The Sound of Home: Tuareg Women’s Tendé Drumming in France and Belgium

Abstract

This thesis combines anthropological and ethnomusicological theories and methods to analyze how tendé drumming evokes contested and contradictory notions of home and identity for Tuareg women. Using data obtained during fieldwork in France and Belgium, I investigate how the tendé's place-making capacities and its relationship to Tuareg women's normative social roles have been disrupted, leading to ongoing debates as to whether to replicate, adjust, or put aside tendé drumming in Europe in the face of these disruptions. In the context of radical change, it is possible to recognize the anxiety migrants face when they are forced to evaluate old ways of constructing Tuareg identity and decide if they are viable in a new place. I use the concept of imperfect translation to describe the fragmented way the practices and meanings embedded in the tendé drum are moved into a diaspora context.