“What is a Berber?”: Characterizations of Imazighen from Britain and Morocco

Head, Byron (2014) “What is a Berber?”: Characterizations of Imazighen from Britain and Morocco. Undergraduate thesis, under the direction of Nicolas Trepanier from History, University of Mississippi.

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Abstract

This thesis seeks to investigate the similarities and differences in the characterization of Amazigh identity between nineteenth century British writings and contemporary (early twenty-first century) Moroccan news articles. The methods employed to do so included broad reading of both British and Moroccan writings, and analysis and sorting of the characterizations found therein. The results of this process showed that the British perspective, while nuanced, focused excessively on the Amazigh as violent and less civilized; contemporary Moroccan news sources portrayed the Amazigh as peaceful, organized, and seeking equal rights within Morocco. Conclusions of this study are thus: the British perspective, while not entirely inaccurate, was mediated by Orientalist thought; several fundamental aspects of Amazigh culture changed in the intervening period between the two groups of sources.

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