Ethno-politics and globalisation in North Africa: The berber culture movement

Journal of North African Studies

Volumn 11, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 71-84

  Maddy Weitzman, Bruce ^a  

^a TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL IDENTITY; CULTURE; ETHNICITY; GLOBALIZATION; POLITICAL IDEOLOGY;

AFRICA; NORTH AFRICA;

EID: 33144490091     PISSN: 13629387     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13629380500409917     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. P.A. Silverstein, 'The Kabyle Myth: The Production of Ethnicity in Colonial Algeria', in B.K. Axel (ed.), From the Margins: Historical Anthropology and Its Futures (Durham, NC: Duke University Press 2002) pp.122-55.
2. The term 'Amazigh', meaning 'free men' is preferred over 'Berber' by increasing numbers of Berberphones/Tamazightphones, and especially by activists. I use the terms 'Amazigh' and 'Berber' interchangeably in this article.
3. D. Merolla, 'Digital Imagination and the "Landscapes of Group Identities": The Flourishing of Theatre, Video and "Amazigh Net" in the Maghrib and Berber Diaspora', Journal of North African Studies 7/4 (2002) pp.122-131.
4. 'MCB' is the older term, coming more from the Algerian context. 'MCA' is the term preferred in Morocco.
5. B. Maddy-Weitzman, 'The Berber Question in Algeria: Nationalism in the Making?', in O. Bengio and G. Ben-Dor (eds), Minorities and the State in the Arab World (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 1999) pp.31-52
6. B. Maddy-Weitzman, 'Contested Identities: Berbers, "Berberism," and the State in North Africa', Journal of North African Studies 6/3 (2001) pp.23-47.
7. The Algerian and Moroccan cases differ widely, obviously, but the fact that they are both facing acute challenges that stem from many common sources is also obvious. B. Stora, Algérie Maroc: Histoires Paralléles, Destins Croisés (Paris: Zellige 2002).
8. S. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon & Schuster 1996).
9. Huntington (ibid.) defines a 'torn country' as having 'a single predominant culture which places it in one civilization but its leaders want to shift it to another civilization' (p.138). Three requirements must be met if a torn country is to successfully redefine its civilisational identity: 'First, the political and economic elite of the country has to be generally supportive of and enthusiastic about this move. Second, the public has to be at least willing to acquiesce in the redefinition of identity. Third, the dominant elements in the host civilization, in most cases the West, have to be willing to embrace the convert' (p.139). (New York: Simon & Schuster)
10. M. Chafik, Remarks upon receipt of the Prince Claus Award, 13 December 2002, .
11. Ibid.
12. Berber Manifesto, 2000, .
13. A. Asid, Remarks at the colloquium 'L'amazighité et ses enjeux politiques actuels', Université Paris VIII à Saint Denis, 21 October 2002.
14. M. Ait Kaki, De la question berbére au dilemme kabyle à l'aube du XXIéme siécle (Paris: L'Harmattan 2004) pp.279-94.
15. For example, in November 2001, the Friedrich Neuman Foundation, which is affiliated with Germany's Liberal Party, together with the Tamanyut Association sponsored two days of study on autochthonous peoples' rights, in Rabat. Le Monde Amazigh (16 November 2001; 30 November 2001).
16. P.A. Silverstein, 'Martyrs and Patriots: Ethnic, National and Transnational Dimensions of Kabyle Politics', Journal of North African Studies 8/1 (2003) pp.87-111.
17. International Crisis Group (ICG) (2003) 'Algeria: Unrest and Impasse in Kabylia', Middle East/North Africa Report 15 (2003), .
18. M. Lazreg, The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question (New York and London: Routledge 1994) pp.150-7.
19. F. Mehenni, 'The Autonomy of Kabyle in Questions', 25 May 2002, .
20. Ibid.
21. Leqsar Platform, 2001, . For a critique of these demands,
22. see ICG (note 16) pp.19-24.
23. B. Lounes, Letter to US President George Bush from Secretary-General of the World Amazigh Congress, 13 September 2001, .
24. H. Ait Ahmed, 'Algeria's Journey', 2001, .
25. For details on the differences between Ait Ahmed and Saadi, see Maddy-Weitzman, 'The Berber Question' (note 5) pp.41-7
26. Silverstein (note 15) pp.95-8
27. ICG (note 16) pp.26-9.
28. Ait Ahmed (note 22).
29. For a detailed introduction of the Iraqi Kurdish community to Amazigh readers, including an interview with a Kurdish activist, see Le Monde Amazigh 40 (2003) pp.4-5.
