Reviving Tamazight: Decolonial Language Justice and Sustainable Reconnection in North African Amazigh Communities

Category: Change Portfolio; Education 1
Date: Thursday 7 November 2024

Reviving Tamazight: Decolonial Language Justice and Sustainable Reconnection in North African Amazigh Communities

Climate and colonisation are deeply intertwined within indigenous communities globally, facing the impacts of colonisation and climate change on their once-sustainable ways of life (IPCC. 2022). Decoloniality represents an approach to becoming less entangled within the engrained systems of power and knowledge stemming from colonisation, and upkept through international policies, trade and colonial dispositions (Sultana, 2022). Its ideology can be interpreted as an aim to restore aspects of culture that pre-dated colonisation, in this context the sustainable lifestyles that previously existed. Within the context of Amazigh (Berber) communities in North Africa they have faced physical and cultural shifts to their lifestyles in the past few hundred years from Arabisation and Westernisation. Evident in the significant decline of Tamazight the native language of Amazigh people (Lafkioui, 2018), containing many words directly linked to indigenous sustainable living. The language was banned in many North African countries for the promotion of languages such as Arabic, under Muammar Gaddafi in Libya the language was banned in near totality from the early 80s until 2011 (Zurutuza, 2014). Stripping many of their culture and “Azri”, a Tamazight word meaning ‘roots’ both in a literal and symbolic sense, it emphasises the link between a people’s roots to nature and the tree roots in earth. This helps reinforce the value of maintaining what were traditionally sustainable lifestyles, regaining Tamazight therefore helps in the path of decolonisation and North African cultures’ view on environmentalism.

The decline of Tamazight highlights the justice challenges tied to losing a language, that directly connects people to their sustainable practices regarding land and lifestyle. With similar challenges apparent in Northern Alaska, where climate affected Indigenous communities face language loss among Iñupiaq and Yupik speakers, most of whom are over 60 as with Tamazight speakers. As a result, younger generations are missing the linguistic link to sustainable practices, such as traditional home building, hunting and communal eating (Reo et al., 2019). Over the past decade, however, there has been a renewed interest in reviving Tamazight, spurring efforts to reintroduce the language and its traditions to younger generations, despite a generational gap in fluency. Recently, Morocco and Algeria have declared Tamazight an official language (2011/2016 respectively) (Bessadi, 2016), incorporating it into education through school curricula and adding it to official signage (fig.1).

This shift in language education reflects a move towards decoloniality, supported by new policies, albeit not without controversy (Blidi, 2020). Algeria’s Tamazight official status was seen by many as a goodwill gesture, with the government making the decision to stop using the language in its official documents the same week they added the language to the constitution (Blidi, 2020). Genuine justice requires consistent enactment, Morocco shows broader progress, incorporating Tamazight education in most primary schools, though smaller communities often lack these resources. The teaching of Tamazight to younger generations is important, leading to an increased language nexus of ‘sustainable’ words, potentially nurturing a generation more attuned to collective environmental consciousness.

In Conclusion, language education is vital to revival of Tamazight among younger generations, to help to bridge linguistic gaps and instigate sustainable reconnections using ancestral knowledge, thus a restorative act of justice through decoloniality. Expanding this education in North African countries beyond Morrocco, especially in secondary education, would further help instil indigenous knowledge, shifting future generations towards lifestyles deeply rooted in sustainability and the nature they co-habit. Addressing historical suppression of indigenous languages, aligns with justice concepts that emphasise both equity and cultural sovereignty, providing a path for North African Amazigh communities to reclaim sustainable practices through linguistic and cultural empowerment.

In Algeria, the Berber Language Can’t Get an Educational Foothold

Figure 1 (Chaif, 2015)

References

Anon 2022. Headline statements from the summary for policymakers. Ipcc.ch. [Online]. [Accessed 5 November 2024]. Available from: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_HeadlineStatements.pdf.

Bessadi, N. 2016. Le Tamazight en Algerie ou l’Officialisation au Rabais. Heinonline.org. [Online]. [Accessed 5 November 2024]. Available from: https://heinonline.org/HOL/AuthorProfile?action=edit&search_name=%20Bessadi,%20Nourredine&collection=journals.

Blidi, S. 2020. Declaring Tamazight an official language sparks controversy in Algeria. Thearabweekly.com. [Online]. [Accessed 4 November 2024]. Available from: https://thearabweekly.com/declaring-tamazight-official-language-sparks-controversy-algeria.

Lafkioui, M. 2018. Berber languages and linguistics.

Reo, N., Topkok, S.M., Kanayurak, N., Stanford, J., Peterson, D. and Whaley, L. 2019. Environmental change and sustainability of Indigenous languages in northern Alaska. Arctic. 72(3), pp.215–228.

Sultana, F. 2022. The unbearable heaviness of climate coloniality. Political geography. 99(102638), p.102638.

Zurutuza, K. 2014. The Amazigh of Libya revive their previously banned language. Middle East Eye. [Online]. [Accessed 6 November 2024]. Available from: https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/amazigh-libya-revive-their-previously-banned-language.

Additional reading:

Chaif, R.H. 2015. In Algeria, the Berber Language Can’t Get an Educational Foothold. Al-fanarmedia.org. [Online]. [Accessed 4 November 2024]. Available from: https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2015/07/in-algeria-the-berber-language-cant-get-an-educational-foothold/.

Eljechtimi, A. 2023. Morocco’s Amazigh speakers fear indigenous language fading. Reuters.com. [Online]. [Accessed 4 November 2024]. Available from: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/moroccos-amazigh-speakers-fear-indigenous-language-fading-2023-01-30/.

Quattrini, S. n.d. Revitalizing Tamazight: The role of language education policies in Morocco. Minorityrights.org. [Online]. [Accessed 1 November 2024]. Available from: https://minorityrights.org/revitalizing-tamazight-the-role-of-language-education-policies-morocco/.