Samozwańczy Azawad kontra Republika Mali. Konflikt widziany oczami etnologa

The conflict between the Tuareg people and the Republic of Mali which erupted again in 2012 may be analyzed at many levels - political, economic, military. Being an ethnologist I would like to draw attention to the cultural aspects of this situation. The Tuareg people do not identify themselves with countries they live in because of basically two reasons: skin colour and some substantial cultural differences manifested, among others, in a lack of participation in a conventional similarity of jokes. This article is devoted to the second issue. During the time of persistent conflict between the Tuareg and modern countries (Mali, Niger) the best solution would be to grant a farreaching autonomy for areas inhabited by pastoral people to the north of the Niger River valley excluding big cities (Gao, Timbuktu) and to include nomads to create more or less unified society - if cultural differences will not stand in the way. If the Tuareg will be still feeling hurt in Mali or Niger, they may enter into communication with Islamic fundamentalists and terrorist groups. A great deal of it depends on whether governments in Bamako and Niamey will stick to the European definition of a country or whether they will concentrate on the manner of the functioning of old African states.