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The Collector(s) / Donor(s) Robert Glew recently received his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology at Michigan State University. He is currently working in the Office of International Studies in Education at MSU. Having spent several years in the West African country of Niger as a Peace Corps Volunteer, he returned to the city of Zinder (Niger) in 1995 to study issues of Muslim identity for his dissertation. While living in Zinder in 1995 he examined the use of writing by Muslim clerics and made a fine collection of over 65 objects related to this subject for Michigan State University Museum. Collector(s) / Donor(s) Statement The Object(s) The Tuareg are nomads living in the desert and sahel regions of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Algeria, and Libya. Tuareg blacksmiths (inadan) are famous for their fine silverwork. Like many smiths in this part of the world, the inadan belong to an exclusive social group who only marry among themselves. The male members of this group carve wood implements and forge metal, the female members are leatherworkers and weavers. Among the many types of silver objects they fabricate are cases, called shirot, used to hold sheets of folded paper that carry magico-religious inscriptions. Functioning as an amulet, the shirot is a device used for eliciting spiritual assistance from Allah (God). The amulet is suspended from the neck and affords its wearer spiritual protection and good fortune. This particular amulet case was commissioned by Glew from Abdoulaye Alhadi, a well-known silversmith in Zinder. Further Information Books and Articles René Bravmann. African Islam. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983. Kristyne Loughran. Art from the Forge. Washington, DC: National Museum of African Art, 1995. Johannes Nicolaisen and Ida Nicolaisen. The Pastoral Tuareg: Ecology, Culture, and Society. 2 vols. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. Internet Resourcesnone
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