Tuaregs and citizenship

Abstract

The paper questions the widespread perception according to which Tuaregs’ relationship to citizenship would be characterized by hostility, skepticism or indifference, a perception which is often applied to transnational minorities, in particular when they are associated to a mobility culture and/or a remote territory. It focuses on both mobile and sedentary Tuaregs from Niger and Mali in their various and complex relationship to state membership, which spans legally from statelessness to multiple citizenship, and practically from semi-passive attitudes toward the state to active assimilation. The paper shows how new forms of belonging, including belonging to the state(s), have emerged among Tuaregs together with the reconfiguration of territorial and community bonds, and seeks to assess the impact of some variables, such as mobility and territorial localization, on individual and collective attitudes towards citizenship.