Tribes in Kabylia?

Presentation

The 2001 uprising in Kabylia (Algeria) and its politico-media treatment have led to questions about the reality of the tribe (arch) today. This work, which crosses history and ethnology, first offers an epistemological reflection on the anthropological concept of "tribe" in order to confront it with the diverse tribal realities of the Berber domain and to characterize the tribe in Kabylia. He shows that tribal referents are part of the classificatory categories on which self-representations are based. The case of one tribe reveals the maintenance of a lived and represented tribal space, the adaptation of old institutions to various political orders and the proliferation of initiatives that multiply the meanings of the term arch. This reflects the construction of new modes of mobilization that are part of a now secular process of identity affirmation and has led, since the 1990s, to a work of identity reconstruction on a local scale affecting varied cultural objects, memory and language.

Author

Malika Assam is a lecturer in Berber language(s) and culture(s) (Aix-Marseille University / Institut de Recherches et d'Études sur les Mondes Arabes et Musulmans). His research focuses on the social organizations of Berber-speaking societies and their historical mutations within the framework of states and social movements, on constructions of Amazighity and on the development of Berber/Amazigh studies today.

456 pages
16 x 24 cm
Publication: 13/09/2022
ISBN: 9782858314119