From Berber To Amazigh

Amazigh is one ethnic group in North Africa,which is widely distributed in the area stretching from Egypt in the east to Morocco in the west,and expanded north along the Mediterranean reach-ing to the desert of Sahara in the south-the western part of the Arab world,namely Maghreb(Morocco,Algeria,Tunisia,Libya and the areas around).Additionally,there is a large number of desperate groups in Europe,America,etc."Amazigh" is an endonym of this ethnic group,while one exonym of the ethnic group has more famous reputation:Berber.It is commonly acknowledged that Berber is the oldest indigenous people we have found inhabiting the Maghreb in North Africa.From the second half of 20th century,the ethnic group of Berber is transforming from a spontane-ous ethnic group to a conscientious one,replacing the exonym of "Berber" by the endonym of"Amazigh" This changement is creating the wake of the ethnic consciousness and ethnic identity of modern Amazigh.During the post-colonial period in the second half of 20th century,Arab nationalism has spread across the Maghreb,crushing the traditional culture and the political right of Amazigh in this region At the end of 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century,the ethnic group of Amazigh has been recognized in Morocco and Algeria for the first time through a long period of ethnic move-ments.However,on the land of Tunisia,as one of the birthplaces of the ancient Berbers,the gov-ernment has not yet acknowledged the existence of Amazigh or Berber as an ethnic group in its territory.Tunisia,one of the most open countries in Maghreb,is deeply influenced by foreign cultures,especially Arabic and European cultures.The Amazigh(Berber)in Tunisia have been in the melt-ing pot of Amazigh(Berber)culture and Arabic culture.Due to the influence of Arab nationalism,the disregard of the government,and the highly assimilated culture,Amazigh in Tunisia has not received sufficient international attention as an ethnic group.At the same time,there is a lack of domestic research on North Africa as a whole because of many reasons,such as geographical location,inside China.In recent years,the "Arab Spring" has a profound impact on the international situation;also,"Belt and Road" initiative of cooperation increasingly triggers the urge to grasp the knowledge of North Africa.Therefore,it is necessary to study Tunisia and Amazigh for Chinese anthropologists and ethnologists.This thesis is based on my 16-months fieldwork in Tunisia.By analyzing and applicating of the fieldwork and related documents,I have studied the ethnogenesis of the Amazigh ethnic group in Tunisia,in order to explore the construction,reconstruction,presentation and representation of the ethnic identity of the Amazigh in Tunisia.It is mainly involved in the continuity from the pre-modern Berber to the modern Amazigh,the historical memory,the linguistic memory and the cul-tural memory owned by Imazighen(plural form of "Amazigh"),and the application of these mem-ories in the construction,representation and interpretation of the Amazigh ethnic identity and so on.The dissertation is divided into six chapters:Chapter 1 is the introduction which mainly introduces the background and significance of the topic that I devoted to.The overview of the Amazigh in Tunisia is based on relevant literature on anthropological ethnology,fieldwork,etc.Besides,this chapter introduces the major methodology employed throughout my research and the overall structure of the article.Chapter 2 reveals the ecological,political,economic,social and historical background of Amazigh.This chapter provides the basic situation of today's Tunisia in Meghreb,and the ethnic group of Amazigh people.Besides,there is the history of Tunisia,which is actually the history of Amazigh(Berber).To a certain extent,the historical continuity of the pre-modern Berber can be found in the ethnic group of Amazigh in modern sense.Thus,it is necessary to explore the history of Tunisia so that we can understand the ethnogenesis of the Tunisian Amazigh.Before the Phoe-nicians,Berber had already been in the land of today's Tunisia,while Phoenicians brought civili-zation to this area.At first,Carthage can be seen as a result of the compatibility between Berbers and Phoenicians.Later on,between the dominations by outsiders,such as ancient Roma,Vandals,Byzantium,Arabic,Ottoman Turkey,France,etc.,Berbers established Numidia,Almohad,Hafsids,etc..Finally,the Republic of Tunisia declared its independence after the colonial period.Chapter 3 mainly discusses the utilization and choice of Tunisian historical memory in the construction of the today's Amazigh ethnic identity.The Tunisian history has the characteristic of ethical variety because it is fully inclusive and equitable to foreign population and culture.Today,the historical memory related to Amazigh has been selectively utilized in the construction of Amazigh ethnic identity.For Imazighen,it is believed that Amazigh(Berber)culture lies in the oldest inhabitants' memory in North Africa.Moreover,the memory contains the historical memory of North African ruler-Numidia and its fierce rivalry with the great neighbours-ancient Roma and Carthage,the heroine historical memory of Kahina-the Berber Queen and other heroes against the invaders of Arabs,the colonial memory of Berber ethnic identification recognized by the French government,the memory of the government dictatorship suppressing Amazigh(Berber)ethnic identity,et.al.Chapter 4 is a discussion on the development from the exonym "Berber" to the endonym of"Amazigh",and roles of the languages and writing systems playing in the ethnogenesis of the Amazigh."Berber" as the exonym had been given by outsiders,means "barbarian",while"Amazigh" as the endonym appeared in the middle of 20s century,means "free man" or "noble man".As the foundation of the ethnogenesis of the ancient Berber and modern Amazigh,language is the most important distinction between Amazigh(Berber)and other ethnic groups.However,the Amazigh(Berber)writing system-Tifinagh has vanished in the long history.Today,Amazigh language lingers on the verge of extinction with the deepening of Arabization.However,the Amazigh people have kept the language and the writing system in to their memory and simplified them,and use them to structure and express their ethnic identity.Chapter 5 is related to the cultural memory of Amazigh(Berber)in Tunisia.Today in Tunisia,many cultures still retain the characteristics of traditional Amazigh(Berber)culture,such as trog-lodytism-traditional housing form,Couscous-traditional staple dish,traditional handicraft tap-estry and pottery,traditional clothing and ornaments,and certain traditions of names,family and marriage.Around the same time,social changes,especially modernization,challenges the tradi-tional culture of Amazigh(Berber)in Tunisia.Still,Imazighen have retained their memory of tra-ditional culture and stress the cultural differences between them and the Arabs by retelling cultural memory in order to construct their ethnic identity.Chapter 6 is the conclusion that discusses the way,with the heritage of the pre-modern Berber history,that Amazigh has applied the historical memory,linguistic memory and cultural memory into constructing the ethnic identity of Amazigh,under the suppression of the state power.In the ethnogenesis of the modern Amazigh,Tunisian Imazighen are the agents who use former materials to create a new dynamic ethnic identity.