Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:34:13.126Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Writing as resistance: Berber literature and the challenges surrounding the emergence of a Berber literary field in Morocco

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Stéphanie Pouessel
Stéphanie Pouessel*
Affiliation:
Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain, Tunis, Tunisia
*
∗Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses the development of Berber literature in Morocco and the connections between this literature and Moroccan national identity as well as the pan-Amazigh identity movement. Over the last 40 years, the political conjuncture in Morocco has led Berber writers to affirm an alternative definition of Moroccanness, not exclusively based on Arabness, but one in which Berberity is included. This article aims to shed light on modern Berber literature, and on the social space in which it is embedded. It argues that there is no autonomous Berber literary field, the literature being intrinsically bound up with identity issues, but a Berber literary space, located at the intermingling of several fields (the political field and the field of language production in particular). The article first reconstructs the Moroccan political context by exploring the Amazigh movement, its aspirations and its reality. It then focuses on the relationship between the language issues (alphabet, standardization, etc.) and the emergence of a Berber “neo-literature.” Lastly, it moves beyond Morocco into the wider pan-Berber world — the Maghreb and those countries to which Berbers have emigrated — to question the possibility of a transnational Berber literature.

Keywords

BerberMoroccoethnic literaturenational identityminority languages
Type
Special Section: The Autonomy of Minority Literature
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , May 2012 , pp. 373 - 394
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aboulkacem, El Khatir. “Nationalisme et construction culturelle de la nation au Maroc: processus et reactions.” Thesis in social anthropology and ethnology. Paris: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
Afulay, Aboulkassem. Imula n tmektit [Shadow of memories]. Rabat: Phediprint, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Akunad, Mohamed. “Les Amazighs doivent produire dans leur langue” (interview with Lahsen Oulhadj). Amazigh World, 15 June 2008. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://www.amazighworld.org/news/index_show.php?id=1517>..>Google Scholar
Akunad, Mohamed. Tawarghit D Imik [A dream and a little more]. Rabat: Bouregred, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Akunad, Mohamed. Ijjigen N Tidi [The flowers of sweat]. Rabat: Ungal, 2007. Print.Google Scholar
Amahan, Ali. “Champs traités par les manuscrits amazighs. Rapports ‘écriture — oralité'.” Le manuscrit amazighe. Ed. Hammam, Muhammad. Rabat: IRCAM, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Amazigh, Lasri. Ijawwan n tayri [The Siroccos of Love]. Rabat: Idguel, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Amrouche, Jean Elmouhoub. Les Chants berbères de Kabylie [Berber Songs of Kabylia]. Tunis: Monomopata, 1938. Print.Google Scholar
Amrouche, Taos. “Que fait-on pour la langue berbère?” Tifin, revue des littératures berbères 1(2006): 92–96. Print.Google Scholar
Amzal, Hmad. Amanar, ch'ir maghrebi chelhi [Chleul Moroccan Poems]. Rabat: Central Printing Press, 1968.Google Scholar
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983. Print.Google Scholar
Association Club Adlis. “Présentation.” 14 Nov. 2006. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://adlis.canalblog.com/archives/2006/11/14/3164782.html>..>Google Scholar
Azayku, Ali Sedki. Timitar, recueil de poèmes. Made by Aboulkacem. Rabat: Okad, 1988. Print.Google Scholar
Basset, Henri. 1920. Essai sur la littérature des Berbères. Paris: Ibis, 2001. Print.Google Scholar
Benhlal, Mohamed. Le collège d'Azrou, la formation d'une élite berbère civile et militaire au Maroc (1927–1959). Paris: Editions Karthala et Iremam, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
Boukous, Ahmed. “le champ langagier: Diversité et stratification”. Asinag, IRCAM's Review 1 (2008): 15–37. Print.Google Scholar
Bounfour, Abdellah. Introduction à la littérature berbère. Paris: Peeters, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Bounfour, Abdellah. “Pour une anthropologic littéraire berbère.” Oralité et nouvelles dimensions de l'oralité. Intersections théoriques et comparaisons des matériaux dans les études africaines. Ed. Lafkioui, Mena and Merolla, Daniela. Paris: INALCO, 2008. 123–136. Print.Google Scholar
