Haratin

{{short description|Ethnic group in Africa}} {{For|the wool-based stuffing|harateen}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox ethnic group | image = COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van een Haratin vrouw TMnr 10028643.jpg | image_caption = Haratin girl from Tafilalt, Morocco | group = Haratin / Haratine | native_name = حراطين | native_name_lang = ar | pop = '''> 1.5 million''' | popplace = (40%) {{flag|Mauritania}}; An ethnic group in ({{flag|Tunisia}}, {{flag|Algeria}}, {{flag|Morocco}}, {{flag|Senegal}}, {{flag|Libya}}, {{flag|Western Sahara}}) | rels = Sunni Islam | langs = Maghrebi Arabic Berber languages | related_groups = Gnawa, other Afro-Arabs, Beidane, Sahrawis, other Maghrebi Arabs, other Arab, Berber, Arab-Berber, and Arabized Berber peoples, Tuareg, other Maghrebis }} The '''Haratin''' ({{Langx|ar|حراطين|Ḥarāṭīn}}, singular ''Ḥarṭānī''), also spelled '''Haratine''' or '''Harratin''', are an ethnic group found in western Sahel and southwestern Maghreb.<ref>{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|p=|pp=110-113}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://iremam.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article104|title=L'Encyclopédie berbère|last=Sabine|first=Partouche|date=|website=Institut de recherches et d'études sur les mondes arabes et musulmans Iremam - UMR 7310|access-date=2018-02-25|archive-date=25 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225210117/http://iremam.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article104|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/remmm_0035-1474_1972_num_11_1_1148|title=L'Notes sur l'histoire des populations du sud marocain|last=Jacques-Meunie|first=Denise|journal=Revue de l'Occident Musulman et de la Méditerranée|year=1972|volume=11|pages=137–150|doi=10.3406/remmm.1972.1148|access-date=2018-02-25}}</ref> The Haratin are mostly found in modern Mauritania (where they form a plurality), Morocco, Western Sahara, Senegal, and Algeria.

The Haratin speak Maghrebi Arabic dialects and Berber languages.<ref name="Shoup2011" /> They are believed to largely descend from native ancient black populations that inhabited the Sahara.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Keita |first1=S. O. Y. |date=1993 |title=Studies and Comments on Ancient Egyptian Biological Relationships |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171969 |journal=History in Africa |volume=20 |pages=140 |doi=10.2307/3171969 |issn=0361-5413 |jstor=3171969 |s2cid=162330365 |url-access=subscription |quote=Paoli (1972) found dynastic mummies to have ABO frequencies most like those of the northern Haratin, a group believed to be largely descended from the ancient Saharans.}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Batran |first=Aziz Abdallah |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVGRAgAAQBAJ&dq=haratin%20black%20populations%20sahara&pg=PA4 |title=Slaves and Slavery in Africa: Volume Two: The Servile Estate |date=1985 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-78016-6 |editor-last=Willis |editor-first=John Ralph |language=en |chapter=The ‘Ulama’ of Fas, Mulay Isma‘il and the Issue of the Haratin of Fas |quote=Although the origin of the Haratin is shrouded in mystery, it is generally believed that they were indigenous to the north Saharan oases, hybrids between an ancient black population and Berbers, and most of them had dark skin and negroid features. The Haratin did not constitute a tribe, rather they were groups of families scattered amongst North African and Saharan Arab and Berber tribes. Though the Haratin were free men, they were generally considered to be of inferior social status, between slaves and free men (hur thani). Most of the Haratin were farmworkers and not landowners, receiving a fifth (Khammas) of the harvest from Arab and Berber landlords, for their work. In general, the Haratin were a class of people "who were in many ways like slaves: i.e. non-tribal, economically vulnerable, socially debased and pheno-typically distinct."}}</ref><ref>"With the spectacular evolution of genetic analysis methods in recent years (particularly with regard to DNA), it is now possible to evaluate in an increasingly precise way the specific and original characteristics of these populations, which for too long have been considered as a by-product of slavery when they are one of the oldest components of the Saharan population."{{cite journal |last1=Gast |first1=M |title=Harṭâni |journal=Encyclopédie berbère |date=2000 |volume=22 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/1704#quotation}}</ref>

