Kabyle people

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Kabyle people
Iqvayliyen
1st row: Daniel Prévost • Lounès Matoub • El Hadj M'Hamed El Anka • Souad Massi • 2nd row: Hocine Aït Ahmed • Ahmed Ouyahia • Lalla Fatma N'Soumer • Mouloud Mammeri • 3rd row: Zinedine Zidane • Isabelle Adjani • Idir • Alain Bashung • 4th row: Mohamed El- Mokrani • Jacques Villeret • Samy Naceri • Mohamed Fellag.
Total population
c. 5.5 to 6 million e1
Regions with significant populations
Mainly living in Algeria & France
 Algeria c. 5.5 million e1
 France c. 1 million e1
Languages

Kabyle language (native), Algerian Arabic and French language (as a result of immigration or language shift)
Religion

Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Atheism

The Kabyle people (Kabyle: Iqvayliyen) are a Berber ethnic group native to Kabylie (or Kabylia) in the north of Algeria, one hundred miles east of Algiers.

They represent the largest Berber-speaking population of Algeria and second in Africa, there are people of Kabyle descent in many countries nowadays. Emigration, influenced by factors such as the French conquest of Algeria, deportation, and latterly industrial decline and unemployment, resulted in Kabyle people being found throughout the world. Large populations of Kabyle people settled in France and, to a lesser extent, Canada.

Kabyles speak the Kabyle language and, since the Berber Spring of 1980, have been at the forefront of the fight for the official recognition of Berber languages in Algeria.

Contents

History

Lalla Fatma N'Soumer, a woman chief of the Rahmaniya Tariqa, led the resistance against French colonization 1851-57. She died in prison at the age of 33

The Kabyle were relatively independent of outside control during the Ottoman Algeria era, and lived primarily in three different kingdoms: the Kuku Kingdom, the Ait Abbas Kingdom, and the principality of Aït Jubar.2 The area was gradually taken over by the French beginning in 1857, despite vigorous resistance by the population led by leaders such as Lalla Fatma n Soumer, continuing as late as Mokrani's rebellion in 1871.

French officials confiscated much land from the more recalcitrant tribes and granted it to colonists, known as pieds-noirs. The French carried out many arrests and deportations of resisters, mainly to New Caledonia (see: "Algerians of the Pacific"). Due to French colonization, many Kabyle emigrated into other areas inside and outside Algeria.3

In the 1920s, Algerian immigrant workers in France organized the first party promoting independence. Messali Hadj, Imache Amar, Si Djilani, and Belkacem Radjef rapidly built a strong following throughout France and Algeria in the 1930s; they developed militants who became vital to the fighting and an independent Algeria.

During the war of independence (1954–1962), Kabylie was the area of much fighting due to the maquis, whose resistance was aided by the mountainous terrain, and catalyzed by French oppression. The armed Algerian revolutionary resistance to French colonialism, the National Liberation Front (FLN), recruited several of its leaders there, including Hocine Aït Ahmed, Abane Ramdane, and Krim Belkacem.

Since the independence of Algeria, tensions have arisen between Kabylie and the central government on several occasions. In 1963 the FFS party of Hocine Aït Ahmed contested the authority of the FLN, which promoted itself as the only party.

In 1980, protesters mounted several months of demonstrations in Kabylie demanding the recognition of Berber as an official language; this period has been called the Berber Spring. The politics of identity intensified during the 1990s as the regime initiated Arabization due to growing Islamist power. In 1994–1995, a school boycott occurred, termed the "strike of the school bag". In June and July 1998, there were violent protests after the assassination of singer Matoub Lounes and the law requiring use of the Arabic language in all fields.

In the months following April 2001 (called the Black Spring), major riots — together with the emergence of the Arouch, neo-traditional local councils, followed the killing of Masinissa Guermah, a young Kabyle, by gendarmes. These gradually decreased after the Kabyle won some concessions from President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Geography

[icon] This section requires expansion. (April 2012)
The Djurdjura chain

The geography of the Kabyle region played an important role in Kabyle history. The difficult mountainous landscape of the Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia Provinces served as a refuge, to which most of the Kabyle people retreated, thus preserving their cultural heritage from other cultural influences, such as romans, Arabs and French.4

Algerian provinces with significant Kabyle-speaking populations includes : Tizi Ouzou , Bouira and Bejaïa where they represent the majority , as well as Boumerdes , Setif , Bordj Bou Arreridj , Jijel . Other provinces with a significant Kabyle population includes Algiers .

The Kabyle region is referred to as Al Qabayel ("tribes") by the Arabic-speaking population and as Kabylie in French, but its inhabitants call it Tamurt Idurar ("Land of Mountains") or Tamurt n Iqvayliyen/Tamurt n Iqbayliyen ("Land of the Kabyles"). It is part of the Atlas Mountains and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean.

