‘We are real slaves, real Ismkhan’: memories of the trans‐Saharan slave trade in the Tafilalet of South‐Eastern Morocco

Abstract

Each year in south‐eastern Morocco, descendents of enslaved Sudanic Africans, called Ismkhan, hold a festival in honour of their ancestors. The festival overflows with people who wish to be healed by their baraka, or ‘divine blessing’. In south‐eastern Morocco, memories of the trans‐Saharan slave trade are still vivid, and the descendents of people enslaved and carried across the Sahara continue to recognise their slave status by using the term Ismkhan, the plural form of the word ’ismkh’ or ‘slave’ in Tamazight, to refer to themselves. This article focuses on the dress, dance, music and healing practices of the Ismkhan and includes personal recollections of the slave trade to demonstrate how the Ismkhan have taken the pejorative term ‘slaves’ and attempted to turn it into a term of positive empowerment. The article concludes that the Ismkhan are a diaspora population that uses language and material culture to create a sense of solidarity and an identity that is the same yet different from those responsible for their enslavement.