They form the single largest defined ethnolinguistic group in Mauritania where they account for 40% of the population (~1.5 million).<ref name=":8">{{Citation |title=Mauritania |date=2025-06-04 |work=The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/mauritania/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250531145433/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/mauritania/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 May 2025 |access-date=2025-06-10 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref> In parts of Arab-Berber Maghreb, they are sometimes referred to as a "socially distinct class of workers".<ref name="Shoup2011" /><ref name="britharatin">{{Cite web |title=Haratin {{!}} Berber Descendants, North Africa & Slavery {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Haratin |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

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.<ref name="AppiahGates2010p549"> {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=Haratine |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Africa |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0XNvklcqbwC&pg=PA549 |last=Heath |first=Elizabeth |editor-last=Anthony Appiah |editor-first=Kwame |editor-link=Kwame Anthony Appiah |volume=1 |pages=549 |isbn=978-0-19-533770-9 |quote=Haratine. Social caste in several northwestern African countries consisting of blacks, many of whom are former slaves (...) |editor-last2=Gates Jr. |editor-first2=Henry Louis |editor-link2=Henry Louis Gates Jr.}} </ref><ref name=meyers427/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=McDougall |first1=E. Ann |title=Hidden in Plain Sight: "Haratine" in Nouakchott's "Niche-Settlements" |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |date=2015 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=251–279 |jstor=44723360 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44723360 |issn=0361-7882}}</ref> They converted to Islam under the Arabs and Berbers<ref name="AppiahGates2010p549"/> and were forcibly recruited into the Moroccan army by Ismail Ibn Sharif (Sultan of Morocco from 1672–1727) to consolidate power.<ref name="meyers427">{{cite journal |last=Meyers |first=Allan R. |year=1977 |title=Class, Ethnicity, and Slavery: The Origins of the Moroccan 'Abid |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/216736 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |publisher=Boston University African Studies Center |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=427–442 |doi=10.2307/216736 |jstor=216736|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Traditionally, many Haratin have held occupations in agriculture – as serfs, herdsmen, and indentured workers.<ref name="AppiahGates2010p549"/>

== Name and etymology == The origin and meaning of the name Haratin (singular Hartani) is controversial.<ref name="Shoup2011">{{cite book |author=John A. Shoup |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uLD2EAAAQBAJ&dq=Haratin%20dialects&pg=PT160 |title=Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia |date=31 October 2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-362-0 |pages=114–116}}</ref> Some claim that it comes from the Berber word ''ahardan'' (pl. ''ihardin'') referring to skin color, more specifically "dark color".<ref name="Gast2000">{{cite journal |last1=Gast |first1=M. |year=2000 |title=Harṭâni |url=https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fjournals.openedition.org%2Fencyclopedieberbere%2F1704%3Flang%3Dfr |journal=Encyclopédie berbère - Hadrumetum – Hidjaba |volume=22}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last=Hamel |first=Chouki El |year=2002 |title=Race, slavery and Islam in Maghribi Mediterranean thought: the question of the Haratin in Morocco |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13629380208718472 |journal=The Journal of North African Studies |publisher=Routledge |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=38-39 |doi=10.1080/13629380208718472 |s2cid=219625829|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":3">{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|p=|pp=110-111}}</ref> 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".<ref name=":0" /> Neither of these claims have much proof.<ref name="Shoup2011" /> 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.<ref name=":3" />

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.<ref name=":5">{{harvnb|Ensel|1999|p=|pp=2–4}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|p=|pp=4-6}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Mohamed|2012|p=192|pp=}}</ref> They also use the terms Ayt Drā ({{Literal translation|people of the Drā}}) or Ayt Tmourt ({{Literal translation|people of the land}}).<ref name=":9">{{harvnb|Gentilleau|2016|p=|pp=77–78}}</ref> Ayt is a Berber term meaning "people of" or "children of".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chaker|first=S.|author-link=Salem Chaker|date=1986-07-01|title=Aït (enfant de)|url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/2381|journal=Encyclopédie berbère|language=fr|issue=3|pages=383–384|doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.2381|issn=1015-7344}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-01-19|title=Berber {{!}} Definition, People, Languages, & Facts {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Berber|access-date=2025-03-12|website=www.britannica.com|language=en|quote=The dwelling was home to the nuclear, usually patrilineal family, which was the basic unit of a tribal group going under the name of a common ancestor, whose Ait, or people, they claimed to be.}}</ref> The usage of this term indicates that there was acculturation into Berber culture. The Haratin claim that these names are an assertion of their ancient presence in southern Morocco.<ref name=":9" />

