62:, which divided up the lands used by the Zaër for grazing and converted it for agricultural purposes. Infrastructure development of roads, highways, and towns for European settlers disrupted grazing routes, preventing the Zaër from making their traditional living. The French also sold land rights of Zaër rangeland to the highest bidder, resulting in thousands of acre of fertile Zaër land being sold to European agriculturalists. While many descendants of the Zaër still exist today, the Zaër are not a recognized ethnic group or tribe by the Moroccan government and do not exist as they did in their previous history.
225:
bodies attempting to oversee the Zaër, they were still mostly left to their own devices, despite a few clashes between French forces and the tribesmen. A particularly nasty clash occurred after the murder of a French lieutenant by a band of Zaër tribesmen; as retaliation, the French sent back multiple troops to completely decimate the Zaër. These violent clashes were reminiscent of both the feelings of the Zaër towards their French occupiers, as well as the attitude of the French towards the local tribes in their acquired territory.
529:
483:
277:, which cut through massive sections of the Zaër rangeland and turned the once-remote region into a network of communication, road, and housing infrastructure for Europeans crossing the Moroccan countryside. This massive development effectively sliced up the traditional Zaër nomadism, and forced many Zaër to turn to different methods of economic self-sufficiency, including day labor to answer the demand for development.
35:, in the Red River region. However, pressure from larger tribes expelled the Zaër from their ancestral home into central Morocco. Following several decades of searching for a permanent home, one of the Zaër's more prominent leaders, Sidi Muhammad bin Ez-Za'ri, finally established the Zaër in the Korifle Gorge region adjacent to the Atlantic coastal plain, an area along in the highlands, the northern edge of the
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28:, traveling with the seasons to tend to the tribe's massive herds. The Zaër were divided between two tribal groups, the Kefiane in the west of the Zaër rangeland and the Mzar'a to the east. Despite the separation between the Zaër groups, their shared culture was nonetheless very isolated from other neighboring tribes due to their distinct linguistic, societal, and geographical differences.
86:, the Mzar'a, settled in the eastern part of the territory and is made of 6 tribes: Nejda, Uled Ali, Gsisset, Brashua, Uled Ktir, and Uled Khelifa. At their recorded peak, the Kefiane were thought to number at up to 19,200 tribesmen distributed between 3,820 tents, while the slightly larger Mzar'a were thought to have reached up to 21,300 tribesmen among 4,267 tents.
312:
Not much of traditional Zaër society remains today. Much of the social unity which kept the Zaër united today was physically destroyed by infrastructure development, and socially decimated by inheritance laws and land rights designations. The Zaër are not recognized as an ethnic group by the
Moroccan
238:
to work alongside tribal administrative organs. While they originally exerted very little influence over the tribal administration, they rapidly began to overtake tribal autonomy by imposing judicial authority over legal matters in the Zaër territory, imposing tax collections, spreading improved seed
102:
of up to a few hundred people, remaining temporarily stationary throughout the rainy seasons; during the dry seasons, the Zaër would constantly migrate in search of grazing lands for their herds. The Zaër, like many nomadic groups, were known for their distinctive black tents, which functioned as the
303:
The Zaër lost thousands of acres to agriculture, and became increasingly unable to provide basic necessities for their families using their traditional economic practices. Many Zaër ended up seeking employment at the massive
European farms, becoming agriculturalists, peasants, and sharecroppers, and
233:
In the early 1910s, as the French secured military control over the vast majority of the country, the new administration began to take on a more active role in enforcing their rule and, more importantly, their way of life onto the various tribes of
Morocco, including the Zaër. The French implemented
294:
were forced to abandon their collective ownership traditions in order to be eligible to legally purchase the land they had historically occupied for centuries. By the mid 1950s, the region had over 1,500 French and
European agriculturalists who had introduced modern farming techniques and brought
224:
During the initial years of the French occupation, the Zaër were administered by French-controlled qaids, qadis, stenographers, clerks, and mukhaznis, all of which comprised the main administration link between the Zaër and the government in Rabat. However, even despite the various administrative
123:
economic security of the family. Zaër women, on the other hand, were traditionally tasked with the general upkeep of the home unit, typically providing fuel and firewood, birthing and raising children, preserving the folklore and history of the Zaër, and maintaining the Zaër community as a whole.
