Ethnic wodaabe

Location, Land, and Climate

Wodaabe are nomads, migrating through much of the Sahel from northern Cameroon
to Chad, Niger, and northeast Nigeria. The last nomads in the area, the Wodaabe number
between 160,000 and 200,000. Other around them - the Hausa, Fulani, and Tuaeg - regard the
Wodaabe as wild people. The Wodaabe refer to the Fulani with equal disdain as Wodaabe
who lost their way.

The seasons dictate Wodaabe migrations. From July to September, the short rainy
season, sporadic storms cause floods. Most of September and October are hot and dry,
November to February is cold. The hottest months, March to June, are also dry. During the
short rainy season, Wodaabe lineage groups come together and hold their ceremonial dances,
the Geerewol, Worso, and Yakke. The rest of the year the Wodaabe split up into small lineage
groups.

Livelihood
During the dry season, milk production is lowest, and the need for cereal grains
especially acute. At thee times, however, the cows are in their poorest condition and grain
prices are highest. Thus, Wodaabe sell their cattle at cutrate prices. Moreover, droughts in the
1970s and early 1980s depleted the herds, so many Wodaabe have had to resort to earning
wages in towns or herding cattle for their sedentary neighbors.
While these activities allow Wodaabe llineage groups and individuals to survive the
dry season, they don't rebuilt the herds. The depletion of the herds means the Wodaabe can't
use their traditional way of aiding members of the tribe who lose their cattle - by loaning a
cow for several years, with the borrower keeping the calves.

Cultural Systems
The Wodaabe divide themselves into 15 lineage groups. Membership is based on both
blood-lines and traveling together in the dry season.
Membership in a lineage groups determines who can marry whom. The only
marriages that may occur between members of the same groups are Koobegal marriages
arranged during the partners' childhood and formally recognized by the council of elders.
Subsequent Teegal marriages are by choice of the partners.

Lineage-group membership doesn't exclude people from Teegal marriages, but such
marriages often cause friction. They usually involve "wife-stealing," often with the consent of
the woman but never with that of her husband. Teegal marriage is also a source of friction
between the new wife and previous ones. More wives means that fewer resources, such as
milk from the husband's herd, are allocated to each. Eloping in a Teegal marriage that carries
little stigma allows a Wodaabe woman considerable freedom, but she must leave her children
with the ex-husband. The system guarantees the children's place in society while permitting
spontaneity and flexibility to the parents.

The Wodaabe have acquired some knowledge of Islam and invoke the name of Allah
in times of death or difficulty. However, what constitutes the notion of Allah for the Wodaabe
is ambiguous.

More central is a set of values concerning beauty, patience, and fortitude. Physical
beauty - a long nose, round head, light skin, and white teeth - is one ideal quality, particularly
for men but for women as well. Wodaabe sometimes wear makeup to enhance these
attractions.

Central cultural institutions are the dances - Geerewol, Worso, and Yakke - held
during tribal gatherings in the rainy season. During tribal gatherings, flirtations occur and
Teegal marriages are negotiated. In the dances, the men of a lineage engage in a beauty
contest judged by three young women from an opposite lineage. These young women are
picked as judges by the male tribal elders on the basis of their fortitude and patience. They
appraise the men on appearance, charm, and dancing ability.

Swot
1.Strengths

The Wodaabe believe in various bush spirits that live in trees and wells and are
reputed to be saddened by how people have treated them. All spirits are intertwined in
taboos pertaining largely to ecology. Some spirits are dangerous.

The Wodaabe's main economic activity is cattle-herding. Cattle provide milk products
that, along with cereal obtained through trading, are the basis of the diet. Beef is eaten
only during ceremonies. The Wodaabe also keep goats and sheep for milk and meat
and use camels and donkeys for transportation

2.Weaknesses
The Niger government's effort to enroll children is school effectively deprives the
Wodaabe of their labor in herding and household chores. It also encourages the young
to ignore the food taboos.
Drought has reduced Wodaabe herds almost to extinction. Government policies favor
farm settlements, allotting land for fields at the expense of open grazing land. As
settlements spread northward, the advance of the desert southward squeezes the
Wodaabe onto smaller and more marginal land. International development experts
pushing for fixed settlement of the Wodaabe are concerned not with finding a way of
life acceptable to the Wodaabe, but with preventing them from draining resources.
During famine, the Nigar government adopts a "food-for-work" program. The
Wodaabe receive grains in return for planting seeds. However, this plan doesn't
provide for restocking cattle, and the Wodaabe generally leave the program as soon as
they can. They want to live according to their tradition of "mbodangaku" - the way of
their ancestors.

3.Opportunities
Wodaabe Geerewol and the Cure Salee Festival

During the rains, when the lush, salt-rich pastures can support the enormous herds of
cattle, thousands of nomadic herdsmen mainly Tuareg and the Wodaabe, a branch of
the largely settled Fulani people gather among the salt flats and pools around the
northern Niger town of In-Gall before once more setting off for fresh pastures.
This gathering, the Cure Salee (Salt Cure), provides rest and healthgiving refreshment
for animals and men, and is for them the most important event of the year. It is a time
when families meet, social bonds are strengthened and animals traded. More
importantly, it is the time when marriages are arranged.

4.Threats
Though sometimes in conflict with each other, the Wodaabe and Tuareg have a
common enemy in the arid lands of central western Africa they call home. Filmed in
part during the height of the dry season, this program offers insights into both of these
warrior tribes through two of their major celebration.
Can extinct immediately because not strong enough to survive.