Between Algeria and France: The origins of the Berber movement

Abstract

The Berber uprisings of April 1980 in Algeria constitute the culmination of two decades of activism and militancy in France and Algeria. The militants’ objective was twofold: first, to raise awareness among Berber people, and second to force the Algerian state to recognise the specificity of Berber culture (and language) and acknowledge it as a component of Algerian identity. This article identifies the different factors in France and Algeria that led to the Berber uprisings and provides an insight into one of the most vibrant and creative, but also repressive, decades in Algerian postcolonial history. The factors I address here are the process of Arabisation; the role of the Berber Academy in Paris along with the influential presence and work of Taos Amrouche and Mouloud Mammeri; the function of the Kabyle radio station Chaîne 2 in Algeria, and the development and impact of the new Kabyle song.