Summary
This paper has discussed the recent history of the Amazigh image in various media and described the relationship between cultural identity, language, and the technology of communication. Before World War II, the writings of the Greeks, Romans, French, and Spanish colonizers and the documents of the missionaries and anthropologists had extensively described the Imazighen of North Africa. Such writings set a precedent for indigenous scholars. With the Independence era, after 1960s some North African scholars committed their lives to establishing awareness of the Amazigh existence. Linguists and sociologists studied Amazigh society, language, and culture. But until the last two decades, the Imazighen remained as regionally isolated groups and tribes. The States of North Africa used various strategies to keep the Imazighen under control and even denied their existence. However, with the availability of audio cassette recorders, the Imazighen gained the opportunity to articulate their distinct identity, leading Mohammed Shafiq to publish a controversial text in which he exalts the Amazigh pride and argues that Imazighen are Moslems but not Arabs. Thus Shafiq helped resolve a confusion that for decades the State and political parties tried to impose on North Africans.
After the release of Jesus' Film, the Amazigh identity was redefined to prove Shafiq's argument for the crucial position of Islam in the Amazigh patrimony. Both the countries and people of North Africa were alarmed about the situation. With the new developments in computer communication technology and interactive media, Imazighen established themselves both nationally and internationally as a distinct cultural group and called for the implementation of Thmazight in the school curriculum and mass media.
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/RIL_10.html
This paper has discussed the recent history of the Amazigh image in various media and described the relationship between cultural identity, language, and the technology of communication. Before World War II, the writings of the Greeks, Romans, French, and Spanish colonizers and the documents of the missionaries and anthropologists had extensively described the Imazighen of North Africa. Such writings set a precedent for indigenous scholars. With the Independence era, after 1960s some North African scholars committed their lives to establishing awareness of the Amazigh existence. Linguists and sociologists studied Amazigh society, language, and culture. But until the last two decades, the Imazighen remained as regionally isolated groups and tribes. The States of North Africa used various strategies to keep the Imazighen under control and even denied their existence. However, with the availability of audio cassette recorders, the Imazighen gained the opportunity to articulate their distinct identity, leading Mohammed Shafiq to publish a controversial text in which he exalts the Amazigh pride and argues that Imazighen are Moslems but not Arabs. Thus Shafiq helped resolve a confusion that for decades the State and political parties tried to impose on North Africans.
After the release of Jesus' Film, the Amazigh identity was redefined to prove Shafiq's argument for the crucial position of Islam in the Amazigh patrimony. Both the countries and people of North Africa were alarmed about the situation. With the new developments in computer communication technology and interactive media, Imazighen established themselves both nationally and internationally as a distinct cultural group and called for the implementation of Thmazight in the school curriculum and mass media.
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/RIL_10.html