Tamazight (Berber) Online Resources

The Berber department at the University of Tizi-Ouzou was created in 1980. The Amazigh Language and Culture Department was created in Tizi-Ouzou on the eve of January 25, 1990. The goal of this institution was to set up a Master level graduate program in Berber language. A decade after the events of spring 1980, the Algerian Higher Education Ministry had finally accepted the presence of Berber (cf. Chaker 1989/90, chap. 9). One year later (October 1991), a second Berber department was created in Bougie. Since their creation, Berberists say, the two departments have been operating under very difficult conditions. After the improved in relations between the government and its Berber allies the government began to consider the introduction of Tamazight in Algerian schools in 1994. In 1995, the Algerian president L. Zeroual established an agency to introduce Tamazight in Education, leading to "pilot programs" being started in 16 provinces out of a total of 48. At the beginning of the 1996 academic year, a decision from the Ministry of Higher Education imposed the establishment of a licence degree in Berber Language and Culture in the two Berber departments. And after the foundation of the HCA in Algeria in 1996, several initiatives in favour of teaching Berber in secondary schools were taken; training courses for teachers were organised; and Berber courses were started in several schools. The Canadian Ministry of Education in Ontario had officially recognised Tamazight language and integrated it within its Program of International languages in Ontario on 2001. The Catalonian parliament also adopted a resolution (1197/VI) in support of the Amazigh language and the introduction of Tamazight at the university level in 2002. The government of Morocco had promised the Berbers the freedom to use their language in education in 1994, but this did not materialise until the 15th of September 2003, when Berber language was officially introduced in 317 primary schools across Morocco, on an experimental basis, which the Moroccan Ministry of Education aims to extend to all schools in the country by 2013. Also historic, the Tuareg's primary-secondary school at Imbassassoutene, south of Timbuktu, which through its six classes teaches (in Tamazight) those between the ages of six and eighteen; and another school at Djebok, forty kilometres east of Gao. After the February 2011 uprising in Libya, the Berbers of Nafousa Mountain, namely in Jado and Yefren, established their own classes to teach Berber using Tifinagh; they did not need a permission from any government because there was none at the time.

Universities, Schools, Courses:

• Universite Mouloud Mammeri, Tizi Ouzou, Algeria: contact Tamazight Language Department.
  
  
• Le Centre De Recherche Berbere De l'Inalco (CRB): postal address: 2, rue de Lille, 75343 Paris. Cedex 07. Actual adresse: 49bis, avenue de la Belle Gabrielle, 75012 Paris. Website: http://www.centrederechercheberbere.fr/
  
  
• Universite de Bejaia, Department of Tamazight Language & Culture.
  
  
• Imazighene (Paris), de I'Academie  Agraw Imazighene, 37 bis, rue, des Marronites, 75020  Paris. 

• Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, 2, Rue de Lille, 75007  Paris.
  
  
• Mande Bukari University, P. O. Box 3041 Bamako, Mali.
  
  
• Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco: Amazigh Culture Studies.
  
  
• SOAS: Schools of Oriental And African Studies, London UK.
  
  
• The British Library (http://www.bl.uk/), London, UK: teach yourself anything you want.

• Leiden University, Holland: Prof. Harry Stroomer, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden. Mena Lafkioui, m.lafkioui@let.leidenuniv.nl (Tarifit dialect), Tashelh’it (Tachelhit) and other Berber dialects: Prof. Dr. Harry Stroomer (Berber Languages).
  
  
• Academic Institutions in the Netherlands, research & teaching Tamazigh in the Netherlands:
  
  
  • University of Leiden
  • University of Tilburg
  • University of Utrecht
  • University of Nijmegen

• University of Cadiz, Spain, courses in Tamazight.

• Universite Paris III    Sorbonne Nouvelle  (Centre Censier), 13, rue  Santeuil,   75005  Paris. Groupe D'etudes Berberes - Universite Paris III, 2, rue de la Liberte, 93526  Saint-Denis cedex 02.

• University of Michigan:
  
  
  • 1)- Course In Spoken Tamazight (Ayt Ayache and Ayt Seghrouchen dialects, Middle Atlas).
  • 2)- Reference Grammar of Tamazight Language.
  • 3)- Comuterised Lexicon of the Tamazight Language.

• Ottawa, Canada: ACAOH (Amazigh Cultural Association in Ottawa-Hull) reported that Tamazight classes are to resume in September 2002, every Saturday. They also reported that Ottawa approved the introduction of Tamazight “in primary and high school classes on demand.”
  
  
• IRCAM: The Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture: Centre des affaires (Aile Sud), Avenue Riad, BP 2055 Hay Riad Rabat, Tel: 037-71-78-83, 037-71-77-84/85, fax: 037-71-49-63.http://www.ircam.ma/: the web site of Morocco’s  Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture: download Tamazight keyboard for Windows and Mac based systems.

Journals, Periodicals, Encyclopedias & Research Links:

• Le Journal Officiel du Gouvernement provisoire kabyle: http://www.anavad.org/-le-journal-officiel-du,025-.html?lang=fr
  
  
• Berber Encyclopedia: Encyclopédie Berbère.
  
