Campfire Circle Activities: A New Approach to Cultural Heritage Awareness in Niger
By Rahina Balarabé | President of Oralité Plus, Niger
Introduction: Following the successful cultural heritage project in the Maghreb region of North Africa, ASOR implemented a mirror project in the Sahel region of West Africa. The current project, funded by an anonymous donor, supports local populations in documenting, preserving, and raising awareness of the cultural heritage of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. Actions implemented in these three countries, with the assistance of local partners, helped document dozens of sites at risk, while also bringing awareness to an endangered cultural heritage in a region constantly plagued by political instability and unrest.
In 2024, News@ASOR will feature a series of accounts written by African implementers on this important work. Rahina Balarabé, president of Oralité Plus (a non-profit organization established in Niger), kicks off the series with an article showcasing Bororos heritage.
Poster advertising the first “Citizen debates around campfires” event, held in Niamey on October 27, 2023 (Photo credit: Oralité Plus).
Beginning in early 2023, Oralité Plus has carried out, with the support of its partner, the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), a series of activities aimed at documenting and raising awareness of the cultural heritage of Niger. One of these activities highlighted the patrimony of the Bororos, a subgroup of the Peul or Fulani people, an ethnic group dispersed across West Africa. The Bororos are a minority in Niger and are often stigmatized for their nomadic lifestyle; they live off herding and trade practices in dispersed community hamlets and camps. A derogatory term that some groups in Niger use to describe the Bororos means “the shepherds abandoned.” Bororos rarely marry or become attached to individuals from other ethnic groups due to outside suspicion, fear and distrust. Even the Bororo groups that sedentarized remain very close to the great Sahara and Sahel nomads, both in spirit and traditions.
Bororo woman (right) applies make-up to a woman from the Zarma ethnic group (Photo credit: Oralité Plus).
Bororo woman (left) braiding the hair of a young Zarma woman (Photo credit: Oralité Plus).
Oralité Plus is a non-profit organization that works on development and inclusion issues using cultural and artistic projects. Among the objectives of this community service organization is the promotion and safeguarding of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Niger. Given recent events in Niger, namely the July 2023 coup d’état, Oralité Plus organized an outreach event called, “Citizen debates around campfires,” a new concept in cultural heritage outreach toolbox, which meant to bring awareness to the patrimony of under-represented communities through uplifting discussions. At the event, Nigerien citizens gathered in a convivial space for free and spontaneous conversations to discuss aspects of their cultures and challenges, risks, and issues menacing their cultural heritage.
Bororo young woman showcasing elaborate Bororo hairdo (Photo credit: Oralité Plus).
Bororo woman in traditional Peul/Bororo costume and jewelry (Photo credit: Oralité Plus).
On October 27, Oralité Plus conducted one of those campfire circles in the 4th arrondissement of the capital Niamey, which focused on providing the Bororos an opportunity to discuss aspects of their heritage. Bororos are known for their physical beauty, elaborate attire, hairstyles, and make-up used by both men and women. Those who leave nomadism to live in cities usually offer their services as hairdressers and offer elaborate hairstyles and hair growth pomades. Bororos are also known for their traditional jewelry, whose imitations are sold on many Western reseller websites.
To preserve these rich traditions, Oralité Plus trained the Bororos and members of the local population on digital tools that document and preserve this multi-centennial African heritage. Costumes, headdresses, jewelry, and other body paraphernalia were carefully documented and logged into a searchable database using software provided by ASOR (KoboToolbox, QGIS, and photogrammetry).
Bororo men are known for their elaborate attire, hairstyles, and make-up used to woo women (Photo credit: Oralité Plus).
On the evening of the Bororos campfire circle, more than 105 inhabitants of Niamey congregated around a campfire to watch Bororo men and women do their hair and make-up and debate the country’s rich and varied cultural heritage. The Bororos also entertained the audience with a beautiful demonstration of the Wodaabe dance, a common practice among Peul/Fulani ethnic groups, where men paint their faces with make-up, dress up in their finest, and give a dance performance to woo ladies in marriage.
We found a very receptive and curious public attend the event, who were interested in discovering more about Bororos’ heritage and ways of living. An expert on the topic moderated this free, conducive dialogue with the Oralité Plus team, who encouraged the public to ask the Bororos questions about aspects of their traditions that they did not understand or were suspicious of. The goal of this open conversation was to highlight the valid role of each community’s cultural heritage in fostering peaceful living in Niger.
One participant said he did not know that the Bororos “sing and dance at the end of each bountiful harvest.” Another attendee learned that using make-up for Bororo men is “not witchcraft but is part of the game of seduction.”
Doulla Kandégomni, known as Pipo, moderated the event and presented the Bororos before Bororo men engaged in the traditional Wodaabe dance (Photo credit: Oralité Plus).
The event concluded with Oralité Plus team projecting on a screen the heritage documentation work they have been conducting with ASOR in Niger. The public was amazed to see the density, richness, and variety of Nigerien cultural heritage sites plotted on maps using QGIS.
This first awareness event on Nigerien cultural heritage was successful. Oralité Plus encouraged participants to register for free training sessions on heritage documentation techniques. In the weeks that followed, Oralité Plus trained eight attendees and six Bororos who joined ASOR’s project in Niger. Nigerien citizens were made aware of the value and importance of protecting their cultural heritage and how this rich patrimony has the power and capacity to foster peacebuilding and social cohesion. As one young man said in a televised interview recorded during this event and featured on VOA Afrique[1] : “I learned a lot from this evening about the different ethnic groups in my country. In this tense political context, we need even more social cohesion; these evenings will allow us to be more united.”
[1] https://www.facebook.com/VOAAfrique/videos/271179472058216/
Video from the Campfire Circle
