Haratin
The Haratin, also spelled Haratine or Harratin, are an ethnic group found in western Sahel and southwestern Maghreb. The Haratin are mostly found in modern Mauritania, Morocco, Western Sahara, Senegal, and Algeria. In Tunisia and Libya, they are referred to as Shwashin.
The Haratin speak Maghrebi Arabic dialects and Berber languages. They are believed to largely descend from native ancient black populations that inhabited the Sahara.
They form the single largest defined ethnolinguistic group in Mauritania where they account for 40% of the population. In parts of Arab-Berber Maghreb, they are sometimes referred to as a "socially distinct class of workers".
The Haratin have been, and still commonly are socially isolated in some Maghrebi countries, living in segregated, Haratin-only ghettos. They are commonly perceived as an endogamous group of former slaves or descendants of slaves. They converted to Islam under the Arabs and Berbers and were forcibly recruited into the Moroccan army by Ismail Ibn Sharif to consolidate power.
Traditionally, many Haratin have held occupations in agriculture – as serfs, herdsmen, and indentured workers.
Etymology
The origin and meaning of the name Haratin is controversial. Some claim that it comes from the Berber word ahardan referring to skin color, more specifically "dark color". This word is absent from the Arabic language and has been used by the Sanhaja tribe and Zenata tribe before the arrival of the Beni Ḥassān. Others claim it comes from the Arabic phrase al-Hurr al-Thani literally "the second free man" but having the meaning of "second class free person". Neither of these claims have much proof. Alternatively, it has been suggested the name may come from the Arabic verb haratha meaning "to cultivate" which may have seemed plausible since the Haratin were known to be cultivators in the south of Morocco.History
The Haratin form an ethnic group distinct from Arab and Tuareg populations, as well as from the contemporary ethnic groups of sub-Saharan Africa. In Mauritania, however, where there are nearly 1.5 million Haratin, they have developed a separate sense of ethnic identity.Origins
Despite it being commonly believed that the Haratin are entirely descended from Sub-Saharan slaves, they in part descend from groups native to southern Morocco and the northern Sahara. French academic André Adam attributed their origin mostly to inhabitants of the Sahara:According to Nina Epton, who did field work in the Draa, there was a Haratin tradition that they descend from Ham, the son of Noah:
During the Roman occupation of Mauretania, the Godala Berber tribe fled to the south towards the Draa oasis and enslaved the local Haratin population.
Legal Status
They have historically inherited their slave status and family occupation, have been endogamous, and socially segregated. Some communities differentiated two types of slaves, one calledBlack Guard
They became a common target of mandatory conscription by the Moroccan ruler Sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif as he sought to build a military that had no social or cultural attachment to any other Arab or Berber group in Maghreb. He conscripted the majority of able-bodied male Haratin and 'Abid that were present in Morocco at the time. This army was then commonly coerced into a series of wars in order to consolidate Ibn Sharif's power.Culture
The Haratin speak Maghrebi Arabic dialects and Berber languages.Music
In Mauritania, a lot of the music of the Haratin is dedicated to religion. For example, there is the Madih which are evening songs of men and women gathered around the tidinet lute, a kettledrum and a cyclical drum which are songs of praise for the Islamic prophet Muhammad. There is also dhikr which are devotional recitations accompanied instrumentally. The Bonjé music genre consists of dance songs, praise songs and songs to welcome people. A famous opening piece of both the Madih and Bonjé is Bismillahi Bismirasul.Haratin communities
The Haratin people are spread west of the Sahara Desert, mostly in Mauritania, Morocco, and Western Sahara. However, a small number are also spread across several countries, such as Senegal and Algeria.Mauritania
In Mauritania, the Haratin form one of the largest ethnic groups and account for as much as 40% of the Mauritanians. They are sometimes referred to as "Black Moors", in contrast to Beidane, or "White Moors". The Haratin of Mauritania also primarily spoke Hassaniya Arabic.The Haratin of Mauritania, according to anthropologist Joseph Hellweg, who specializes in West African studies, were historically part of a social caste-like hierarchy that likely developed from a Bedouin legacy between the 14th and 16th century. The "Hassan" monopolized the occupations related to war and politics, the "Zwaya" the religious roles, the "Bidan" owned property and held slaves. Each of these were immovable castes, endogamous, with hereditary occupations and where the upper strata collected tribute from the lower strata of Mauritanian society, considered them socially inferior, and denied them the right to own land or weapons thereby creating a socio-economically closed system.
