weaning device; akara

Weaning device, a small piece of wood to which is attached two lengths of plaited cotton cloth.

Item number 36 on Jeremy Keenan's item list. Wooden weaning device ('akara' in Tamahaq) placed in the mouths of kids (baby goats) to prevent suckling. Keenan acquired this object from Tekawilt (a female worker or 'taklit'), and Sidi Mohammed of the Kel Hirafok people. Price paid: 5 dinar. Keenan refers to fig 18 in Johannes Nicolaisen's 'Ecology and culture of the pastoral Tuareg: with particular reference to the Tuareg of Ahaggar and Ayr' (Nicolaisen, 1963, p 39, fig 18).

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