LACNAD

The strictly geographical appellation "North Africa" was preferred to the more conventional "Maghreb" or "North Africa", due to their geopolitical and ideological connotations and, above all, due to the African anchorage (Sahel countries) of the Berber domain through its Tuareg component, as well as the intermediate status of Mauritania.

Created as part of Inalco's 2006-2009 contract, the research unit results from the grouping of three pre-existing entities (prior to 2006) covering the Berber field (Centre de Recherche Berbère, ex EA 3577), the Maghrebian Arabic field (Centre de Recherche sur l'Arabe Maghrébin, ex EA 3575) and the Judeo-Maghrebian field (Langues et Cultures Juives du Maghreb et de la Méditerranée Occidentale, ex Groupe de recherche Inalco).

The importance accorded by the three constituent fields to the issues of North African languages and cultures and the populations that convey them naturally leads to consideration of current or historical migratory phenomena. The presence of the latter in Europe and the western Mediterranean (Malta, Maghrebian and Berber Arabic in France and Europe, Judeo-Maghrebian language and culture in Europe, Iberian Judaism, etc.) occupies part of our work and motivates the mention of the term "Diasporas" in the team's name.

The unit's main objectives are as follows

• Research activities in the fields of linguistics, sociolinguistics, literature and culture (cultural anthropology, history, cultural sociology, arts) of the fields defined above;
• Organization of meetings between French and international researchers, especially those from countries in the fields defined above;
• Collection of scientific and documentary information, including: monitoring of national and international scientific activities; field surveys and corpus building; identification, constitution and study of documentary and archive collections of all kinds in its fields of competence;
• Digitization, data exploitation and dissemination of research results;
• Scientific publications: results of research by team members and collaborators, published in international and national journals and in the form of books, proceedings of colloquia and meetings organized by LACNAD subject to selection and peer review, reference or popular scientific works, educational works. These publications take place within the framework of Inalco's publications or with external publishers;
• Material and scientific support for the training and research of PhD students and Master 2 students, directed by its members.

Master courses involving members of the unit

• Master Langues, littératures, civilisations étrangères et régionales (LLCER)
• Master LLCER - Africa and Indian Ocean - Berber
• Master LLCER - Middle East Maghreb - Maghrebi Arabic
• Master LLCER - Middle East Maghreb - Hebraic and Jewish Studies (Hebrew)
• International Master's Degree in Berber Studies: registration for Inalco's Master LLCER - Berber is a prerequisite for access.