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REVOLUTION: TESHUMARA AND TANEKRA 215latter path did not exclude Teshumara existence. The two paths could be complementary,as both contributed to the construction of the revolutionary movement,but in practice they were often at odds.The region of exile chosen by various Kel Tamasheq had a large influenceon the form their lives took. The Teshumara described above is particular tothose who migrated to the Maghreb. The Kel Tamasheq who moved to the citiesof coastal West Africa had different influences transforming their way of life.The Malian Kel Tamasheq who moved to the Ivory Coast, for example, foundemployment on the coffee and cocoa plantations where they worked alongsideother Malian immigrants. Under these circumstances, a particular Tamasheqculture such as the Teshumara, even if it did develop, could hardly be expressed.Naturally, cultural influences were different as well. Different originswithin Tamasheq society also influenced personal experiences, or at least thechances one was given in a new environment. The number of Kel Tamasheq ofslave origins moving to the Maghreb was small compared to their numbersmoving to West Africa. I have noted above that the ishumar in Libya wereconfronted with racism and discrimination. In Libya, those Kel Tamasheq whoconsidered themselves as ‘white’ were confronted with a contrary opinion ontheir racial belonging. To the average Libyan, a ‘white’ Kel Tamasheq wassimply a ‘black’ African. The racial prejudice the ‘black’ Kel Tamasheq ofslave origins were confronted with in the Maghreb was multiplied, since skincolour is differentiated in the Maghreb as in other parts of the world, whichmade them even more ‘black’ than they were in Tamasheq society. The situationwas entirely different in West African places of exile. Here, the ‘black’Kel Tamasheq of slave origins easily blended into the local environment, astheir physical appearance did not betray them as Kel Tamasheq. The ‘white’Kel Tamasheq on the other hand, stuck out strongly as immigrants. Althoughone might expect that the common experience of ‘otherness’ and foreign racismwould enhance common ties between Kel Tamasheq of all castes, this provednot to be the case, as I discuss in the next chapter.At the beginning of this chapter, I indicated that large groups of KelTamasheq had migrated to Saudi Arabia in the 1940s. Most of these immigrantswere religious specialists who came particularly from the Kel Essuq tribes.Their trajectories differed considerably from those of the ishumar. At present, alarge Tamasheq community is living in Saudi Arabia, notably in the holy citiesof Mecca and Medina. Many took up religious professions, teaching Arabic orinstructing in the Qur’ân. Some even managed to gain positions of considerableprestige and wealth. The religious path did not only lead to Mecca and Medina.During colonial times (and probably even before), a number of Kel Tamasheqhad travelled to Egypt where they studied at the prestigious al-Azhar university.This institution linked the Kel Tamasheq with developments in the wider Mus-