Bounfour, Abdellah. “Traduire des maximes soufies arabes en vers berbères.” D'une langue à l'autre. Essai sur la traduction littéraire. Ed. Nowotna, M. Paris: Aux lieux d'ětre, 2005. 239–266. Print.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. “La maison kabyle ou le monde renversé.” Pouillon, J. et Maranda, P. (Eds.). Echanges et communication. Mélanges offerts à Claude Lévi-Strauss, Ed. Pouillon, Jean and Maranda, Pierre. La Haye, Paris: Mouton, 1970. 739–758. Print.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre and Abdelmalek, Sayad. Le déracinement, la crise de l'agriculture traditionnelle en Algérie. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1977. Print.Google Scholar
Bouyaakoubi, Lahoucine. “L'anthologie de la famine (laz) et l'impact de l'émigration à partir du roman amazigh ‘Ijjigen n tidi'.” akunad.com. Web. 21 Apr. 2009.Google Scholar
Bouyaakoubi, Lahoucine. “Ijawwan n tayri de Brahim Lasri Amazigh. Un sujet tabou dans une langue taboue.” Amazigh News. Undated. Web. 4 Feb. 2009. <http://www.amazighnews.net/20090109289/Ijawwan-n-tayri-de-Brahim-Lasri-Amazigh.html>>Google Scholar
Bouyaakoubi, Lahoucine. “Mohamed Akounad, éducateur, acteur associatif et écrivain engage.” akunad.com. Web. 21 Apr. 2009.Google Scholar
Bouzaggou. Ticri x tama n tsarrawt [Being at the end of the sling]. Berkane: Trifagraph, 2001. Print.Google Scholar
Bouzaggou. Jar u jar [The rumor]. Berkane: Trifagraph, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Chafik, Mohamed. Arabic/Tamazight dictionary. Rabat: Académie marocaine, 1990, 1996, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Chaker, Salem. Berbères d'aujourd'hui. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1989. Print.Google Scholar
Dichy, Joseph. “La pluriglossie de l'arabe.” Bulletins d'Etudes Orientales 46 (1994): 19–42. Print.Google Scholar
El Mountassir, Abdallah. “L'oralité traditionnelle et la nouvelle littérature berbère: rupture ou continuité?” Oralité et nouvelles dimensions de l'oralité. Intersections théoriques et comparaisons des matériaux dans les études africaines. Ed. Lafkioui, Mena and Merolla, Daniela. Paris: INALCO, 2008. 39–49. Print.Google Scholar
Galand, Lionel. “La langue berbère existe-t-elle?” Mélanges linguistique offerts à Maxime Rodinson. Ed. Robin, Christian. Paris: Geuthner, 1985. 175–184. Print.Google Scholar
Galand-Pernet, Paulette. “Littératures berbères: des voix aux lettres.” Tifin, revue des littératures berbères, 1(2006): 14–40. Print.Google Scholar
Galand-Pernet, Paulette. Littératures berbères, des voix, des lettres. Paris: Presses universitaires de Paris, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Gellner, Ernest. Nations and nationalism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983. Print.Google Scholar
Goodman, Jane E. Berber Culture on the World Stage. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
Goody, Jack. La raison graphique. Paris: Éditions de minuit, 1979. Print.Google Scholar
Haddachi. Memmi s n ifesti d awal [The child of silence is the word]. Marrakech: Walili, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Iken. Asekkif n y inzadn [Hair soup]. Rabat: Institut royal de la culture amazighe, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
IRCAM. “Publications: Tinitin, par M. Mohamed Ouagrar.” 2008. Web. 6 Jan. 2008. <http://www.ircam.ma/fr/index.php?soc=publi&pg=8&rd=8>..>Google Scholar
Lahire, Bernard. “Champ, hors-champ, contrechamp.” Le travail sociologique de Pierre Google Scholar
Bourdieu, dettes et critiques. Ed. Lahire, Bernard. Paris: La découverte, 1999. 23–57. Print.Google Scholar
Lahire, Bernard. L'homme pluriel. Paris: Nathan, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Lounaci, Mohand. “La tentation de l'écriture, pour un dialogue vivant.” Tifin, revue des littératures berbères 1(2006): 69–79. Print.Google Scholar
Mammeri, Mouloud. Isefra de Si Mohand ou M'hand. Paris: Maspero, 1969. Print.Google Scholar
Mammeri, Mouloud. Poèmes kabyles anciens [Old Kabyle Poems]. Paris: Maspero, 1980. Print.Google Scholar
Merolla, Daniela. “Peut-on parler d'un espace littéraire kabyle?” Etudes et documents berbères 13 (1995): 5–25. Print.Google Scholar
Moujahid, Houssain. “Feu Azayku et les fondements de la poétique amazighe.” Paper presented at the Agadir Summer Congress, Repenser le Maroc, Ali Sedqi Azayku, le poète, l'historien et l'intellectuel engage, Agadir, July 2005.Google Scholar
Oussous, Mohamed. Ikfawen d isasan [Heads and Spiderwebs]. Rabat: Tamaynut Association, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Pouessel, Stéphanie. “Les enjeux politiques et identitaires du tifinagh au Maroc: Ecrire la langue berbère au royaume de Mohamed VI.” Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée 124 (2008): 219–239. Print.Google Scholar
Scalbert-Yücel, Clémence. “Languages, politics and field theory — the question of the autonomy of small literatures.” Nationalities Papers 40 (2012): 315–320. Print.Google Scholar
Thiesse, Anne-Marie. La creation des identités nationales. Europe, XVIIIe–XXe siècle. Paris: Seuil, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Yacine, Kateb. Le poète comme un boxeur. Paris: Seuil, 1994. Print.Google Scholar
Yacine, Tassadit. “Oralité et écriture: Jean Amrouche.” Paper presented at Amazigh Days, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, 25 March 2008.Google Scholar