== History == {{see also|Trans-Saharan slave trade}} The Haratin form an ethnic group distinct from Arab and Tuareg populations, as well as from the contemporary ethnic groups of sub-Saharan Africa.<ref name="Gast2000" /><ref name="Froment">{{cite book |last=Froment |first=Alain |title=Les temps du Sahel : En hommage à Edmond Bernus |year=1999 |editor-last=Doe |editor-first=John |pages=186 |language=fr |chapter=Les Bella d'Ours : une anthropobiologie de populations dites captives}}</ref><ref name="Colin">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Colin |first=Georges Séraphin |editor=B. Lewis |editor2=V.L. Ménage |editor3=Ch. Pellat |editor4=J. Schacht |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |title=Ḥarāṭīn |url=https://library.ut.ac.ir/documents/381543/3581025/Brill_-_The_Encyclopaedia_of_Islam_Vol_3_H-Iram_.pdf |year=1971 |publisher=E. J. Brill |volume=3 |access-date=14 April 2020 |archive-date=4 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604181103/https://library.ut.ac.ir/documents/381543/3581025/Brill_-_The_Encyclopaedia_of_Islam_Vol_3_H-Iram_.pdf |url-status=dead }}.</ref> In Mauritania, however, where there are nearly 1.5 million Haratin, they have developed a separate sense of ethnic identity.<ref name="Shoup2011" />

=== 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<ref name=":4">{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|p=|pp=109-110}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=El Hamel |first=Chouki |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9PhJYtVQCWEC&dq=Haratin&pg=PA181 |title=Diasporic Africa: A Reader |date=2006 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-3166-6 |editor-last=Gomez |editor-first=Michael A. |editor-link=Michael A. Gomez |pages=181 |language=en |chapter=Blacks and Slavery in Morocco: The Question of the Haratin at the End of the Seventeenth Century |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814733226.003.0012 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.18574/nyu/9780814733226.003.0012/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOoo47CDdXNiM_aTgmzEN5G4D9UOuN1bWODINIQhstMAprFJ9PaN_}}</ref> and the northern Sahara.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Keita |first1=S. O. Y. |date=1993 |title=Studies and Comments on Ancient Egyptian Biological Relationships |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171969 |journal=History in Africa |volume=20 |pages=140 |doi=10.2307/3171969 |issn=0361-5413 |jstor=3171969 |s2cid=162330365 |url-access=subscription |quote=Paoli (1972) found dynastic mummies to have ABO frequencies most like those of the northern Haratin, a group believed to be largely descended from the ancient Saharans.}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Batran |first=Aziz Abdallah |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVGRAgAAQBAJ&dq=haratin%20black%20populations%20sahara&pg=PA4 |title=Slaves and Slavery in Africa: Volume Two: The Servile Estate |date=1985 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-78016-6 |editor-last=Willis |editor-first=John Ralph |language=en |chapter=The ‘Ulama’ of Fas, Mulay Isma‘il and the Issue of the Haratin of Fas |quote=Although the origin of the Haratin is shrouded in mystery, it is generally believed that they were indigenous to the north Saharan oases, hybrids between an ancient black population and Berbers, and most of them had dark skin and negroid features. The Haratin did not constitute a tribe, rather they were groups of families scattered amongst North African and Saharan Arab and Berber tribes. Though the Haratin were free men, they were generally considered to be of inferior social status, between slaves and free men (hur thani). Most of the Haratin were farmworkers and not landowners, receiving a fifth (Khammas) of the harvest from Arab and Berber landlords, for their work. In general, the Haratin were a class of people "who were in many ways like slaves: i.e. non-tribal, economically vulnerable, socially debased and pheno-typically distinct."}}</ref> French academic André Adam attributed their origin mostly to inhabitants of the Sahara:

