I first learned about desertification from a human point of view when I wrote a food lecture for UCLA Fowler Museum's exhibition, "The Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World".
I used couscous (semolina pasta) as a tool to discuss trans-saharan trade and the former Tuareg Empire. I'm planning on rewriting the lecture into a paper or article for submission. I'll post a link when that happens.
Tuareg are Berber* people of Northwest Africa living mostly in Niger, Algeria, Libya, Mali, and Burkina Faso
Mohamed Ag Ewangaye, Art expert and historian, contributor to the Expo, chapter in the book "The Art of Being Tuareg" and Sidi Amar Ag Taoua (Sahara Expedition tours in Niger ) are Tuaregs from Niger. In the center is Farid Zadi, Algerian Shawiya (Chaoui) Berber, family heritage also includes Kabyle, Sahelian and Saharan Berbers)**.
The men who are 3rd, 5th and 6th from the right are musicians from the TIDAWT of Niger***.
*Berbers or Imazighen "Free Men", are the first peoples of Northwest Africa. Famous Berbers include The Carthaginian General Hannibal, Saint Augustine of Hippo and the Franco-Algerian soccer player Zinedine Zidane.
**Identity is also regional in Northwest Africa. It's important to not impose external notions of "ethnicity", culture is contextual not genetic.
***Saudi Aramco World, Muslim Roots, U.S. Blues, interesting article about the possible Islamic roots of American Blues.
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