Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT
While many inhabitants of the Maghreb (a cultural region of Northwest Africa) are ethnically Arab, the region is also home to a significant minority population. An indigenous population of the Maghreb, the Imazighen (singular: Amazigh) account for at least 13 percent of regional population. Imazighen exhibit a substantial level of ethnic consciousness and nationalist sentiment. This research investigates manifestations of Amazigh nationalism through political affiliations and cultural associations, focusing especially on Amazigh populations in Algeria and Morocco. Overall, this research finds that there are well-developed Amazigh nationalist ideologies and organizations in, and beyond, the Maghreb. These nationalist forces play significant roles in the politics of the region.
Key Words: Berber, Imazighen, Maghreb, nationalism, North Africa
INTRODUCTION
The Maghreb is a cultural region of Northwestern Africa, generally defined as spanning from Morocco east to Libya, and as far south as Mauritania. The Arabic term al-Maghrib means "the west," and is also the officiai title of the Kingdom of Morocco. The Maghreb is unique in its location as a zone of intersection between Arab cultures to the east and "Western" systems of Europe to the north. However, the region is also unique in terms of indigenous population (Fig. 1). Before European, Arab, or even Roman colonization, the region was inhabited by the Imazighen (singular, Amazigh) (Crawford 2005). "Berber" is a more common label for the group. However, this has a derogatory connotation and many members of the group prefer the term Imazighen (El Addouli 2007). Population estimates are generally imprecise, ranging from 13 million to over 32 million (Gordon 2005, El Amraoui 2007a, US Dept. of State 2001, US Dept. of State 2007). Regardless of actual population statistics, this ethnolinguistic group is the largest ethnic minority in the Maghreb.
The Imazighen are a culturally diverse and geographically dispersed group. As a group, die Imazighen are primarily distinguished by language. The Berber language subfamily consists of 26 dialects (Gordon 2005), the krgest of which are detailed in Table 1. Note that the term Amazigh is used to refer to Berber speakers in general, as well as to the Tamazight-speaking central Moroccan subgroup. Furthermore, the term "Tamazight" is sometimes used to refer to Berber languages in general.
As a group, the Imazighen exhibit substantial ethnic consciousness,...