{{Quote|text=Little is known about the origin of these people [Haratin]. Some of them are the descendants of slaves captured by nomads south of the Sahara …It is likely however; that most of them are the descendants of black populations which once lived in the Sahara … We do not know when or how they adopted the Berber language. Indeed, some of them came under Arab influence.<ref>{{harvnb|Mohamed|2012|p=189|pp=}}</ref>|title=“Berber Migrants in Casablanca,” in Arabs and Berbers: From Tribe to Nation in North Africa}}

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:

{{Quote|text=The Harratin relate that they are the descendents of Noah’s second son, Ham, and that once upon a time they used to be white. One day, however, Ham protected his head during a heavy rain-storm by carrying the Koran on top of it. The rain was so heavy that it washed all the characters of the holy book on to Ham’s skin; these characters, being sacred, were indelible, and so they turned Ham and his offspring black forever!<ref>{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|p=86|pp=}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Ensel|1999|p=34|pp=}}</ref>|title=Saints and Sorcerers, a Moroccan journey}}

During the Roman occupation of Mauretania, the Godala Berber tribe fled to the south towards the Draa oasis and enslaved the local Haratin population.<ref name="Ennaji1999">{{cite book |last=Ennaji |first=Mohammed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ii5wGwAACAAJ |title=Serving the Master: Slavery and Society in Nineteenth-century Morocco |publisher=Macmillan |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-333-75477-1 |page=62}}</ref>

=== Legal status === They have historically inherited their slave status and family occupation, have been endogamous, and socially segregated.<ref name="AppiahGates2010p549" /><ref name="meyers427" /> Some communities differentiated two types of slaves, one called ''<nowiki/>'Abid'' or "slave" and ''Haratin'' or "freed slave". However, per anthropologist John Shoup, both 'Abid and Haratin were not free to own land or had equivalent property rights.<ref name="Shoup2011" /> Regardless of whether they were technically free or not, they were treated as socially inferior in the communities they lived in. Being denied the right and the ability to own any land, they historically survived by accepting a patron-client serf relationship either as domestic servant or as share-cropping labor (''khammasin'').<ref name="KleinMiers2013p58">{{cite book |author1=Martin A. Klein |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d3EnNSaMKBoC |title=Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa |author2=Suzanne Miers |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-0714648842 |pages=58–59, 79–86}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|p=92|pp=}}</ref>

=== Black Guard === {{Main article|Black Guard}} [[File:Arrivée de la garde noire du sultan du Maroc Moulay Youssef, chevaux sortant des wagons à Paris, 9-7-1926.jpg|thumb|Black Guard of Yusef of Morocco]] They became a common target of mandatory conscription by the Moroccan ruler Sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif (himself having a Haratin mother) 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.<ref name=meyers427/><ref name="KleinMiers2013p58"/><ref name="Willis2005p2">{{cite book |author=John Ralph Willis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVGRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Slaves and Slavery in Africa: Volume Two: The Servile Estate |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-135-78016-6 |pages=2–9}}</ref>

== Culture == thumb|''Tassfift'', a headband worn by Haratin women The Haratin speak Maghrebi Arabic dialects and Berber languages.<ref name="Shoup2011" />

=== 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'' (ambience) 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'' (In the name of God, in the name of the Prophet).<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Mauritania: History, Culture, and Geography of Music |encyclopedia=The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture |publisher=SAGE Publications |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_SAGE_International_Encyclopedia_of_M/9TuKDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=culture%20haratin&pg=PA1398&printsec=frontcover |last=Brandes |first=Edda |date=2019-02-26 |editor-last=Sturman |editor-first=Janet |pages=1398-1399 |isbn=978-1-4833-1774-8}}</ref>

