Native American and Targui Women: Similar Aspects of Life

Abstract

A worldwide social phenomenon that prevails itself as a worth studying topic is the fact that tribal people partake affinities. Myriad scholars have pointed to this, arguing their observation with evidence. But since the reasons behind this likeness have not been answered exhaustively, they are still subject to ongoing research. Some scholars like Leo Weiner and Barry Fell have pointed to the resemblance between tribal Native Americans and Saharans of Africa. Limiting this research paper to the affinities which the Native Americans of the Navajo and the Tuaregs of Ahaggar in the Algerian Sahara share could enhance some reasons and illustrate some examples that explain this likeness. This thesis involves discovering more on Native Americans and Algerian Targuis. At first glance, visible traits prevail themselves as parallels between the two peoples such as their costumes, tattoo, life under tents, handmade jewels and crafts. The goal is to show that despite the fact that both live far from each other, the resemblance is striking. This has been done by examining writings on this topic and interviews. This visible commonness is noticed more on women than men, for the reader would see no resemblance between a veiled Targui and a Native American with a feather’s headdress. While dealing with similar cultural traits between the two peoples, another geographic resemblance imposes itself as an arguable subject; the Monument Valley Mountains look like the ones of Ahaggar as if they were Twin Mountains. But these affinities need to be supported with stronger evidence. Upon examination these two communities seem to share much: socially, linguistically, archeologically etc. The aim of this paper is to argue the reasons behind this resemblance with hypotheses and theories. The most prominent ones are the single ancestry and climate theories. Though they seem to be still a debatable issue, they strengthen the idea that the specificity of each culture is in itself contributive evidence for the universal relationship between peoples. This research highlights the importance of digging even more on the topic and the necessity to save a world heritage.