Académie Berbère d'Échange et de Recherches Culturels, usually shortened to Académie Berbère or the Berber Academy was a Paris-based Kabyle cultural association formed in 1966 and officially authorized in March 1967 with the objective of raising Berber consciousness.[1][2][3] The association was renamed Agraw Imazighen (English: Assembly of the Imazighen) in Tamazight in 1969.[1][2][4]
History
editBerber Academy is primarily associated with Algerian activist Mohand Arav Bessaoud, who formed the group with a small group of "Kabyle luminaries from the worlds of scholarships, arts, and politics," including Ramdane Haifi, Mouloud Mammeri, Mohand Saïd Hanouz, and singer Taos Amrouche, who hosted their first meeting in her home in Paris.[1][3] The association faced internal disagreement as to whether to have an intellectual or grassroots activist focus.[1]
The association relaunched in 1969 as Agraw Imazighen with the first Berber concert.[1][2] The relaunch and Tamazight-language name change "marked a shift toward a more particularist, Berber-centered agenda" primarily concerned with making "the general public aware of the history and civilization of the Berbers and to promote their language and culture."[3][5] This served as a turning point for Berber diaspora culture in France, as well as for the Berberist movement outside of it.[1][5]
The association published an influential monthly bulletin, Imazighen (French: Imazighéne), in both French and Kabylian, the latter using Neo-Tifinagh.[1][6] Imazighen and other publications were distributed by the association to thousands of Kabylian coffeehouses throughout Paris, and they were further circulated by readers in Algeria and Morocco.[1][6] Though Imazighen was viewed by many as overly radical, it was generally very positively received by Berber communities, with thousands of letters of support being sent from Algeria and Morocco.[1] Imazighen ran for thirty issues.[1]
Berber Academy was dissolved in 1976, largely due to lack of finances.[3]
Neo-Tifinagh
editBerber Academy created a derivation of the Tuareg Tifinagh orthography, now known as Neo-Tifinagh, to accommodate Kabyle phonetics.[7] They taught local members of the Kabyle diaspora community Neo-Tifinagh, and used it in their widely read bulletin, Imazighen.[1][6] Neo-Tifinagh has since undergone further reform and is used in various contexts throughout North Africa.[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Aïtel, Fazia (2014). We are Imazigen : the development of Algerian Berber identity in twentieth-century literature and culture. Gainesville, FL. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-0-8130-4895-6. OCLC 895334326.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c Ilahiane, Hsain (2017). Historical dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen) (2nd ed.). Lanham, Maryland. pp. xlix. ISBN 978-1-4422-8182-0. OCLC 966314885.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c d Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce (2011). The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states (1st ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-0-292-73478-4. OCLC 741751261.
- ^ Goodman, Jane E. (2005). Berber culture on the world stage : from village to video. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 38. ISBN 0-253-11145-5. OCLC 71324761.
- ^ a b Ilahiane, Hsain (2017). Historical dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen) (2nd ed.). Lanham, Maryland. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-4422-8182-0. OCLC 966314885.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce (2011). The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states (1st ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-292-73478-4. OCLC 741751261.
- ^ a b Campbell, George L. (2012). The Routledge handbook of scripts and alphabets. Christopher Moseley (2nd ed.). Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-0-203-86548-4. OCLC 810078009.
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