  
• The Journal Of North African Studies (JNAS), published in Summer, Autumn and Winter by Frank Cass And Company Limited, Newbury House, 900 Eastern Avenue, London IG2 7HH, England  You can access some of its material through help@ingenta.com.  The Editor George Joefé writes, “To date, there has not been an academic journal in English devoted solely to the subject of North Africa . . . The Journal of North African Studies is an attempt to respond to this objective . . . [It] intends to become the journal of record for the region in the English Language . . . Most of all, however, we wish to create a vehicle in which scholars can, for the first time, exchange ideas and opinions in English as a contribution to the study of a region which has, until now, suffered from a degree of benign neglect” (Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer 1996). The Centre for North African Studies was founded in 1995 as an independent charity; it organises lectures and forums on N. African affairs, and sponsors research.
  
  
• Libya Antiqua:  a periodical of the Libyan Department of Antiquities. The Robinson Library has most of the first series (1960 – 1980), while the SOAS Library, [L UVL913.3974 330838; and Per 107L 246711],  holds Vol.1-16 (1964-1979); New Series Vol. 1, 2, 3 (1995, 96, 97).

• Libyan Studies: a periodical of the Society for Libyan Studies, c/o The Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square London, WC1H OPY, http://www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/libya/

• Almogaren, Institutum Canarium (IC): a fascinating research journal, containing serious studies about Tamazight culture, mythology, religion, prehistoric art and writing systems. London’s SOAS catalogue: UVL 916.4, 397,060.
  
  
• Tamatart: Libyan Berber Encyclopedia (in Arabic): http://www.tamatart.com/

  

• Tidmi: a Moroccan weekly review, devoted to Berber culture, published in Rabat.

• Ifer N Awal: Ifer n wawal: Journal Bimestriel de la culture et civilisation amazighe. Periodique de l'Association Culturelle Awal de Lyon.

• Tawiza: a monthly journal, current issue: 121, May 2007.
  
  
• Air Info: Agadez, 2002: http://www.airinfo-journal.com/index.php
  
  
  
  Air Info: the Tuareg newspaper Air Info was launched in August 2002 by Ibrahim Manzo Diallo, a teacher and a student of literature at the University of Niamey. Agadez was his first newspaper. The first issue appeared on August 9, 2002. In April 2004, the newspaper officially became a media group, which currently has five-permanent employees in Agadez and seven correspondents around the rest of the region.
  
  
• The Damagaram:
  
  
  In 2006, another local newspaper was born in Zinder: the Damagaram; which has its own headquarters in Zinder and its own editorial staff.

• Izuran: a monthly magazine “devoted exclusively to Amazighité” [meaning Tamazight].

• Awal: Cahier d’Etudes Berbères: 54, bd Raspail, 75006 Paris France.
  
  
• Kabyle Wikipedia: http://kab.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asebter_amenzawi
  
  
  
  
• JDK: Journal de Kabylie: http://www.journaldekabylie.com/

• AIMS: the American Institute for Maghrib Studies: promotes the systematic study of North Africa; sponsors the journal; provides funding support; and maintains overseas research centres in Tunis (CEMAT) and Tangiers (TALM). Contact: John P. Entelis, AIMS secretary, Middle East Studies Program-LL915A, Fordham University, 113 West 60th Street, New York, New York 10023, USA.

• Harvard African Studies, Harvard university.

• Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (not to be confused with The Encyclopedia of Religion).

• Archives Berbères, Paris: a French journal devoted to Berber studies.

• Tilelli Ifran Newspaper, Libya: http://libyatadreft.com/
  
  
  
  

• Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org).

• Page by page books: http://www.pagebypagebooks.com: similar to Project Gutenberg.

• eBay is also, sometimes, a good source of old books.
  
  
• Google’s Book search.

• Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.co.uk/).
  
  
  
  
  
• Recent Berber Publications: http://www.librairie-berbere.com
  
  
• Dr. Lameen Souag: http://sites.google.com/site/lameen/home

• Bibliographical References: http://www.ee.umd.edu/~sellami/ref.html

• Lucius Apuleius of Madauros (http://www.tazzla.org/apuleius.htm): Berber-Greek Philosopher and World Advocate (c.124 – c. 180 AD): “What subsequent scholarship has failed to emphasize, however, is that Lucius Apuleius  was the first Amazigh philosopher and novelist of world fame, indeed the  first African to Publish outside Africa”  (Extract from http://www.tazzla.org/apuleius.htm , by Helene E. Hagan).

• Berber scholar Chafik wins Prince Claus Award: http://www.mondeberbere.com/culture/chafik/claus_eurolang.htm -  “No Berber has ever received such a worthy prize before.”

• Astronomy: http://www.mondeberbere.com/civilization/science/itran.htm - a list of Berber star names, by Tufiq I. Mostefaoui.

Early Publications:

The following books, magazines and periodicals date back from the 1970s and early 1980s. They are listed here for historical (or nostalgic) reasons.

Tajerrumt N Tmazight
Tantala Taqbaylit
By Mouloud Mammeri
Paris
1976

Amawal:
Amawal (lexique), Berber-French, French Berber Dictionary, 
Imedyazen, Paris, 1980.

The newsletter of the Amazigh Cultural Association in America.
P.O.Box 1763, Bloomington, IL 61702, USA.

TISURAF
Bulletin d'etudes Berberes
Centre De Recherche de l'Universite de Paris VIII 2, rue de la Liberte-93526
Saint-Denis Cedex 02.
Tel:829 23 01.

Tilelli Association Culture le berbere Ioi 1901,
46 rue montorgueil 75002
Paris.

Tamurt

Tiddukla

Tifinagh
Paris, London
Cultural magazine exploring Libyan Berber culture.
Published between 1983 and 1986.