| Still known as desert dwellers, Kel Tamashek had practiced nomadic pastoralism for generations and had developed a livelihood with limited contacts with sedentary people. Series of droughts, socio-economic changes, and political conflicts from the early 1970s to mid-1990s have had a profound impact on Kel Tamashek society in Mali. Most Kel Tamashek families lost their animal herds, left the nomadic lifestyle and most moved to towns.; Kel Tamashek people have numerous adjustments to make to town life---from simple change in habitation and diet to more profound issues of self-identity and social norms. Traditionally a hierarchical culture, each Kel Tamashek is assigned a specific role based on his/her social class. People from the Independent social class were considered superior and had social, economic and political privileges. The Bellah Tamashek were former slaves and excluded from many social privileges including education.; School provides an excellent setting to study social change in Kel Tamashek culture, particularly, among girls. Girls' schooling brings about conflicting issues surrounding social class, age group, and gender in Kel Tamashek culture. Using three sociological perspectives of education---human capital theory, cultural capital theory, and rational choice theory---the present study investigates relationships between girls' education and their social role within the context of social change among Kel Tamashek people of Timbuktu. Field research using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodology was conducted in Timbuktu.; The study reconfirms a strong link between girls' schoo.ling and the overall social structure. Kel Tamashek women's schooling is an important factor influencing their family roles as long as those roles stay within acceptable frameworks of existing Kel Tamashek social norms. This is true for both Kel Tamashek women from the Independent and Bellah social class groups. The present study reveals, nonetheless, concrete impact made by Kel Tamashek women's schooling on their overall social, economic and political lives inside the family and in the community. In addition, the biographic research method brings out interesting contrasts among three generations of Kel Tamashek women. |
