Haratin

Haratin (also transliterated Haratins, Harratins or Haratine, etc, singular Hartani) is a name for black oasis-dwellers in north western Africa. It is an exonym (a name not used by that people themselves) with negative connotatians. The word has an unknown origin and is applied mainly in Mauritania, southern Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria, Senegal and Mali to largely sedentary oasis-dwelling black populations speaking either Berber or Arabic. Certain local traditions, ambiguously supported by scholarship, hold that some populations called Haratine are indigenous black populations that became Berberised. The name itself is of obscure origin and has been variously traced to Arabic roots meaning "cultivator" and Berber roots meaning "dark skinned".

Haratin in Mauritania and Western Sahara

In Mauritania and Western Sahara the Haratin form one of the largest ethnic groups and account for as much as 40% of the population, and are sometimes referred to as "Black Moors". The Haratin generally claim a Berber or Arab origin unlike the black populations in southern Mauritania, the Wolof and the Fulɓe. In Mauritania and Western Sahara Haratin appear to be descendants of a sedentary population amidst a class of nomads. Although the Mauretanian government has issued emancipation declarations, discrimination against Haratin is still widespread. Amnesty International reported that as of 1994, 90,000 Blacks still lived as "property" of their master. [http://www.afrol.com/articles/17518, with the report indicating that "slavery in Mauritania is most dominant within the traditional upper class of the Moors." The report also observed that while " [s] ocial attitudes have changed among most urban Moors, but in rural areas, the ancient divide is still very alive."

There have been many attempts to assess the real extension of slavery in modern Mauritania, but these have mostly been frustrated by the Nouakchott government's official stance that the practice has been eliminated. In 1994, Amnesty International claimed that 90,000 Blacks still lived as "property" of their master. They further estimated that some 300,000 freed slaves continued to serve their former masters because of psychological or economic dependence. ]

Haratin in Morocco

In Morocco, "Haratin" tends to be applied to the dark-skinned agriculturalists of the southern oases, who largely identify as Chleuh Berbers, although some native Arabic speakers also exist. In some Moroccan oral history traditions, the Haratin of the south eastern oases were the 'original' inhabitants ["They claim precedence as the valley’s first inhabitants and say that the whites, originally nomads, came later to abuse their hospitality and treat them as slaves." - EnNaji, 1998.] . The term is used separately from that of Gnawa, which tends to refer to a clearly former sub-Saharan slaves and to a somewhat distinct cultural and religious movement composed of sufi "Ṭuruq" "orders, brotherhoods" and music groups that has begun to include different ethnicities. As Moroccan society has modernised and urbanised, the categories have broken down with intermarriage and rural to urban migration.

References

Literature

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* AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, 7 November 2002, MAURITANIA, A future free from slavery? The formal abolition of slavery in 1981 has not led to real and effective abolition for various reasons, including a lack of legislation to ensure its implementation.
*http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engAFR380032002!Open