Ikelan

The Ikelan (éklan / Ikelan in Tamasheq, Bouzou in Hausa, Bella in Songhai) are a caste within the Tuareg people who were at one time slaves or servile communities. While speaking the same language and sharing most of the same culture with broader Tuareg culture, the Ikelan often live in communities separated from other castes and elasticities, and have distinct cultural traits.

Their situation is somewhat analogous to the Haratin within Maure society in the western Sudan. Like the Haratin, the name "Ikelan", and to a much greater degree Bouzou and Bella, are exonyms (a name not used by that people themselves) with negative connotations. In parts of West Africa an unknown number of Ikelan caste individuals continue to live in slavery or slavery like relationships with other Tuareg individuals. Ikelan individuals and communities are found through much of Niger, Mali, southern Algeria and Libya, and parts of northern Burkina Faso and Nigeria.

Caste system

The Tuareg people have in the past had a highly socially stratified society, with specific social roles (warriors, religious leaders) or professions (blacksmiths, farmers, merchants) assigned to specific castes. The tiny aristocratic caste of warrior elite which once sat atop a pyramid of Tuareg society was decimated during the wars of the colonial period, and this, along with economic necessity, post-colonial border restrictions, and modern education, have broken down many traditional caste barriers. Tuareg higher caste traditions value a nomadic life, warfare, study, animal husbandry, and trade. Consequently, Higher caste communities travel, at least seasonally, if able. Lower caste groups, not limited to the Ikelan are more likely to live in settled communities, either in Sahara oasis towns or in villages scattered among other ethnic groups in the sahel region to the south.