=== Architecture === The scholar Jeanne Marie Gentilleau identifies the "Haratin house" in the Draa valley as a house-granary designed for family living, protecting harvests and sheltering of animals.<ref>{{harvnb|Gentilleau|2016|p=174|pp=}}</ref> Gentilleau describes this house in the ''qsar'' as having a singular and central opening at the front which is the entrance to the hallway. The house has three levels to it and each are dedicated to one or more functions. The house is adapted to the pre-Saharan climate as well as the activity of its inhabitants who are oasis farmers.<ref>{{harvnb|Gentilleau|2016|p=|pp=240–241}}</ref>

== 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=== {{see also|Slavery in Mauritania}} In Mauritania, the Haratin form one of the largest ethnic groups and account for as much as 40% of the Mauritanians.<ref name=":8" /> They are sometimes referred to as "Black Moors",<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/03/world/mauritania.slaverys.last.stronghold/index.html |publisher=CNN |title=Slavery's last stand - CNN.com}}</ref> in contrast to Beidane, or "White Moors". The Haratin of Mauritania also primarily spoke Hassaniya Arabic.<ref name="AppiahGates2010p549" />

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" (Zawaya) the religious roles, the "Bidan" (White Moors) owned property and held slaves (Haratins, Black Moors).<ref>{{cite book |author=Joseph R Hellweg |editor=Mark Juergensmeyer |editor2=Wade Clark Roof |title=Encyclopedia of Global Religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwJzAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA761 |year=2011 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-1-4522-6656-5 |page=761}}</ref> Each of these were immovable castes, endogamous, with hereditary occupations and where the upper strata collected tribute (''horma'') 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.<ref>Anthony G. Pazzanita (1999), Middle East Journal, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4329283 Political Transition in Mauritania: Problems and Prospects], Volume 53, Number 1 (Winter, 1999), pages 44-58</ref><ref>Katherine Ann Wiley (2016), Making People Bigger: Wedding Exchange and the Creation of Social Value in Rural Mauritania, Africa Today, Johns Hopkins University Press, Volume 62, Number 3, pages 48-69</ref><ref>Melinda Smale (1980), [https://web.archive.org/web/20161120213040/http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNAAJ464.pdf Women in Mauritania], USAID: Mauritania, Office of Women in Development, Agency for International Development, OICD Washington DC, page viii-ix, xviii-xix, 12-17, 35-36, 43; Quote: "Caste is the most specific of these crucial concepts. When applied to West African societies, it is used in the very general meaning of the division of societies into hierarchically rank-endogamous-occupational groups; the relation between these groups having ritual as well as economic significance. (...) To understand Mauritanian society, one must understand its ethnic groups, its tribes, socio-economic classes and its castes. The Hassaniya speakers who predominate over the majority of the country except along the river are divisible into two crucial subgroups - the Bidan or white Moors and the Haratin or black Moors. The Bidan are traditionally further divided into Z'waya (religious or "marabout" groups), Hassan (warrior groups), Zenaga (free tributary groups), Mu'allamin (craftsmen) and Ighyuwn (entertainers) (...)</ref>

In 1981, Mauritania officially abolished slavery.<ref name="AppiahGates2010p549" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Santacroce |first=Léia |date=2021-04-12 |title=Fin de l'esclavage en Mauritanie ? Le cas présumé d'une femme offerte comme dot relance le débat |url=https://www.geo.fr/voyage/la-fin-de-lesclavage-en-mauritanie-le-cas-presume-dune-femme-offerte-comme-dot-relance-le-debat-204392 |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=Geo.fr |language=fr}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Appiah, Kwame Anthony and Henry Louis Gates Jr. 2010 549">{{cite book |author1=Appiah, Kwame Anthony |title=Encyclopedia of Africa: Two-Volume Set |author2=Henry Louis Gates Jr. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780195337709 |pages=549}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=J. King |first=Stephen |date=2021-08-26 |title=Ending Hereditary Slavery in Mauritania: Bidan (Whites) and Black "Slaves" in 2021 |url=https://www.arab-reform.net/publication/ending-hereditary-slavery-in-mauritania-bidan-whites-and-black-slaves-in-2021/ |journal=Arab Reform Initiative |language=en}}</ref>

thumb|In Mauritania, the use of Haratin girls as servants has attracted the attention of activists. 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."<ref name="Afrol News">[http://www.afrol.com/articles/17518 Afrol News]</ref> 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.<ref name="AppiahGates2010p549" />

