Academic literature on the topic 'Imazighen'

A socio-historical perspective on the Amazigh (Berber) Cultural Movement in North Africa North Africa has known various colonizations which in contact with indigenous ones have given the area a special character. One continuing presence since antiquity is that of the Berbers, or the Imazighen, the indigenous population of the area. In this article an attempt is made to shed light on the status of the language and culture of the Imazighen, and in particular on the recent calls for official recognition of the Amazigh language in the constitutions of the two countries with the highest presence of Imazighen, namely Morocco and Algeria. Although some recent developments, like the teaching of the Amazigh language in primary schools, give reason enough to be optimistic about the future of the indigenous language and culture, a closer look at the ideological background of pan Arab-nationalists casts doubts on any serious government intentions to guarantee the maintenance and development of the Amazigh language and culture. This ideology will be brought to light by contrasting the constitutional rights that some Muslim and/or African countries grant to their citizens who speak different languages than the official one(s).

Moroccan Berbers/Imazighen have undergone centuries of cultural and economic exchange with different foreign powers that crossed to the Maghreb throughout history. Following a significant process of interaction and interchange, the mode of life of the indigenous people has been significantly shaped. This might explain a great deal of present-day socio-cultural diversity enjoyed and exercised in Morocco. The present study aims at investigating aspects of Berber’s interaction with the various populations that landed on North Africa throughout history. The research study builds on the following question: How does the Berber heritage enhance an outlook of transnational exchange and cooperation? The study reaches out the conclusion that Moroccan Imazighen had cohabited and coexisted with different races since immemorial times. Moreover, the study infers that such a longstanding tradition of borderless socio-cultural and economic exchange may serve as a background legacy for present-day Moroccan transnationalism and universal coexistence.

The aim of this paper is to describe a new species of the genus Loxosceles Heineken & Lowe, 1832 from Morocco, Loxosceles imazighen sp. n., and to describe for the first time a female of Loxoxceles mrazig Ribera & Planas, 2009 from Tunisia. Both species live in xeric and desert environments and are located in southern Atlas Range. Molecular phylogenetic analyses, using mitochondrial (cox1, 16S) and nuclear (H3, 28S) markers, revel that these species are closely related and that they constitute a separate evolutionary lineage of L. rufescens (Dufour, 1820) and of the set of endemic species of the Canary Islands. L. imazighen sp. n. differs from L. mrazig, the closest species morphologically and geographically, in the shapes and proportions of the male palpal tibia and the shapes and dispositions of the female seminal receptacles. In addition, L. mrazig females show morphological variability in their genitalia, mainly in the inner and outer lobes. Although that variability cannot be associated with different populations, since it also appears within individual populations, and is not related to genetic or geographic distances.

