Georg Klute's Tuareg-Aufstand in der Wüste (Tuareg Uprising in the Desert) is an impressive book: it provides a detailed analysis of the armed rebellion that shook northern Mali in the 1990s, foreshadowing, in its own way, more recent events. Since Islamic groups took over much of northern Mali in spring 2012, analyses of the region have multiplied, seeing the area as yet another instance of the bid to power by region-wide ‘terrorist networks’, often coupled with ‘trafficking’ – of guns, people and drugs. Historically and empirically grounded analyses are few and far between, however, and this book provides a much-needed historical corrective to contemporary media coverage and comments by more recently emerged ‘experts’. It is the summary of almost a life's work by one of the European scholars who knows the area best, based on several decades of field experience, deep involvement with Tuareg questions, and outstanding linguistic knowledge; in this respect, too, the book fills a considerable gap.

The book divides into four parts that cover the main aspects of Klute's research interests over the years: the poetry of rebellion; exile; desert war; and regional structures and concepts of power (Herrschaft). All four tell the same story – that of the genesis, development and aftermath of rebellion in northern Mali in the 1990s – from different, but mostly internal, perspectives, thus providing a detailed picture of the socio-cultural background and motivations of Malian rebels. Comparative material is drawn from northern Niger and southern Algeria. At 170 pages, the first section is the longest. It is based on a collection of Tuareg songs dating from 1978 to the mid-1990s, which are analysed in detail and with great linguistic sensibility, thereby making much original material accessible here for the first time to European readers. The second part, ‘Exile’, provides an internal view of emigration and return, by drawing parallels with older patterns of Tuareg mobility. In this section, Klute touches on trans-border trade and smuggling, thereby providing a much-needed reminder of the historicity and banality of many of the networks that are today often decried as ‘criminal’ or even ‘Islamist’. He also details the importance of regional connections, in particular with Libya, in preparations for the 1991 rebellion. Part 3, on desert war, provides an in-depth account of the practicalities of rebel warfare in northern Mali; to my knowledge, this is unique in its approach and detail, although the strategic slant adopted feels at times uncomfortably close to international security concerns. Part 4 investigates local notions of power, tracing the career of the Ifoghas group in the Malian Adar from colonial times to the present. Although the colonial history of the area is relatively well known (and, indeed, the author seems to draw on relatively limited primary sources), the second half of this section is concerned with the contemporary situation, in particular with regard to how the traditional leading families in the area have succeeded in increasing their power through and after the rebellion. This last section provides fascinating insights into a little-known topic, and constitutes, to my mind, the most coherent and convincing interpretation of recent political dynamics in the Kidal region that has appeared to date. Overall, the book provides an extremely rich and well-researched account of socio-cultural and economic developments in northern Mali, from the late 1970s onwards. Based on a mixture of internal documentation, innumerable interviews and very long-term participant observation, it is the most complete analysis of events in the Kidal region – and of recent ‘Tuareg rebellions’ more generally – that exists.

The book seems to be a reworked version of the author's 2011 Habilitationsschrift, which is why it is so rich, acting as a summary of Georg Klute's impressive knowledge and long-standing intellectual engagement with the region. Yet it also makes it at times challenging to read: because of the relative independence of its four parts, the book does not proceed chronologically, but rather like an ever-expanding commentary on a given theme. Readers therefore have to pay extreme attention to dates, and theoretical discussions are interspersed with the historical narrative, which occasionally makes it difficult to follow the latter or to identify the former. Most of the research was carried out in the 1990s, and the text clearly bears witness to this: currency equivalents, for instance, are given in Deutschmarks, little is said of developments that took place after the 1990s, and hardly any reference is made to works published since then. Hence, Lecocq's (2010) recent study of rebellion in the Kidal region is mentioned only in footnotes, while Grémont's (2010) analysis of regional patterns of power in northern Mali is not mentioned at all. More generally, the bibliography fits onto a mere twenty pages, and theoretical discussion remains largely limited to German-language publications – which is, of course, not a problem in itself, but it adds to the feeling of relative isolation from the rest of anthropology. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the book overall gives the impression that rebellion in Mali was essentially a Tuareg affair – as stated in the title – carried out in an area inhabited exclusively by Tuareg, although the participation of Arabic speakers was crucial, and although northern Mali is home to speakers of many different languages, relations between whom are complex and analytically relevant.

These points notwithstanding, the book provides a mine of ethnographic material, and a sensitive and detailed analysis of the events of the 1990s in northern Mali. It is essential reading for everybody with a special interest in the region, in the Sahara more broadly, or in the current ‘revival’ of ‘traditional authorities’ – whether from a historical or a contemporary vantage point.