About the Author

The author of this book, Helene E. Hagan is of Catalan and Berber origin. She was born and raised in Morocco, and received her education in Moroccan French schools and the University of Bordeaux, France where she obtained a License-es-Lettres in American Civilisation.

In the United States, she pursued her studies at Santa Ana College (Political Science and American Literature), Foothill College (Psychology and Social Sciences), The Oglala Lakota College (Lakota Studies) and Stanford University (French and Education MAT, 1971; Cultural and Psychological Anthropology, MA, 1983 - Ph D. Program 1981-1983)

Helene married James R. Hagan in Laguna Beach in 1960 and is the mother of three children, Marianne, Jennifer and Phillip Hagan, and the grand-mother of Taylor Hagan. She has two brothers, Alain and Jean-Pierre Coll residing in France. One of her nieces, Joelle Coll, recently married a Kabyle Berber from Algeria and works for an Amazigh Cultural Association in Lyons, France. Her nephew, Jean-Marc Coll, is a musician, composer, and band leader (Rythm Nation) living in Casablanca, Morocco.

Helene Hagan directed the V.I.P. Photography program on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, in which she worked with elders for several months to identify hundreds of photos from museum archives. The Project she directed was financed by a grant from the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities (1983-1985) The Exhibit resulting from this work has been shown in US national parks and the Rotunda in Washington D.C.

As the President of Tazzla Institute of Archetypal Ethnology (now Tazzla Institute for Cultural Diversity), she inherited personal papers and manuscripts of the famous anthropologist Paul Radin. With the help of a small archival grant from the Wenner-Green Anthropological Foundation, she prepared a Paul Radin collection which she donated to the Archives of Marquette University Special Libraries. She retains a lifetime appointment to that collection as Associate Curator.

As the Executive Producer of AMAZIGH VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, she has produced over fifty television programs and documentaries for Community Service Television in Marin county and in Los Angeles, among which a series of programs titled "We're Still here" on American Indians of Marin County nominated for an award; a unique series titled "Tamazgha, Berber Land of Morocco" purchased by the US Peace Corps in Morocco; a very special series with American Indian militant, actor and artist Russell Means, "The Russell Means Show" under a grant from American Spirit Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a recent ongoing series of topical programs titled "Amazigh News" in Los Angeles.

Recently, Tazzla Institute created a series of cultural events starting with the name of BERBER NIGHTS in 2006, and founded the annual LOS ANGELES AMAZIGH FILM FESTIVAL in 2008. The first Berber Night and the most recent Film Festival were sponsored by DCA, Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Los Angeles.

Helene is also the author of numerous articles published in journals and magazines, some available on the internet such as "The Argan Tree" (Amazigh Voice Magazine, 2005); "Apuleius of Madauros, Amazigh philosopher," (Amazigh Voice Magazine) ; Letter on the film The Gladiator (Cultural Survival Magazine); an article on "Fake Medicine People" (Sonoma Press Democrat); a whimsical look at Marin County folks and their strange ways titled "The People of Niram" (Marin Coastal Post); and two books, "The Shining Ones, an Etymological Essay on the Amazigh Roots of Ancient Egyptian Civilisation" (2001), a pioneer book on pre-historic similarities between the Fayum and Western Delta regions of Egypt, and the western oases, with North African and Saharan cultures; the recently published "Tuareg Jewelry,Traditional Patterns and Symbols" (2006) was written with the contributions of Lucile C. Myers of Australia, Lhabib Fouad of Morocco, several photographers, and Tuareg Art Historian Mohamed Ewangaye of Niger.In June 2011, Helene Hagan published a third book titled "Tazz'unt, Ecology, Ritual and Social Order in the Tessawt Valley of the High Atlas of Morocco." (XLibris, 2011, 118 pages)