Aquesta tesi és una monografia etnogràfica que se sustenta en 9 anys de recerca entre la població rifenya de Catalunya (en especial de la comarca d’Osona). Els rifenys són la població amazigh (berbers) provinent de les muntanyes del Rif, al nord del Marroc. Fonamentada en l’observació participant com a tècnica principal i també en les entrevistes en profunditat i semipautades, aquesta recerca aborda la descripció i l’anàlisi etnogràfica del procés reproductiu de la població rifenya, entès aquest com les formes de representació, conceptualització i les pràctiques que tenen com a objectiu la reproducció del grup i del seu ordre social. Dins del procés reproductiu es trobaria el procés procreatiu (concepció, gestació, part i postpart) que, com a forma de reproducció biològica del grup, esdevé l’element central i vertebrador del procés reproductiu i a partir del qual totes les seves formes socioculturals de representació i les pràctiques associades a aquestes, s’articulen per a aconseguir el seu èxit: el naixement d’un nou membre i l’assoliment de la maduresa social de pare i mare. Partint des d’una perspectiva folk que considera moltes fases i esdeveniments del procés reproductiu dins l’àmbit de la salut, aquesta etnografia té com a marc la intersecció entre el domini teòric del parentiu (entès com la regulació sociocultural de la procreació, l’adscripció i la criança i cura dels infants) i el de la salut. I és des d’aquesta percepció que es presenta el model d’articulació dels sistemes mèdics que empren els rifenys (biomèdic, alcorànic i rifeny), cada un dels quals és utilitzat, segons la lògica subjacent, en diferents moments del procés reproductiu. Tres són els objectius principals d’aquest treball: el primer és d’ordre empíric. Amb les dades etnogràfiques obtingudes a partir de l’observació participant, s’ha volgut omplir el buit etnogràfic sobre la població rifenya, la resident a Catalunya i, en menor mesura, també la del Marroc. El segon objectiu és d’ordre teòric. Aquesta etnografia ha pres com a marc teòric la proposta de domini teòric del parentiu, situant-se en el què la definició de parentiu anomena intersecció, en aquest cas amb l’àmbit de la salut en ambdós casos, tal com els entenen els rifenys. Finalment, el tercer objectiu és d’ordre metodològic. Partint de la tècnica de l’observació participant com a principal, l’objectiu ha estat situar-la i fer-ne una apologia en un context en el que les investigacions antropològiques tendeixen a privilegiar altres tècniques de forma exclusiva que proporcionen dades parcials en menys temps. Aquesta etnografia esdevé descriptiva, interpretativa i analítica des d’un vessant expressament clàssic i empíric. S’estructura entorn de dos volums que, tenint entitats diferents, són independents l’un de l’altre alhora que es complementen. En el primer volum es descriuen i s’analitzen qüestions com: perfils sociodemogràfics de la població rifenya d’estudi, què és la família rifenya, processos de construcció identitària i de relacions de gènere, sexualitat procreativa i no procreativa, matrimoni i divorci, processos procreatius, maternitat, paternitat i cura dels infants, migracions temporals per salut, noció de persona, articulació dels sistemes mèdics, malalties pròpies dels rifenys i formes d’adquisició del do terapèutic entre els especialistes del sistema mèdic rifeny. En el segon volum es troben descrits i analitzats elements terapèutics i teràpies des de la perspectiva del simbolisme, el ritual i la seva pràctica alhora que es recullen i s’analitzen 52 itineraris terapèutics, la construcció dels quals esdevé una proposta metodològica que també es presenta. Aquest volum conté també el recull de 10 genealogies, l’anàlisi de la terminologia rifenya de parentiu, un glossari de termes en tarifit així com els materials estadístics elaborats a partir de les entrevistes semipautades i les històries clíniques procreatives de dones gestants.
This thesis is an ethnographic monography. It is based on 9 years of research among Riffian people of Catalonia (especially in comarca of Osona). Riffian people are Amazigh people (berbers) from the Rif Mountains, in northern Morocco. Primarily based on participant observation, in-depth and semi-structured interviews, this research presents an ethnographic account of the reproductive process of the Riffian people. The “Reproductive Process” is understood as “the representations, conceptualizations and practices that guarantee the reproduction of a group and its social organization”. Within the reproductive process, there is the procreative process (conception, pregnancy, birth and postpartum), which, as a form of biological reproduction, becomes a central and structuring element of the reproductive process. As the core element, the procreative process is the point from which socio-cultural forms of representation and other associated practices are articulated in order to ensure its success: the birth of a new member and the achievement of social maturity for the parents. By using a folk perspective that considers some phases and events of the reproductive process as a healthcare issue, this ethnography sits between the intersection of two main theoretical domains: on one side, kinship studies (understood as the cultural regulation of procreation, affiliation, upbringing and care of children), and on the other, Medical Anthropology. From this perspective I present a model to articulate the three healthcare systems that Riffian people normally use (the biomedical, the Koranic and the Riffian approaches) and prioritize depending on their specific underlying logic and the specific moment of the reproductive process. This research has three main objectives. The first one is empirical. It accounts for the lack of ethnographic data on Riffian people living in Catalonia and, to a lesser extent, those living in Morocco. The second objective is theoretical. This ethnography takes as a theoretical frame the proposal of theoretical domain of Kinship, in particular in what the definition of Kinship calls intersection. Finally, the third objective is methodological. By favouring observant participation as my main research technique, I want to emphasize the benefits of such approach in a context where recent anthropological research is prioritizing other techniques that produce more partial data but require less time commitment. From a classical and empirical perspective, this is a descriptive, interpretative and analytical ethnography. It is structured in two volumes that can be read independently but at the same time, are complementary to each other. The first volume has 9 chapters in which analyses issues like: sociodemographic profiles of the Riffian people studied, the Riffian family composition, the processes of identity construction and gender relations, procreative and no procreative sexuality, marriage and divorce, procreative processes, motherhood, fatherhood and childcare, temporary migrations for health reasons, personhood, articulations of medical systems, culture-bound syndromes and ways to get the therapeutic gift among specialists of Riffian medical system. The second volume opens with a description of the therapeutic elements and therapies used by the Riffians during the reproductive process. Subsequently, I discuss and analyze them not only from a symbolic and ritualistic angle but also from the meaning of its practices. I then present and analyze 52 therapeutic itineraries, which have become the basis of a methodological proposal that I have developed along this process. This volume closes with the genealogies of 10 Riffian families I have been working with, an in-depth analysis of Riffian Kinship terminology, a glossary of tarifit terms and lastly, the statistical materials elaborated from semi-structured interviews and clinical histories of 410 pregnant women.

L'analyse du discours de s. Gsell, l'eminent specialiste de l'histoire ancienne du maghreb, montre comment le portrait identite des imazighen (berberes) a souffert des interpretations qui dependent non seulement de la nature et de la finalite des sources anciennes, mais aussi du mode de pensee imperialiste contemporain. De meme que la description physique et psycho-morale, l'etude des formes d'organisation sociale, politique et economique de la societe imazighenne n'a echappe a la deformation ideologique et a la simplification abusive. En outre, on connait encore peu de chose quant a l'histoire des imazighen a l'epoque des dominations carthaginoise et romaine
The analysis of the discourse of st gsell, the great specialist in the ancient history of the maghreb, reveals how the description of the imazighen (berberes) has suffered from interpretations depending not only on the nature and the finality of ancient sources but also on the contemporany colonisalist way of thinking. As well as the physical and psychomoral description, the study of the social, political and economic organisations of the imazighen society has suffered from the ideological distortion and from the excessive simplification. Besides, we just know a little about the imazighen history under the carthaginian and roman dominations