The Amnesty International report states that "[s]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.<ref name="Afrol News"/>

On 27 April 2007, Messaoud Ould Boulkheir was elected Speaker of the National Assembly, becoming the first black Haratin to hold the position.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-11-01 |title=Former Mauritanian Opposition Leader Takes Charge of National Assembly |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2007-04-27-voa39/351873.html |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}</ref>

===Morocco=== {{see also|Slavery in Morocco}} [[File:MoroccanHaratin.jpg|thumb|Haratin boy from the Draa valley]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2016/02/01/zagora-maroc-segregation-_n_9132500.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202095955/http://www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2016/02/01/zagora-maroc-segregation-_n_9132500.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2 February 2016 |title=À Zagora, les fantômes de la ségrégation |website=huffpostmaghreb}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":4" />

Haratin have been the slave strata of the Moroccan society through its recorded history.<ref name=meyers427/> 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.<ref name="KleinMiers2013p58"/><ref name="Willis2005p2"/>

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.<ref name=":4" /> 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.<ref name=":6" /> The Haratin strata, as slave workers, were a major institution of Moroccan society through the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |author=Mohammed Ennaji |title=Serving the Master: Slavery and Society in 19th Century Morocco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ABfjsYid1JQC |year=1999 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-21152-3 |pages=1–7}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{harvnb|Mohamed|2012|p=|pp=189-195}}</ref> It is their contemporary economic and social marginalization that has awakened renewed interest in their history and their oral histories.<ref name=":6" />[[File:Haratin women of Telouet, Southern Morocco, in an ahouach performance.jpg|thumb|Haratin women from Telouet performing Ahwash]]The Haratins remain indispensable workers in modern oases societies, states Ensel, and continue to be mistreated in contrast to the upper strata called the "Shurfa".<ref name=":5" /> 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'' (descendant of slaves) 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.<ref name=":7">{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|p=|pp=92, 112–113}}</ref> The Haratins historically lived segregated from the main society, in a rural isolation.<ref name=":7" /> Their subjugation was sometimes ideologically justified by nobles and some religious scholars, even though others disagreed.<ref>{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|p=|pp=112–113, 172–173}}. "This new meaning was an ideological construct to justify the subjugation of the free/freed blacks [Haratin] and was buttressed by documents that sought to advance the Makhzan's agenda by demonstrating that the Haratin were of slave origin, therefore creating a racialized caste."</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|p=|pp=45–46, 57–59, 244–246}}</ref> The Haratin remain a marginalized population of Morocco, just like other similar groups around the world.<ref>{{harvnb|Ensel|1999|p=|pp=6–7}}</ref>

===Western Sahara=== According to Human Rights Watch, Morocco alleges that slavery is widespread in the Sahrawi refugee camps run by the Polisario Front in southwestern Algeria; Polisario denies this and claims to have eradicated slavery through awareness campaigns. A 2009 investigative report by Human Rights Watch interviewed some dark-skinned Sahrawi people, who are a small minority in the camps; they stated that some "blacks" are "owned" by "whites", but this ownership is manifested only in "granting" marriage rights to girls. In other words, a dark-skinned girl must have an approval from her "master". Without this, the marriage cannot be performed by a qadi.<ref name=HRW/>

The report notes that Polisario claims to oppose any such discrimination, but raises questions about possible official collusion in, or indifference to, the practice. In addition, a case of an official document that grants freedom to a group of enslaved families has been found by HRW. The document in question dates as recently as 2007. The document was signed by a local judge or an official civil servant. Slavery is still engraved in memories due to historical and traditional reasons, and such cases are not as shocking as one might think to the society of the Sahrawi refugee camps. The Human Rights Watch concludes its chapter on slavery as follows, "In sum, credible sources testified to Human Rights Watch about vestiges of slavery that continue to affect the lives of a portion of the black minority in the Tindouf camps. The practices involve historical ties between families that involve certain rights and obligations that are not always clear. Being a slave does not necessarily preclude enjoying freedom of movement."<ref name=HRW/>

