Saharan and North African toy and play cultures: Technical activities in play, games and toys

Once again, this book describes the pretend play of Saharan and North African children and the toys they use in it. Under the heading technical activities in play, games and toys I have grouped a series of play and toy- making activities that relate to hunting and fighting, to transport and to communication. Grouping all this under the term 'technical activities’ is certainly arbitrary, but I could not find a better title. After the introduction this book is divided into three parts: toy weapons for hunting and fighting games, toys for play related to transport and toys for play related to communication. The play and toy-making activities described in this book are most often part of boys’ play world. But occasionally girls are also engage therein. The conclusion is limited to a synthesis and an overview of how I used the North African play and toy cultures for educational and sociocultural purposes in recent years. As usual, the reader will find thereafter a catalogue of Saharan and North African toys that were kept at the Musée de l’Homme but are now found at the Musée du Quai Branly, both in Paris. However, this catalogue only exists in French. The Saharan populations whose children’s play and toy-making activities the reader will discover are: the Tuareg, the Ghrib, the Moors, the Sahrawi, the Chaamba, the Teda, the Zaghawa, the Belbala, the inhabitants of the Saoura Valley and the Mozabite. Except the Belbala, the inhabitants of the Saoura Valley and the Mozabite, these populations were nomadic or semi-nomadic but for some time now they have become partially or fully settled. The sedentary populations this book is talking about are the Kabyle and the Chaouïa of Algeria, several communities from the Moroccan countryside and the inhabitants of some cities in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The games and toys related to ‘technical activities’ of the Saharan and North African children are directly inspired by the adult world but these children surely add to it their own interpretation. Some of these play and toy making activities undoubtedly help to prepare growing children for adulthood and professional life. The creativity of Saharan and North African children is among other ways clearly expressed in the manufacture of toys that most of the time copy real objects. To create these toys the children use a variety of natural and waste material found locally. The toys described in this book range from very simple to very elaborate. The role of the toy industry, especially from China, and of the recent communication technology becomes more and more prominent in the evolution of children’s play and toy culture. I would like to draw the reader's attention to the fact that, since 2005, Khalija Jariaa has offered important assistance in gathering information and photos on the toys and games of Anti-Atlas children. Her family and friendship relations, her knowledge of local customs and languages as well as her gradually developing interest in children's culture have made possible, among other things, a better understanding of the dialogues between players.