg to Mecca (1900-1927).The early biography of Leopold Weiss, alias Muhammad Asad.
(4) Barbara Danczul | “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?” Local Strategies for Conflict Resolution of Violence and Revenge in Egypt.
(5) Ines Kohl | Identities between Boundaries: Strategies of Belonging among the Imajeghen (Tuareg) of Libya.
(6) Gudrun Kroner | Beyond the Ties of Home. A Comparison of Female Refugees in the Arabic-Islamic world.
(7) Johann Heiss | Anthropological Interpretations in Southwest Arabia.
 
 
 
INES KOHL | IDENTITIES BETWEEN BOUNDARIES
Strategies of Belonging among the Imajeghen (Tuareg) of Libya.
 
The borders between Algeria, Libya and Niger are the result of colonial constructions by Italy and France. This divided a once uniform political administration of the Sahara-Tuareg into that of minorities depending upon state politics. The ensuing fundamental territorial separation was followed by different sociopolitical developments. Contrary conditions thus continue to shape the situation of Imajeghen in this borderland.
 
Ines Kohl focused on the oasis of Ghat, situated on the border to Algeria and Niger, to examine how Imajeghen (Tuareg) engage with “wider influences”, particularly globalization, and to explicate the role of territorial and social-cultural boundaries in relation to belonging, affiliation and “otherness.”
 
The three hypotheses of the FSP-Wittgenstein program describing different possibilities of engagement with “wider influences” (insulation, dissolution, or creative engagement) served as the basis of the investigation. Through her focus on the constructions of Libyan identity, the school as transmitter of national ideologies, marriage practices as indicators of informal socialization, and the formation of a trans-regional inner Saharan trade and migration space, it became clear that the actors selected two additional options of agency: accommodation and avoidance. These two strategies could be chosen in certain specific situations in order to act within the context of overarching authorities.
 
In Mali, Niger, and Algeria, Imajeghen experience a political, economic and social marginalization, but in Libya they have the possibility of a limited articulation at the price, however, of being subsumed within a conglomeration of “Arab-Islamic Libyans.” As a result, their ethnic heritage is either negated or manipulated. At the same time, from the Libyan state’s point of view, Imajeghen are treasured as a component of its national patrimony; their ties with both the Sahara and nomadic culture are also associated with the personal background of the revolutionary leader, Mucammar al-Qaddafi. Despite these contradictions, Tuareg are nevertheless intent upon re/constructing their identity as a trans-regional ethnic minority within several nation states. Their language serves as proof of their uniqueness and as defining sign of identity; it unifies Imajeghen at a communicative and cultural level and differrentiates them from others.
 
The results of Ines Kohl’s project were published in a 2007 book, Tuareg in Libyen: Identitäten zwischen den Grenzen (Berlin: Reimer).
 
 
 
Kohl, Ines (2007): Tuareg in Libyen: Identitäten zwischen Grenzen. Berlin: Reimer.
-> see publications

Kohl, Ines (2006): Von Tuareg, Toyotas und Wüsten Geschichten: Sahara-Tourismus in Libyen. In: Integra, Zeitschrift für Integrativen Tourismus und Entwicklung, 2/06, 14-17

Kohl, Ines (2005): Nationale Identität, tribale Zugehörigkeit und lokale Konzeptionen im Fezzan - Libyen. Eine Farbenlehre. In: Heiss, Johann (ed.): Veränderung und Stabilität. Normen und Werte in islamischen Gesellschaften, Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 137-168
-> see publications

Kohl, Ines (2005): Identitäten zwischen Grenzen: Strategien der Zugehörigkeit von Tuareg (Imajeghen) in Libyen, Dissertation. Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Vienna.

Kohl, Ines (2004): Kontinuität und Wandel: Transsaharische Handels- und Reisewege durch den Fezzan/Libyen. In: Mitteilungen der Grazer Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Graz, Volume 12, 54-73

Kohl, Ines (2003): Wüstentourismus in Libyen. Folgen, Auswirkungen und lokale Wahrnehmungen. Eine anthropologische Fallstudie aus der Oase Ghat. In: Weiss, Dieter and Steffen Wippel (eds.): Diskussionspapiere Nr. 94, Freie Universität Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag.
-> see publications






 
     
 
 

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Notice: We want to inform you that the research program will come to an end on the 31st of March 2007. Since that time this homepage will not be updated anymore.