Responding to questions about slavery, the Polisario has acknowledged the survival "to a limited extent, of certain practices related to antiquated thinking" and said it was "determined to combat and eradicate them whenever they emerge and no matter what shape they take." "We welcome this statement and urge the Polisario to be vigilant in pursuing this objective," said HRW.<ref name=HRW>{{cite journal|title=Human Rights in Western Sahara and the Tindouf Refugee Camps|journal=Human Rights Watch |date=19 December 2008|url=https://www.hrw.org/en/node/77259/section/10|access-date=17 August 2011 |last1=Goldstein |first1=Eric }}</ref>

===Algeria=== [[File:ASC Leiden - van Achterberg Collection - 15 - 27 - Un homme Haratin avec un foulard blanc - Adarmoly (Dar Mouly), près de Tamanrasset, Algérie - 5 mai 1985.jpg|thumb|Haratin man with white scarf from Tamanrasset]] In the Algerian Sahara, the Haratin, who were marginalized by France during colonization, experienced social and political progress after the country's independence. This integration had started during the war of liberation; a discourse of emancipation and the absence of state racism, which constitutes a tradition of Algerian nationalism, had succeeded in mobilizing this social category. Social success through education allowed the former Haratin to be represented in local communities and to access the most influential positions.<ref name="Yousfi 2017">{{cite journal |last=Yousfi |first=Badreddine |date=30 Jun 2017 |title=Les territoires sahariens en Algérie. Gouvernance, acteurs et recomposition territoriale |url=http://journals.openedition.org/anneemaghreb/2951 |journal=L'Année du Maghreb |language=fr |issue=16 |pages=53–69 |doi=10.4000/anneemaghreb.2951 |issn=1952-8108 |access-date=22 Mar 2021 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In the late 19th century, they formed 40% of the population in Touat.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sikainga |first=Ahmad Alawad |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Slavery_and_Colonial_Rule_in_Africa/d3EnNSaMKBoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=haratin%2040&pg=PA59&printsec=frontcover |title=Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa |last2= |first2= |date=2013-05-13 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-31993-8 |editor-last=Klein |editor-first=Martin A. |editor-link=Martin A. Klein |pages=59 |language=en |chapter=Slavery and Muslim Jurisprudence in Morocco |editor-last2=Miers |editor-first2=Suzanne |chapter-url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01440399808575239#:~:text=The%20slave%20could%20marry%2C%20but,slave%20or%20free%2D%20born%20male.}}</ref>

== See also == * Ikelan * Gnawa

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last=Ilahiane |first=Hsain |publication-date=1998 |title=The Power of the Dagger, the Seeds of the Koran, and the Sweat of the Ploughman: Ethnic Stratification and Agricultural Intensification in the Ziz Valley |series=Southeast Morocco |volume=107, 7 |publication-place=unpublished dissertation, Univ. of Arizona}} * {{cite journal |last=El Hamel |first=Chouki |publication-date=Fall 2002 |title='Race', Slavery and Islam in the Maghribi Mediterranean Thought: The Question of the Haratin in Morocco |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13629380208718472 |journal=Journal of North African Studies |volume=29 |issue=38 |doi=10.1080/13629380208718472|url-access=subscription }} * {{cite book |last=Batrán |first=Aziz Abdalla |publication-date=1985 |contribution=The ‘Ulama’ of Fas, Mulay Isma‘il and the Issue of the Haratin of Fas |editor-last=Willis |editor-first=John Ralph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sasFc2yN7AcC |title=Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa |publication-place=London |publisher=Frank Cass |volume=1: Islam and the Ideology of Enslavement |pages=1–16}} * {{cite book |last=Ensel |first=Remco |publication-date=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tvqXEAAAQBAJ |title=Saints and Servants in Southern Morocco |publication-place=Leiden |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004491717}} *{{cite book |last=Hunwick |first=J O |contribution=Black Slaves in the Mediterranean World: introduction to a Neglected Aspect of the African Diaspora |title=Journal of African History}} * {{cite book |last1=Ennaji |first1=Mohammed |publication-date=1998 |title=Serving The Master: Slavery & Society in Nineteenth-Century Morocco |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=9780312211523 |page= |translator-last=Graebner |translator-first=Seth}} * Amnesty International, 7 November 2002, Mauritania, A future free from slavery? The formal abolition of slavery in 1981 has not led to real and effective abolition for various reasons, including a lack of legislation to ensure its implementation. * {{cite book |last=El Hamel |first=Chouki |author-link= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TJBBJZ3uBvAC |title=Black Morocco A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139620048 |location= |page=}} * {{Cite book |last=Mohamed |first=Mohamed Hassan |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Between_Caravan_and_Sultan_The_Bayruk_of/Gy3s6zd-yTcC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Between Caravan and Sultan: The Bayruk of Southern Morocco: A Study in History and Identity |date=2012-02-22 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-18379-7 |language=en}} * {{Cite thesis |last=Gentilleau|first=Jeanne Marie|title=Habitat et mode de vie de la vallée du Drā (Maroc) : le village d'Asrir n'llemchane|date=2016-01-11|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Lyon|url=https://theses.hal.science/tel-02160856|language=fr|page=|trans-title=Habitat and way of life in the Drā Valley (Morocco): the village of Asrir n'llemchane}}

