Essentially Amazigh: Urban Berbers and the Global Village

The last thirty years in North Africa have witnessed rapid urbanization, massive international migration, a global communications revolution, and the statesponsored education of millions of people. These changes have fundamentally reshaped where and how Berber) speakers live, and thus how they generate and express the meaning of their lives. The two foci of this paper -the Internet listserve Amazigh-net and Amazigh cultural associations in Morocco -reflect these changes, and they differ significantly from the sorts of Berber social units investigated in the past. Both Amazigh-net and Amazigh cultural associations are fundamentally discursive: they revolve around practices of talking and writing. Unlike most "communities " they have an expressed purpose, which is the contemplation and promotion of Amazigh identity. The notions of identity produced in this context are intimately reflexive, in that the analysis and representation are done by the objects of analysis themselves. These forms of expression greatly expand our understanding of Berber life. Yet a sociological rendering of these communities is beset with theoretical difficulties that complicate efforts to secure the linguistic and cultural rights of Berbers within the political states of North Africa.