122:
Zaër society was also organized along strict gender roles, with men taking on a traditional protectorate role with the expectations of protecting the women, preserving the honor of the family, joining war bands to raid other settlements and towns for goods and resources, and working to ensure the
261:
With the tribe's authoritative influence on the decline, the Zaër experienced an internal shift as many young Zaër traveled to cities, received a rudimentary education under a newly colonized administration, and returned as critiques of the rigid ways of life of the Zaër, further fragmenting the
173:
Despite outside threats by neighborhing tribes who desperately sought out the Zaër's rich grazing lands, the Zaër were the main occupants of their historical ranging lands in the east and west for centuries. As a result, the Zaër had a mutual understanding and relationship with the government of
299:
practices, including the use of tractors and combines, to the area. As a result, the local economy shifted farther and farther from the demand of meat, fur, and animal byproducts provided by the Zaër and other endemic tribes and closer to a cash crop economy centered around wheat and grain
70:
Historically, the Zaër were organized as a loosely-organized nomadic confederacy, composed of a number of bands of tribes spread out over a wide range of territory consisting of over 377,000 hectares of land in central
Morocco. The confederacy is composed of two primary tribal groups, or
135:
did not typically interact with each other, often swapping animosities with one another in brief feuds. However, both groups shared distinct cultural similarities that bound them to the Zaër name, distinctly their linguistic, geographical, organizational, and religious makeup.
161:, a language originating from central Mauritania, where the Zaër historically migrated from. Despite the Zaër language sharing a common Arabic lineage with the rest of Morocco, their dialect was distinct enough from the rest of Morocco's Arabic- and
178:, only 20 kilometers west of the westernmost group of Kefiane Zaër. In exchange for cooperation and general oversight from the Rabat government, the Zaër were relatively free to practice their customs in their traditional rangeland as they saw fit.
285:
However, the most devastating element of the French's occupation occurred in the 1920s, when the French administration began to lease the lands occupied by the Zaër to outsider bidders, which were almost always French agriculturalists, known as
239:
collection and agricultural innovations on traditional Zaër lands, and prompting greater French involvement in the Zaër lands by funneling state funds into investment in irrigation, agricultural development, and road infrastructure.
118:
the most influence among the Zaër groups. In addition to pastoralism, the Zaër were also known for their warlike tendencies, often engaging in frequent clashes with other tribes for influence and control over valuable grazing lands.
256:
which was made up of tribes' elders and who traditionally oversee the economic, social, and political affairs of the Zaër, rapidly began to lose authority as legal issues began to fall under the jurisdiction of the
247:
As the historical Zaër lands began to become fractured both physically and politically, the influence of local tribal authorities came under increasing strain. The tribal authoritative branch known as the
205:
was typically invoked to combat threats from neighboring tribes or confederacies, but was also utilized to combat the colonizing forces of the French in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
193:
typically did not mingle between each other and often remained in their own territories, they did still cooperate frequently in the face of great dangers to the Zaër. This alliance was known as the
82:
is settled in the western and southern part of the
Confederacy's territory and is made of 7 tribes: Beni Obeid, Slamna, Uled Zeid, Uled Daho, Hlalef, Ruashed, and Mkhalef. The second
265:
The roads were also equally devastating to the physical isolation that aided with the preservation of the Zaër culture. Massive highways were developed to connect cities such as
892:
114:
and between bands of groups within the Zaër's territory was determined by the size of the flock and the quality of the grazing land, with the largest flocks earning the
683:
290:
who were eager to purchase the valuable, fertile land. Land could only be claimed on an individual family basis, which meant that even individual tribes within the
213:
Before the French destruction of the Zaër community, the Zaër had a very loose relationship with their French occupiers. In
February and March 1910, the French and
110:
collective ownership was divided among all pastoralists within the tribe, with ownership of lands assumed between all group members. Power and influence among the
221:, engaged in comprehensive negotiations, in which the Sultan ceded control of the state to a French protectorate status which took complete effect in 1912.
885:
870:
661:
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165:-origin languages that there remained a distinct language barrier preserving the Zaër identity from the rest of Morocco's tribal groups.
878:
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were forced to abandon their pastoral traditions and community structure in a near-complete, bloodless destruction of Zaër culture.
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The Zaër have always been nomadic pastoralists, traditionally traveling seasonally in small communities, or
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The Zaër culture was almost completely demolished in the early twentieth century by the
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government, although there are likely thousands of descendants of the Zaër today.
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of the Zaër are one of the only tribes in
Morocco to speak a close version of the
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779:
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453:""Historical and typological approaches to Mauritanian and West Saharan Arabic""
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According to tribal lore, the Zaër originally formed in what is now modern-day
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would join forces to fight back against outside threats to the group. The
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Arabic
Historical Dialectology: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches
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wrote in the early sixteenth century that they settled in the region of
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471:– via Oxford Studies in Diachronic and Historical Linguistics.