== Further reading ==

* {{Cite thesis |last=Bedward |first=Moyagaye |title='They say that we are from africa': race, slavery, and Haratin nationalists in 20th century colonial Morocco |date=2021 |publisher=Rutgers University |url=https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/65646/ |doi=10.7282/t3-yj8z-ee89 |language=English}} * {{Cite book |last=Rosenthal |first=Gabriele |author-link=Gabriele Rosenthal |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Transnational_Biographies/wLStEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA81&printsec=frontcover |title=Transnational Biographies |last2=Albaba |first2=Ahmed |last3=Cé Sangalli |first3=Lucas |date=2022 |publisher=Universitätsverlag Göttingen |isbn=978-3-86395-571-7 |editor-last=Rosenthal |editor-first=Gabriele |pages=27–81 |language=en |chapter=Migrants from Mauritania: On the existence of slavery today and the unequal power chances of the Bidhan, the Soudan and the Haratin |chapter-url=https://univerlag.uni-goettingen.de/handle/3/isbn-978-3-86395-571-7.4}} * {{Cite book |last=Malluche |first=David |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/State_Society_and_Islam_in_the_Western_R/YLH2EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA195&printsec=frontcover |title=State, Society and Islam in the Western Regions of the Sahara: Regional Interactions and Social Change |date=2024-02-22 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-7556-4348-6 |editor-last=Freire |editor-first=Francisco |pages=195–228 |language=en |chapter=Haratin activism in post-slavery Mauritania: Abolition, emancipation and the politics of identity |chapter-url=https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph-detail?docid=b-9780755643493&pdfid=9780755643493.ch-8.pdf&tocid=b-9780755643493-chapter8}} * {{Cite journal |last=Hasni |first=Mohamed Yahya |date=2023 |title=“Haratin in Mauritania”: To What Extent Does Social Origin Determine Opportunities for Social Mobility and Status Change? |url=https://omran.dohainstitute.org/en/045/Pages/art03.aspx |journal=Omran |language=ar |volume=12 |issue=45 |pages=63–103 |issn=2305-2473}} * {{Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|volume=3|title=Ḥarṭānī|last=Colin|first=G.S.|pages=230–231|url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EIEO/SIM-2743.xml?rskey=RzYRdb}} * {{Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE|article=Harāṭīn in Mauritania|url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EI3O/COM-30317.xml?language=en}}

==External links== {{Sister project links|d=Q1584897|m=no|mw=no|species=no|voy=no|c=Category:Haratins|n=no|q=no|b=no|v=no}}

Category:Slavery in Africa Category:Ethnic groups in Tunisia Category:Ethnic groups in Algeria Category:Ethnic groups in Mauritania Category:Ethnic groups in Morocco Category:Ethnic groups in Western Sahara Category:Ethnic groups in Libya Category:Members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization Category:Slavery in Morocco Category:Slavery in Mauritania