In 2009, the Jutta Vogel Foundation contributed to the preservation and communication of the Tuareg culture, which is threatened with extinction, by purchasing a large number of objects from everyday culture. These will be exhibited in the new Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum – Cultures of the World in Cologne from September 2009. In addition to an impressive Koran table, these include items of clothing, home textiles, tea sets and jewelry, which are less and less in daily use by Tuareg families. Tourism has now become an important source of income. Jewelry made according to traditional models is part of the handicrafts that are becoming increasingly important for the growing tourism industry. The new design concept of the RJM, as a “House of World Cultures”, no longer presents the collections geographically and chronologically, but according to people’s ways of life. Visitors thus encounter the nomadic Tuareg in the setting of the “Human Dwelling”. The dwelling of the Tuareg is the tent. Two to seven tents provide space for the close-knit extended families. During the rainy season, however, “villages” with up to twenty tents can also form due to the better grazing conditions. This life still takes place under the most barren conditions imaginable, forcing people to walk long distances to find enough food for their cattle. However, the Tuareg have masterfully adapted to these conditions by not living solely from their herds; in fact, they have dominated the trans-Saharan trade between West Africa and the Mediterranean for centuries with their caravans of camels, some of which have now been replaced by trucks. All these facets of Tuareg life are reflected in the original Tuareg tent in the future Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World: everyday items are on display as well as the necessary utensils for cooking, eating and sleeping, but also the objects used for special occasions, from social gatherings to rituals in dealing with death. For the Tuareg, jewelry, which has long been highly valued in our country too, not only has aesthetic value, but is also a “transportable capital investment”. Last but not least, jewelry also has the power to protect against supernatural powers and dangers. The seventy or so objects acquired for the RJM with the support of the Jutta Vogel Foundation will be a powerful testimony to all this.
Cologne: Rescuing the Tuareg culture – Presence in the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Kulturen der Welt
2009