30. R. Kaplan, 'Democracy in Algeria: Singer-Activist Ferhat Mehenni's Campaign for Liberal Self-government', Weekly Standard 8/39 (2003).
31. Final Declaration of the Second World Amazigh Congress, 9 August 2000, .
32. The critique of 'Jacobinism' focuses on its emphasis on the centralization and pre-eminence of the state, and the homogenization of society. The French state's laïque character, on the other hand, is widely preferred by Berberists. Thanks to Paul Silverstein for clarifying this point to me.
33. Interview with Mehenni, Racines-Izuran 26 (2002).
34. 'Les droits linguistiques et culturels des Berbe'res de France', Rapport du Congres mondial amazigh au Comité pour les droits economiques sociaux et cultureles, Nations Unies, Conseil Economique et Social, 27th session, Geneva, 12-30 November 2001, pp.5-6.
35. S. Chaker, 'Preface', in Karina Direche-Slimani, Histoire de l'émigration en France au Kabyle en XXe siécle (Paris: L'Harmattan 1997) pp.1-3.
36. M. Loualid, 'Return O My Son', quoted in A. Almasude, 'Protest Music and Poetry in the Rif', Race Gender & Class 8/3 (2001) p.130.
37. Almasude (note 32).
38. Ibid. pp.128-9.
39. 'New' and 'young' do not necessarily mean liberal either. In an eye-opening account of challenges to prevailing conservative social norms in a Kabylian village, subtitled 'Dancing Toward La Mixité', Jane Goodman ('Berber Associations and Cultural Change in Algeria', Middle East Report 200 [1996] pp.16-19) refers to the existence of a 'reverse generation gap', in which some Kabylian teenage males differ with their older brothers regarding the proprieties and freedoms of young unmarried women, the younger group being more conservative in attitudes.
40. Le Monde Amazigh 29-30 (2002), 31, 32, 33, 34, 39 (2003) (the last mentioned contains the report of the imam's remonstration of his congregants for using Tamazight).
41. Interviews with AMREC members, Rabat, October 2003.
42. Le Monde Amazigh 29-30 (2002).
43. See note 11.
44. L. Walna'am, Al-Khitab al-Islamawi wal-Khat al-Ansab Likitabat al-Amazighiyya, Le Monde Amazigh 29 (2002) p.4.
45. M. Demnati, 'Royal Amazigh Institute: Worries for Imazighen', Amazigh Voice 10/3-4 (2002) p.14.
46. B. Anghir, 'Dawr Hizb al-'Adala wal-Tanmiyya fi Ta'til al-Tanmiyya wa Munahadat al-'Adala', Le Monde Amazigh 32 (2003) p.27.
47. For background on the issue, see B. Maddy-Weitzman, 'Morocco', Middle East Contemporary Survey 24 (2000) pp.427-30.
48. Le Monde Amazigh 29-30 (2002).
49. H. Larbi, 'Which Script for Tamazight, Whose Choice Is It?', Amazigh Voice 12/2 (2003) pp.3-8. Also based on interviews with Amazigh scholars and activists, Rabat, October 2003.
50. H. Gafaïti, 'The Monotheism of the Other: Language and De/ construction of National Identity in Postcolonial Algeria', in A.-E. Berger (ed.), Algeria in Other's Languages (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 2002) pp.31-2.
51. In making this point, the author cites M. Willis, Islamist Challenge in Algeria: A Political History (New York: New York University Press 1997) pp.51-2.
52. E. Gellner, 'Introduction', in E. Gellner and C. Micaud (eds), Arabs and Berbers: From Tribe to Nation in North Africa (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath 1972) p.9.
53. M. Litvak, 'Algeria', Middle East Contemporary Survey 20 (1996) p.232.
54. 'La Question amazighe en Algérie', Rapport du Congres mondial amazigh au Comité pour les droits économiques sociaux et culturels, Nations Unies Conseil Économique et Social, 27th session, Geneva, 12-30 November 2001, p.5.
55. M. Brett and E. Fentress, The Berbers (Oxford: Blackwell 1996)
56. M. Shatzmiller, The Berbers and the Islamic State: The Marinid Experience in Pre-Protectorate Morocco (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener 2000).
57. Quoted in Kabylie, L'autonome en Débat (Paris: Seminaire D'Erancourt 2002) p.72.
58. P.A. Silverstein, 'France's Mare Nostrum: Colonial and Post-colonial Constructions of the French Mediterranean', Journal of North African Studies 7/4 (2002) pp.1-22.
59. P. Balta (ed.), La Méditerranée' réinventée: Réalités et espoirs de la coopération (Paris: Éditions La Découverte/ Fondation René Seydoux 1992)
60. W. Freund (ed.), L'emergence d'une nouvelle culture méditerranéenne [The Eemergence of a New Mediterranean Culture] (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, Europaischer Verlag der Wissenchaften, 2000).