Christopher Roy, Dec. 21, 2017
Three months ago a group of Fulani and Tuareg men and women
met in a small village south of Maradi, Niger, for a festival of dancing and camel
racing.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases an hour+ YouTube video of a 2017 festival in Niger, West Africa.
Information about Niger is included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.people.
Thanks to all those who are associated with this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of ths video on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT NIGER, WEST AFRICA
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger
"Niger or the Niger … officially the Republic of the
Niger,[10][11] is a landlocked country in West Africa named after the Niger
River. Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria
to the south, Benin and Burkina Faso to the southwest, Mali to the west, and
Algeria to the northwest. Niger covers a land area of almost 1,270,000 km2
(490,000 sq mi), making it the largest country in West Africa. Over 80% of its
land area lies in the Sahara Desert. The country's predominantly Muslim
population of about 22 million[14][15] live mostly in clusters in the far south
and west of the country. The capital and largest city is Niamey, located in
Niger's southwest corner.
[…]
Ethnic groups
Niger has a wide variety of ethnic groups as in most West
African countries. The ethnic makeup of Niger in 2001 is as follows: Hausa
(55.4%), Zarma-Songhai (21%), Tuareg (9.3%), Fula (French: Peuls; Fula: Fulɓe)
(8.5%), Kanuri Manga (4.7%), Tubu (0.4%), Arab (0.4%), Gourmantche (0.4%),
other (0.1%).[101] The Zarma-Songhai dominate the Dosso, Tillabéri, and Niamey
régions, the Hausa dominate the Zinder, Maradi, and Tahoua regions, Kanuri
Manga dominate the Diffa region, and Touaregs dominate the Agadez region in
Northern Niger.[108]
French, inherited from the colonial period, is the official
language. It is spoken mainly as a second language by people who have received
a formal western education and serves as the administrative language. Niger has
been a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie since 1970.
Niger has ten recognized national languages, namely Arabic,
Buduma, Fulfulde, Gourmanchéma, Hausa, Kanuri, Zarma & Songhai, Tamasheq,
Tassawaq, Tebu.[1] Each is spoken as a first language primarily by the ethnic
group with which it is associated.[109][110] Hausa and Zarma-Songhai, the two
most spoken languages, are widely spoken throughout the country as first or
second languages.
Religion
Niger is a secular country and separation of state …Islam, widespread
in the region since the 10th century, has greatly shaped the culture and mores
of the people of Niger. Islam is the most dominant religion, practiced by 99.3%
of the population according to the 2012 census.[111]
The other two main religions of Niger are Christianity,
practiced by 0.3% of the population, and Animism (traditional indigenous
religious beliefs), practiced by 0.2% of the population.[111] Christianity was
established earlier in the country by missionaries during the French colonial
years. Other urban Christian expatriate communities from Europe and West Africa
are also present. Religious persecution is rare in Niger which is ranked last
(#50) on the World Watch List for severity of persecution that Christians face
for actively pursuing their faith.
[...]
Islam
The majority of Muslims in Niger are Sunni, 7% are Shi'a, 5%
are Ahmadiyya and 20% non-denominational.[113][114] Islam was spread into what
is now Niger beginning in the 15th century, by both the expansion of the
Songhai Empire in the west, and the influence of the Trans-Saharan trade
traveling from the Maghreb and Egypt. Tuareg expansion from the north,
culminating in their seizure of the far eastern oases from the Kanem-Bornu
Empire in the 17th centuries, spread distinctively Berber practices.
[...]
A small center of followers of Salafi movement within Sunni
Islam have appeared in the last thirty years, in the capital and in
Maradi.[115] These small groups, linked to similar groups in Jos, Nigeria, came
to public prominence in the 1990s during a series of religious
riots.[116][117][118]
Despite this, Niger maintains a tradition as a secular state, protected by law.[119] Interfaith relations are deemed very good, and the forms of Islam traditionally practiced in most of the country are marked by tolerance of other faiths and lack of restrictions on personal freedom.[120] Divorce and polygyny are unremarkable, women are not secluded, and head coverings are not mandatory—they are often a rarity in urban areas.[121] Alcohol, such as the locally produced Bière Niger, is sold openly in most of the country.
[...]
Health
The child mortality rate in Niger (deaths among children
between the ages of 1 and 4) is high (248 per 1,000) due to generally poor
health conditions and inadequate nutrition for most of the country's children.
According to the organization Save the Children, Niger has the world's highest
infant mortality rate.[124]
Niger also has the highest fertility rate in the world (6.49 births per woman according to 2017 estimates[125]); this means that nearly half (49%) of the Nigerien population is under age 15. Niger has the 11th highest maternal mortality rate in the world at 820 deaths/100,000 live births.[126] There were 3 physicians and 22 nurses per 100,000 persons in 2006.[127]
[...]
Until the 1990s, government and politics was inordinately dominated
by Niamey and the Zarma people of the surrounding region. At the same time the
plurality of the population, in the Hausa borderlands between Birni-N'Konni and
Maine-Soroa, have often looked culturally more to Hausaland in Nigeria than
Niamey. Between 1996 and 2003, primary school attendance was around 30%,[128]
including 36% of males and only 25% of females. Additional education occurs
through madrasas.
Media
Niger began developing diverse media in the late 1990s.
Prior to the Third Republic, Nigeriens only had access to tightly controlled
state media.[129] Now Niamey contains scores of newspapers and magazines; some,
like Le Sahel, are government operated, while many are critical of the
government.[130][131] Radio is the most important medium, as television sets
are beyond the buying power of many of the rural poor, and illiteracy prevents
print media from becoming a mass medium.[89]
In addition to the national and regional radio services of the state broadcaster ORTN, there are four privately owned radio networks which total more than 100 stations. Three of them—the Anfani Group, Sarounia and Tenere—are urban-based commercial-format FM networks in the major towns.[132] There is also a network of over 80 community radio stations spread across all seven regions of the country, governed by the Comité de Pilotage de Radios de Proximité (CPRP), a civil society organisation. The independent-sector radio networks are collectively estimated by CPRP officials to cover some 7.6 million people, or about 73% of the population (2005).
Aside from Nigerien radio stations, the BBC's
Hausa service is listened to on FM repeaters across wide parts of the country,
particularly in the south, close to the border with Nigeria. Radio France
Internationale also rebroadcasts in French through some of the commercial
stations, via satellite. Tenere FM also runs a national independent television
station of the same name.[132]"...
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