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194 CHAPTER 5TeshumaraThe Tamasheq name for the new way of life that was shaped in this period istelling for its economic origins. It is called Teshumara, a Tamasheq derivativeof the French ‘chômage’, meaning unemployment. The adherents to this newway of life were called ishumar (masculine singular ashamor, feminine singulartashamort, feminine plural tishumarin), meaning unemployed. Or at least thisionterpretation, based on the writings of Tamasheq poet and former ashamorMahmudan Hawad, is the generally accepted origin of the word. 2 However,some ishumar ascribe the orgins of this word to the Tamasheq word ashmar: Toendure with patience. 3 In any case, an ashamor was first of all someone whohad abandoned pastoral life in favour of employment in other economic sectors.In large parts of the Tamasheq world, this meant migration outside the Tamasheqworld, since no economic options outside pastoralism existed within thecommunity. When unemployed, an ashamor would travel, looking for new jobs.As the number of people looking for jobs outside the pastoral realm and outsidethe Tamasheq world grew, the Teshumara became more than an economic wayof life. It became a culture in itself. From the 1980s onwards, those ishumarinvolved in the preparation for armed rebellion saw themselves as a revolutionarymilitary vanguard, who would lead their people to independence. They canalso be seen as an organic intellectual elite in the Gramscian sense, as they puttheir thoughts on migration, modernity, and politics, to words in the poems andsongs of the Teshumara movement. They produced knowledge, even if part ofthis knowledge was based on experiences they had in common with their lessarticulate audience. The ishumar were not the only Kel Tamasheq who claimeda new form of elite status within Tamasheq society to the detriment of the olderelites, the noble imushagh and the religious ineslemen. A growing group of KelTamasheq were educated in universities in Africa and beyond. They worked forthe Government or the NGOs that established themselves in numbers in Maliafter the droughts, and tried to give new meaning and new course to Tamasheqsocial economic existence as well. These évolués as they are generally called –a name that ironically echoes colonial society – shared in the Teshumara experienceand many later joined the rebel movement. I will first look at the earlyorigins of the Teshumara and the origins of those who were to shape it. I willthen look at the economic and political background of the Teshumara, found inthe droughts of the 1970s and 1980s. Then I will present ishumar life as itdeveloped in its economic and cultural aspects, with special attention to thechanges in economic existence; attitudes to work; urbanisation and sedentari-23Hawad, M. 1990.Kidalinfo, forum. Subject: Ishmaren ou chomeurs? Author: Kigat Posted: 26/02/2006 19H12. http://www.kidal.info/Forum/FRv1/lire.php?msg=4245