Modern Nomads In The Atlas Mountains

All over the world, small groups of people maintain traditions that have lasted centuries, traveling with herds of animals from one place to another. In 2018, researchers María E. Fernández-Giménez, Ahmed El Aich, Oussama El Aouni, Ilhame Adrane, and Soufiane El Aayadi observed and interviewed members of the Ilemchane people of Morocco.

The Ilemchane comprise an Indigenous group that’s part of the larger Amazigh, or Berber, population. They’ve survived Arab and French incursions over the centuries as well as the post-independence Moroccan government’s push for assimilation.  As of 2018, the group included 673 people over age seven.

At the time of the study, 183 of members of the group were taking part in the seasonal migration, herding more than 14,000 goats, almost 1,000 sheep, and 200 camels. They spent winters in pastures in the Saghro mountains. In May, they “follow[ed] the green,” into the High Atlas for the summer grazing season. Depending on the conditions, they choose different pastures, and in difficult years, they traveled farther in the winter to avoid drought-ridden areas, sometimes renting a truck to transport the animals longer distances.

The researchers were interested in the Ilemchane’s traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), a term for methods of monitoring and managing the land as part of cultural institutions and values.

Among the concepts that are part of the Ilemchane’s TEK is “amskou,” a quality of good pastureland that they describe as a kind of “energy” or “waves.” It can be identified by looking for indicators like red soil and the presence of ants and scorpions, as well as observing animal behavior. Sheep in particular appear playful, energetic, and at ease when amskou is present. In contrast, imurtz places are bad for animals, causing them to lose weight. Amskou and imurtz places can’t be distinguished by the amount or kind of vegetation, and even places with scarce forage can be good pastureland if they have amskou. The study’s participants described amskou as an innate aspect of land that can’t be added and can only be lost if it’s swept away by a flood.

Another aspect of the Ilemchane’s cultural practices is sharing pastures, something that’s particularly crucial as climate change and shifts in land use. With no formal rights to access specific pastures, the Ilemchane and other herding groups depend on norms of reciprocity.

The current generation of Ilemchane faces pressures on their way of life, from increasing drought conditions to the need to split families up so that children can get an education. But their way of life continues to have advantages, including the economic benefit of raising animals on pastures with little need for supplemental feed and the ecological value of giving land time to recover between periods of grazing. And some study participants told the researchers the way of life was simply something they love.

As one man who had settled down elsewhere but hoped to return to seasonal migrations said, “I like to go with my sheep. I like the space. Nobody to bother you.”

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