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TEBU 771
therefore, the people of Tibesti. However, the Tibesti is occupied today by only
about 13,000 people, most of whom call themselves Teda. Throughout the ages
the formidable volcanic massif of Tibesti has served as a refuge for groups of
Tebu. The history of the area is one of constant migration, expansion out of and
retreat into the mountains. This constant movement has spread the Tebu peoples,
language and culture far from its Tibesti core, and the cyclical pattern has
confused any concept of linear development. Intermarriage with other groups
and migrants from other areas have also played their part. Today the Tebu lack
any concept of a common Tebu ancestor which might link all members by real
or Active kinship ties.
The sense in which the name is used by Tebu themselves is generally as a
yele, a category or sort of person. In its widest sense, it includes all those people
speaking languages of the Saharan branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family,
not all of which are mutually intelligible. The larger components of this category
would be: the Kanembu in the Lake Chad area, the Daza and Aza in the Niger
and Chad Sahel, the Teda in the central Tibesti and Libya, the people of Ennedi,
the Bideyat and the Zaghawa of Sudan. They resemble each other greatly in
material culture, social organization and culture (see Beri; Kanembu).
In its narrowest sense, Tebu as a category refers only to those groups who
speak mutually intelligible dialects of the Tebu language. This is composed of
two linguistic groups: those who speak Dazaga and those who speak Tedaga.
The groups who speak Dazaga are primarily the Daza and Aza, but there are
other smaller groups such as the Dowaza and the Wajunga, in all totalling about
208,000 people. Except for certain rare individuals, the only people who speak
Tedaga are the Teda of Tibesti. Dazaga is the lingua franca and the only language
in which poetry and songs are composed even by the Teda, whose knowledge
of Dazaga is often imperfect. Intermarriage and economic interest have formed
multiple kinship ties between groups.
The Teda number perhaps 20,000. There are approximately 13,000 in the
Tibesti itself and another 3,000 in the southern-most oases of Libya, and then
others scattered in Niger and Chad. Most of the Teda are isolated in the mountains.
They have herds of goats and in some areas camels. Their general pastoral
pattern is transhumant and cyclical within specific clan-guarded territories. The
general economy is tripartite. The women do most of the herding. The men go
to market to sell the animals and engage in long-distance commercial ventures.
The two together sow and harvest seasonal crops and dates in nearby oases.
They are not purely pastoral, but their economy has a definite pastoral base.
Teda are divided into a dozen patrilineal clans. Each member traces descent
to a common ancestor, who was generally a rogue escaping from some other
area into the Tibesti. Of the clans of the present Teda, few seem older than ten
generations. There are clans descendant from Daza, Dowaza, Tuareg, Arab and
Bideyat ancestors. At the arrival of the French, the central Tibesti was ruled by
a derdai, or chief of one of the clans. His authority never reached as far as the
northern Tibesti, which was tied to Kufra, the Sanussi and the Italians. There