The Berber Identity Movement and the Challenge to North African States

Acknowledgments

aCknowledgMenTS This book could never have been completed without the assistance of numerous individuals and institutions, to which I am delighted to pay tribute. More than a decade ago, Ofra Bengio pushed me to research the question of state-Berber relations in Algeria, placing me on the path that eventually led to this study. All along the way, she provided invaluable counsel and perspective. My ongoing discussions with Meir Litvak on matters related to ethnicity, nationalism, and collective memory were of much benefit. Mordechai Tamarkin saw my inquiries into the subject of modern Berber identity as material for a book before I did. Over the course of our ongoing conversation on the subject, Paul Silverstein has generously shared his own research with me and tendered innumerable helpful suggestions, enriching my understanding substantially. Both he and Robert Mortimer closely read the entire manuscript, offering numerous constructive comments, as did an additional anonymous reader, resulting in its substantial improvement. Naturally, I am responsible for whatever remaining shortcomings there are. Nabil Boudraa was kind enough to invite me to participate in a largescale international conference, “The Berbers and Other Minorities in North Africa: A Cultural Reappraisal,” at Portland State University in 2005, which proved to be an extremely fruitful conclave. In 2007, I organized a double panel called “Tribe, Ethnicity and State: The Multiple Aspects of the Berber World,” sponsored by the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, at the annual Middle East Studies Association conference, in Montreal. Like the Portland conference, this was important for shaping my thinking, and I thank the participants—Paul Silverstein, Jane Goodman, Hugh Roberts, Katherine Hoffman, David Crawford, Azzedine Layachi, Hamoud Salhi, and Lisa Anderson—for their contributions and goodwill. As my research assistant during the formative stage of this study, and colleague and friend since then, Samir Benlayashi not only helped me xii The Berber Identity Movement and the Challenge to North African States make sense of my material, but contributed numerous enlightening insights into Moroccan society. Conrad Rein expertly translated important German-language sources for me. Thanks are also due to Tal Grebel and Matt Oppenheimer for their work as research assistants. I am grateful to former directors Asher Susser and Eyal Zisser, and current director Uzi Rabi, of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, my professional home throughout my career, for their ongoing support for this project. Special thanks are also due to Jane Goodman and Ken Stein for their encouragement, to Robin Stoller and Ayelet Levey for providing me with a number of publications each, and to Claude Brenier-Estrine of the Institut de Recherches et d’Études sur le Monde Arabe et Musulman (IREMAM) for enabling me to peruse her large collection of material on the Amazigh movement and for sharing her own insights on the subject. Research for the book was funded by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation. Support was also received from Tel Aviv University’s Research Authority and the Amira Margalith Summer Internship program at the Moshe Dayan Center. I am grateful to all three bodies, to Paul Spragens for his expert copyediting of the manuscript, and to Jim Burr, Wendy Moore, and Lynne F. Chapman of the University of Texas Press. Special thanks are also due to Ms. Chapman for preparing the index, and to Elena Lesnick for assisting in the preparation of the maps. My e-mail exchanges with Rabah Seffal more than a decade ago marked the beginning of my interaction with members of the Amazigh identity movement. Since then, I have interviewed and/or exchanged views with Amazigh scholars and activists on three continents and in cyberspace, including : Hassan Aaouid, Mustapha Akebdan, Brahim Ahiat,Yiddir Achouri, Maxime Ait Kaki, Azzedine Ait Khalifa, Abdellah Benhssi, Ahmed Boukous , Mokhtar Bouba, Driss Bouljaoun, Ahcene Bozentine, Mohamed Chafik, Salem Chaker, Izza Lahyan, Mohamed Chtatou, Maryam Demnati , Karina Direche-Slimani, Mohamed Elmedlaoui, Moha Ennaji, Yassin Errahmouni, Mohammed Errihani, Zohra El Fikhi, Khalid Hajjioui, Smail Hakim, Hassan Idbelkassem, Kahcen Idrissi, Mohamed El Ouazguiti, Lahcen Oulhaj, Abdelmalik Oussaden, Boubker Outaadit, Hassan Ouzzate, Rachid Raha, Moises Santana, and last but not least, the peripatetic Mounir el-Kejji, formerly of the Tariq Ibn Zyad Center in Rabat, whose goodwill in facilitating many of my meetings in Morocco was always present. I am grateful to each of them for their willingness to share their thoughts, experiences , and publications with me. I hope that I have not forgotten anyone , but if I have, I apologize for doing...