In 1981, Mauritania officially abolished slavery. However, even after the formalities, abolishment, and new laws, discrimination against Haratin is still widespread, and many continue to be, for all practical purposes, enslaved, while large numbers live in other forms of informal dependence on their former masters. Although slavery was abolished by Presidential decree in 1981, it was not criminalized for the first time in 2007 and again in 2015, abolition in Mauritania is rarely enforced.
Amnesty International reported that in 1994, 90,000 Haratine still lived as "property" of their master, with the report indicating that "slavery in Mauritania is most dominant within the traditional upper class of the Moors." According to Mauritanian officials, any master-serf relationship is mutually consensual. This position has been questioned by the United Nations and human rights advocacy groups.
The Amnesty International report states that "social attitudes have changed among most urban Moors, but in rural areas, the ancient divide is still very alive." There have been many attempts to assess the real extension of slavery in modern Mauritania, but these have mostly been frustrated by the Nouakchott government's official stance that the practice has been eliminated. Amnesty further estimated that some 300,000 freed slaves continued to be in service of their former masters.
On 27 April 2007, Messaoud Ould Boulkheir was elected Speaker of the National Assembly, becoming the first black Haratin to hold the position.
Morocco
Haratin in Morocco are mostly concentrated in the southern part of the Drâa-Tafilalet region, specifically towns such as Zagora where they make up a significant portion of the populace. According to French explorer Charles de Foucauld, the Haratin may have formed a majority in southern Morocco with Haratin being nine-tenths of the population in some areas.Haratin have been the slave strata of the Moroccan society through its recorded history. They were owned in every town and farming center before the time of Moroccan ruler Ismail Ibn Sharif. They provided domestic labor, farm labor, physical labor inside towns and markets, as well as were conscripted to fight wars.
According to historian Remco Ensel – a professor of anthropology specializing in Maghreb studies, the word "Haratin" in Morocco is a pejorative that connotes "subordination, disrepute" and in contemporary literature; it is often replaced with "Drawi", "Drawa", "Sahrawi", "Sahrawa", or other regional terms. In southern Morocco, Haratin prefer Drawa contesting servile descent and taking offense to the name Haratin. Because of this, Sudanese scholar Mohamed Hassan Mohamed argues Haratin is an imposed identity. According to Chouki El Hamel, a professor of history specializing in African Studies, the Moroccan Haratin may not be descendants of slaves of sub-Saharan origin but descend from native black populations who inhabited the south of Morocco. El Hamel claims that black Moroccans absorbed the "Arabo-centric values in the dominant interpretation of Islam" over the generations and they see themselves as Muslim Moroccans, rather than by their ethnic or native group.
The Haratin strata, as slave workers, were a major institution of Moroccan society through the 19th century. Yet, there has been a general lack of historical records about their origins and ethnography, leading to several constructed proposals, and their mention in older Moroccan literature is generally limited to their status as slaves and more focused on the rights on their owners. It is their contemporary economic and social marginalization that has awakened renewed interest in their history and their oral histories.File:Haratin women of Telouet, Southern Morocco, in an ahouach performance.jpg|thumb|Haratin women from Telouet performing AhwashThe Haratins remain indispensable workers in modern oases societies, states Ensel, and continue to be mistreated in contrast to the upper strata called the "Shurfa". According to Remco Ensel, Haratin, along with Swasin in Morocco and other northern fringe societies of the Sahara, were a part of a social hierarchy that included the upper strata of nobles, religious specialists, and literati, followed by freemen, nomadic pastoral strata, and slaves. The Haratin were hierarchically higher than the 'Abid at the very bottom, but lower than Ahrar. This hierarchy, states Ensel, has been variously described as ethnic groups, estates, quasi-castes, castes, or classes.
The Haratins historically lived segregated from the main society, in a rural isolation. Their subjugation was sometimes ideologically justified by nobles and some religious scholars, even though others disagreed. The social stratification of Haratin and their inter-relationships with others members of the society varied by valley and oasis, but whether the Haratins were technically 'unfreed, semi-freed, or freed' slaves, they were considered as "inferior" by other strata of the society. The Haratin remain a marginalized population of Morocco, just like other similar groups around the world.