75:: the Kefiane (English: Gefiane) and the Mzar'a (English: Meza'ra)
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home and hearth for the family units who lived within them.
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Despite sharing the Zaër cultural identity, the two
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51:, and later continued on to the north to the
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451:Taine-Cheikh, Catherine (October 18, 2018).
24:origins. For centuries, the Zaër practiced
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234:a system of local administration known as
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229:The French Administration Over the Zaër
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440:Zaër tribe. Arabian tribes of Morocco.
387:"Feuding and Social Change in Morocco"
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469:10.1093/oso/9780198701378.003.0010
391:The Journal of Conflict Resolution
174:Morocco due to their proximity to
20:are an Arab tribal confederacy of
14:
576:"Rural Administration in Morocco"
127:Cultural Ties Between Zaër Groups
902:
693:
528:Correspondent (March 12, 1910).
281:Fragmentation of Zaër Rangeland
90:Traditional Community Structure
60:French protectorate in Morocco
1:
613:Correspondent (1910-03-03).
530:"Mulai Hafid and the French"
482:Correspondent (1910-03-03).
1034:
574:Lewis, William H. (1960).
403:10.1177/002200276100500106
385:Lewis, William H. (1961).
858:
710:
615:"French Defeat Tribesmen"
908:Berber tribes of Morocco
26:semi-nomadic pastoralism
534:Times Newspaper Limited
488:Times Newspaper Limited
243:Decline of Zaër Culture
1018:Arab tribes in Morocco
157:dialect of modern-day
914:Tribal confederation
484:"France and Morocco"
580:Middle East Journal
346:North African Arabs
66:Tribal Organization
39:, and the southern
651:has generic name (
559:has generic name (
513:has generic name (
215:Mulai Abd al-Hafid
1005:
1004:
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297:intensive farming
259:contrôles civils.
252:English: Jama'ah)
219:Sultan of Morocco
197:in which the two
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308:The Zaër Today
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785:Beni Zemmour
765:Beni Khirane
630:. Retrieved
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586:(1): 45–60.
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397:(1): 43–54.
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78:The Kefiane
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862:Arab tribes
820:Oulad Delim
780:Banu Sulaym
775:Beni Moussa
770:Beni Mathar
755:Beni Ḥassān
730:Banu Ma'qil
720:Ahl Rachida
700:Arab tribes
649:|last=
557:|last=
536:. p. 5
511:|last=
490:. p. 5
830:Oulad Zyan
760:Banu Hilal
740:Beni Ahsen
735:Banu Tamim
632:2023-04-27
540:2023-04-27
494:2023-04-27
352:References
267:Casablanca
155:Ḥassāniyya
41:High Atlas
33:Mauritania
750:Beni Guil
745:Beni Amir
641:cite news
592:0026-3141
549:cite news
503:cite news
427:154346111
411:0022-0027
262:culture.
169:Geography
1012:Category
992:Tajakant
972:Gzennaya
967:Ghomaras
921:Aït Atta
860:Part of
795:Doukkala
627:97038380
623:ProQuest
329:Khenifra
317:See also
144:The two
140:Language
55:region.
49:Khenifra
997:Zayanes
987:Regraga
982:Kebdana
962:Chiadma
936:Masmuda
835:Rahamna
790:Chaouia
725:Azwafit
704:Morocco
600:4323200
341:Morocco
288:kolons,
250:jma'a (
163:Amazigh
151:bedouin
108:douars,
106:Within
977:Houara
945:Tribes
850:Zyayda
805:Khlout
800:Hyayna
625:
598:
590:
425:
419:173018
417:
409:
337:(city)
331:(city)
275:Meknes
273:, and
159:Arabic
116:douars
112:douars
100:douars
96:douars
37:Sahara
840:Sless
596:JSTOR
423:S2CID
415:JSTOR
335:Rabat
325:tribe
323:Maqil
292:liffs
271:Rabat
199:liffs
195:Tata,
191:liffs
176:Rabat
146:liffs
133:liffs
73:liffs
53:Rabat
22:Maqil
931:Haha
845:Zaër
810:Mzab
715:Abda
653:help
588:ISSN
561:help
515:help
407:ISSN
203:Tata
184:Tata
182:The
84:liff
80:liff
18:Zaër
16:The
702:in
465:doi
399:doi
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643:}}
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