Imaginative geographies of Amazigh activism in Morocco

Abstract

This paper analyzes the geographical imaginations of Amazigh activists, the indigenous people of North Africa. Situated at the crossroads of post-colonial theory, indigenous language rights and national narratives of inclusion and exclusion, the paper discusses the Amazigh movement in Morocco. The issue of language rights is particularly important to the movement and this is reflected in the paper through an emphasis on Tamazight script choice and perceptions of the Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe (IRCAM). IRCAM is the government entity charged with the standardization of the Tamazight languages and the implementation of Tamazight instruction in Moroccan schools. Debates over the role of IRCAM and the choice of an official script for Tamazight language instruction form an important area of contestation within the activist movement. Despite activists' differences in opinion on these key issues, the imaginative geographies they articulate through these debates share similar visions of national Amazigh identity. These imaginative geographies re-imagined the Moroccan nation by asserting that all Moroccans are Amazigh while continuing to produce a transnational imaginative geography of 'Tamazgha,' a greater Amazigh land across all of North Africa.

Spatial Imaginaries Research in Geography: Synergies, Tensions, and New Directions

“…Place imaginaries transmitting 'otherings' have been documented at numerous sites: neighborhoods (Ealham 2005), subnational regions (Boudreau 2007), nation-states (Martin and Simon 2008), supranational regions (Said 2003), and global divisions like the 'North-South' binary (Slater 1997). Different groups also circulate complex and competing spatial imaginaries of the same place (Chang and Lim 2004;Cornwell and Atia 2012;Davis 2011).…”

“…Geographers have extensively drawn from this linguistic-representational conception (Bale 1996;Harvey et al 2011;Chang 2010;Cornwell and Atia 2012;Davis 2011;Kothari 2006;Kothari and Wilkinson 2010;McFarlane 2004;Millington 2013;Seller 2009;Slater 1997). Representational conceptions often emphasize how spatial imaginaries create an identity for the people of a place (Bale 1996;Radcliffe 1996).…”

“…Representational conceptions often emphasize how spatial imaginaries create an identity for the people of a place (Bale 1996;Radcliffe 1996). Power is associated with the ability to naturalize place imaginaries through representation, and studies often describe place imaginaries' characteristics, inaccuracies, and beneficiaries (Bale 1996;Cornwell and Atia 2012;Davis 2011;Kothari 2006;Kothari and Wilkinson 2010;Slater 1997). Kothari and Wilkinson's (2010) analysis of British colonial spatial imaginaries of islands in the Indian Ocean provides an excellent example.…”

“…Discourses are socially created ideas structuring how certain topics are understood and talked about, knowledges and notions of what counts as knowledge (Sharp 2009, p. 19). Predominately, geographers have explained spatial imaginaries as representational discourses about places and spaces (Bale 1996;Cornwell and Atia 2012;Davis 2011;Kothari 2006;Millington 2013;Radcliffe 1996;Said 2003). However, some geographers are now defining them as performative discourses (Bialasiewicz et al 2007;Gregory 2004;Martin and Simon 2008;Pilkey 2013;Puar 2006;Talburt and Matus 2014).…”

Imaginative geographies of Sub-Saharan Africa in the Czech environment: outline of topic

“…Jak Said, tak Gregory se ve svém dı́le věnovali zejména imaginativnı́m geogra-fiı́m Blı́zkého a Střednı́ho východu, nicméně koncept je využitelný i v analýze jiných prostorových, časových a sociálnı́ch kontextů (Gregory 1995, s. 454). V oboru geografie vznikly s kontextuálnı́ citlivostı́ napřı́klad analýza imagina-tivnı́ch geografiı́ rozšiřovaných aktivistickou skupinou v Maroku (Cornwell, Atia 2012), analýza imaginativnı́ch geografiı́ Mongolska podle současných zá-padnı́ch cestopisů (Tavares, Brosseau 2006), ale i analýzy imaginativnı́ch geo-grafiı́ prostorů indického outsourcingu (Prasad, Prasad 2012) nebo imaginativnı́ geografie rozvojových zemı́, jež jsou rutinně spojovány s násilnostmi (Springer 2009(Springer , 2011.…”