Saharan and North African toy and play cultures : Children's dolls and doll play

[Al-khiyal]

Saharan and North African toy and play cultures :
Children's dolls and doll play

by Jean-Pierre Rossie



Contents

Collection Saharan and North African Toy and Play Cultures

Preface by Dominique Champault

Introduction

Map of North Africa and the Sahara
Map of Morocco
Description of the populations
The Tuareg
The Ghrib
The Moors
The Sahrawi
The Regeybat
The Chaamba
The Teda
The Belbala
The inhabitants of the Saoura Valley
The Mozabites
The Kabyles
The Chaouia
The populations of the Moroccan countryside
The town-dwellers of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
Transcription of the vernacular words
Acknowledgments

Saharan and North African Children's Dolls and Doll Play

1. Male Dolls
1.1. Summary
1.2. Dromedarist Dolls
1.3. Horseman Dolls
1.4. Herdsman Dolls
1.5. Mule-driver Dolls
1.6. Warrior Dolls and Notable Man Dolls
1.7. Bridegrooms Dolls

2. Female Dolls

2.1. Summary
2.2. Female Dolls of the Tuareg
2.3. Female Dolls of the Ghrib
2.4. Female Dolls of the Moors
2.5. Female Dolls of the Sahrawi
2.6. Female Dolls of the Regeybat
2.7. Female Dolls of the Teda
2.8. Female Dolls of the Belbala
2.9. Female Dolls of the Saoura Valley
2.10. Female Dolls of the Mozabites
2.11. Female Dolls of the Kabyles
2.12. Female Dolls of the Chaouia
2.13. Female Dolls of North-West Algeria
2.14. Female Dolls of Morocco
2.15. Female Dolls of Tunisia

3. Child Dolls

3.1. Summary
3.2. Child Dolls of the Tuareg
3.3. Child Dolls of the Moors
3.4. Child Dolls of the Kabyles
3.5. Child Dolls of the Chaouia
3.6. Child Dolls of Morocco

Conclusion

1. Synthesis
2. Environmental and Economic Aspects
3. Socio-Cultural Aspects

Using North African and Saharan Toy and Play Culture

1. Pedagogical and Cultural Action in Developing Countries
2. Intercultural and Peace Education in a Western Context

List of Transcriptions

List of Illustrations

Figures 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91-100,
101-110, 111-120, 121-130, 131-140, 141-150, 151-157

Geographic and Ethnic Index

Bibliography

Videos: Moroccan Dolls and Doll Play

Appendix: Catalogue des Poupées Sahariennes et Nord-Africaines du Musée de l'Homme

1. Introduction

2. Les poupées-hommes

2.1. Les poupées-méharistes
2.2. Les poupées-cavaliers
2.3. Les poupées-guerriers et poupées-notables
2.4. Les poupées jeunes-mariés

3. Les poupées-femmes

3.1. Les poupées-femmes touarègues
3.2. Les poupées-femmes maures
3.3. Les poupées-femmes regeybat
3.4. Les poupées-femmes teda
3.5. Les poupées-femmes belbala
3.6. Les poupées-femmes de la Vallée de la Saoura
3.7. Les poupées-femmes mozabites
3.8. Les poupées-femmes chaouia
3.9. Les poupées-femmes marocaines
3.10. Les poupées-femmes tunisiennes

4. Les poupées-enfants

4.1. Les poupées-enfants touaregs
4.2. Les poupées-enfants maures
4.3. Les poupées-enfants chaouia

[Al-khiyal]

Toys, Play, Culture and Society : An anthropological approach with reference to North Africa and the Sahara

by Jean-Pierre Rossie

256pp., 144 illustrations, paperback, black and white illustrations, includes CD

As soon as one enters into this fabric of North African and Saharan children’s play and games one catches a resonance of the author’s Flemish predecessor Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569) painting a multitude of children at play. But in that case they were all drawn scrambling together at one place and at one time. And their vigour was an iconic protest against the imperial Spanish hegemony. Whereas the Flemish Jean-Pierre Rossie is dealing with small scattered groups of children who are sometimes battling and sometimes enjoying the hegemony of the modern toy industry, and whose seductive enemy is no longer the Spanish Queen, it is the Barbie Doll. Rossie is of course not the first to analyse the current historical changes which render some of the older forms of world play less important. Before him were the massive works of Lady A. B. Gomme (1898), Iona and Peter Opie (1959-1995) and multiple others on a smaller scale. All of these were usually describing forms of play life that they felt were sadly disappearing in the modern world. Their major contribution to our apprehension was thus nostalgic. These were works of regret for the childhood times gone by, usually accompanied by some insistence that some of these games should be kept alive or revived for the good of the human species. What Rossie has done is to start likewise by showing us the same processes of children losing their older forms of play in rural and urban parts of Africa. But what makes it especially more touching is that he shows that one part of what is being given up are a great variety of intricate toys carefully crafted by the children themselves and reproduced here with some hundred photographic illustrations of these child made toys. But more important he has spent his life not just putting these abatements of tradition on record, but has been also active with others in developing pedagogies within which the children’s ancient toy achievements can be made to still have continuing success.