These days the Algerian press is reporting much on the place of Tamazight, the Kabyle variant of Berber, and on the idea of « Amazigh-ness » (Amazighité, in French).

On one side daily news issue El Watan, in its October 11 edition, mentions protests by Tamazight teachers at the head department of education in Bouira, 120 km southeast of Algiers.

The teaching of Tamazight has indeed entered the education system in 1995, but the financial resources allocated to that effect turn out to be insufficient, at least within the region. Thus the protesters are calling for new budget items and an increase in the amount of textbooks in Amazigh language. They also complain on the absence of strategy to support the course, and denounce “the authorities’ contempt before complaints”

Click here for the full article (French).

At the same time, the Dépêche de Kabylie recounts a conference held in Ouargla (800km south of Algiers) on October 10 and 11. The conference, organized by the “High Commissioner for Amazigh-ness” was themed “The Amazigh component in Algerian identity: status report“.

The aim here was “to present a psychological, sociocultural, linguistic, and anthropological overview of the colonial experience”, and discussions essentially revolved around the role of language in the creation of identity.

One of the conference speakers, University of Tizi Ouzou senior lecturer Moussa Imazarène, addressed the influence of French, language of colonization, on Tamazight: from vocabulary borrowings to syntactic transformation, possibly complete substitution.

According to professor Gaouaou Manaa from the University of Batna, “language is the main vehicle for identity”. He insisted on the accuracy of the word “totalitarianism” referring to times where “speaking Tamazight was forbidden”.

Times that appear to be behind us, as Moussa Imazarène pointed out that today teaching in Berber language plays a significant part in the success of Baccalauréat candidates in the region of Tizi Ouzou.

At the end of the day, one can only observe, as the reporter writes, that “even if reactions of ostracism towards Amazigh-ness remain countless, the assertion of Amazigh identity in Algeria has now become a social and cultural reality”.

Full article available here (French).