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Past studies of the Tuareg have been chiefly concerned with nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoral society. This work is an examination of a sedentary community of former vassals or slaves of the Tuareg who reside at Aouderas, a village of the Saharan Air Massif of northern Niger (West Africa). / The economy of Aouderas is multi-sectoral, and is composed of: small-scale irrigated agriculture (which has been analytically separated into subsistence and cash crops); stock-raising of camels, small ruminants, and cattle; and a caravan trade based on the exchange of salt and grain. An analysis of more recent economic developments, namely migration to wage work and expanding urban markets for garden produce, is also undertaken. / The principal social institutions which govern production and reproduction are examined. The relative importance of each sector to household welfare is quantified and analysed by means of a model which shows the revenues derived from each sector in terms of millet, the local staple food.