‘BERBERITY’
ISBN : 979-10-377-8918-1
This is a cultural term that refers to the North African Berber civilization. The book subtitle reads: “The Quest of the Amazigh Identity from Prehistory to the Fall of Carthage”.
If the term ‘Berber’ derives from the Greek word ‘barbarian’ [βᾰ́ρβᾰρος / barbaros] that defined other cultures, which were not Greek or Roman, it progressively lost its original meaning to become synonymous with ‘uncivilized’ or ‘primitive’. After the decolonization of North Africa, the search for a national identity aimed at re-centering the culture to the oriental Arab World. But Science and Anthropology progressively changed this political consciousness because the Berbers emerged as the original inhabitants of North Africa. The language - or rather the various local dialects - known as Tamazight [ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ] was revived as well as its ancestral alphabet known as Tifinagh [ⵜⴼⵏ]. Consequently, an overall consciousness leads to the change of the term ‘Berber’ to the Tamazight word ‘Amazigh’ [ⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖ] (singular) / ‘Imazighen’ [ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵏ,] (plural’). The term ‘Amazigh’ has often been translated as “ the free Men”. Strangely enough, this phrase seems to characterize the local sense of identity, which could be summarized as a permeable liberty widely open to other cultures - particularly the Mediterranean.
Yet, the word ‘Amazigh’ also tends to be altered and become the trademark for a more radical request.
By choosing the word ‘berberity’, this book sets the Prehistoric origins of this ancient north-African civilization, without denying what we could also call its native ‘Amazighity’. Anthropology is a social science that has nothing to do with politics or any established history.
Why then including the fall of Carthage? At the end of the second Punic War, the Romans sacked the city of Carthage in 146 BC. It was the beginning of a new colonization age. But it had no real effect on the local identity. The Muslim invasions only started in the 7th - 8th century of the common era. In the book this landmark only serves as a convenient boundary because the Berber identity was already set.
For the time being, this book is in French and has not been translated into English or any other language. It can be purchased through the Amazon network.
Christian Sorand
October 2023
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