Culture and society

Language

The language used by the Kabyles is Kabyle (also called Zouaouah, or Zwāwah), a Berber language of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) family.

Algerian Arabic and French and to a lesser degree English are also spoken as second or third languages.

During first centuries of their history, Kabyles used Tifinagh writing system, but since the beginning of the 19th century, and under French influence, Kabyle intellectuals began to use the Latin script. It gave the modern Berber latin alphabet.

After the independence of Algeria, some Kabyle activists tried to revive old Tifinagh alphabet. This new version of Tifinagh has been called Neo-Tifinagh, but its use remains limited to logos. Kabyle literature continued to be written in the Latin script.

Religion

The Kabyle people are mainly Muslim, with some Christians divided among Roman Catholics and Protestants. Recently, the Protestant community has experienced significant growth, particularly among Evangelical denominations.5

Since the 19th century, there has been a large nominal Sunni Muslim community.6 Among Kabyle Muslims, the main tradition is Maraboutism,.7 Many Zaouia exist all over the region, the Rahmaniyya is the most prolific.

Recent mass conversions to Christianity in the region have urged a national debate over Christian missions in the country, which date back to 1868 by White Fathers installed in Kabylie and in the Sahara, during the great famine in Algeria.8

In 2004, Minister of Religious Affairs Bouabdellah Ghlamallah denounced Christian proselytizing, warning that it could lead to bloodshed in the region. Several weeks later, he said that proselytizing posed no danger, and that "everyone is free to convert and promote the religion he finds right for him. ". Two years later the president declared: "We will not accept our children being turned away from their ancestors religion to Christianity under the pretext of democracy".8

Several months later, the country passed the "Regulation of Religious Practices" law, which stipulates a punishment of two to five years imprisonment and heavy fines for anyone convicted of urging a Muslim to change his religion.8

Economy

The traditional economy of the area is based on arboriculture (orchards, olive trees) and on the craft industry (tapestry or pottery). Mountain and hill farming is gradually giving way to local industry (textile and agro-alimentary). In the middle of the 20th century, with the influence and help of the Kabyle diaspora, many industries started to change the economic face of the region, which is today the second most important in the country after Algierscitation needed.

Politics

Kabyle are among the fiercest activists in the cause of Berber (Amazigh) identity, though a three-way split exists: there are those Kabyles who see themselves as part of a larger Berber nation (Berberists), those who view themselves as part the Algerian nation (known as "Algerianists", some of these also view Algeria as an essentially Berber nation) and those who view Kabyles as a nation separate from (but akin to) other Berber peoples (known as Kabylists).

  • Two political parties dominate in Kabylie and have their principal support base there: the FFS, led by Hocine Aït Ahmed, and the RCD, led by Saïd Sadi. Both parties are secularist, Berberist and "Algerianist".
  • The Arouch emerged during the Black Spring of 2001 as a revival of a traditional Kabyle form of democratic organization, the village assembly. The Arouch share roughly the same political views as the FFS and the RCD.
  • The MAK (Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie) also emerged during the Black Spring, and is a political association that militates for the autonomy of Kabylie. On 21 April 2010, Ferhat Mehenni, the then leader of the MAK proclaimed a Provisional Government of Kabylie in exile (ANAVAD) which was established officially on 1 June 2010 at the Palais des Congrèsdisambiguation needed. He was elected President by the National Council of the MAK and he named nine Ministers.9

Diaspora

For historical and economic reasons, many Kabyles have emigrated to France, where they number about 1.5 million.1011 Many notable French people are of full or partial Kabyle descent, such as Zinedine Zidane, Karim Benzema, Samir Nasri, Marcel Mouloudji, Dany Boon, Jacques Villeret, Daniel Prévost, Marie-José Nat, Isabelle Adjani and Alain Bashung.

Genetics

  • Y-Dna haplogroups, passed on exclusively through the paternal line, were found at the following frequencies in Kabylie: E1b1b1b (E-M81) (47.36%), R1*(xR1a) (15.78%) (later tested as R1b3/R-M269 (now R1b1a2)12), J1 (15.78%), F*(xH, I, J2,K) ( 10.52% ) and E1b1b1c (E-M123) (10.52%).13 The North African pattern of Y-chromosomal variation (including both E1b1b and J haplogroups) is largely of Semitic origin.14
  • MtDNA Haplogroups, inherited only from the mother, were found at the following frequencies: H (32.23%), found throughout Europe; U* (29.03% with 17.74% U6), common to North Africa; preHV (3.23%), preV (4.84%), V (4.84%), T* (3.23%), J* (3.23%), L1 (3.23%), L3e (4.84%), X (3.23%), M1 (3.23%), N (1.61%) and R (3.23%).

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c "Kabyles around the world". Retrieved July 15, 2012. 
  2. ^ E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 4, publié par M. Th. Houtsma, Page: 600
  3. ^ Bélaïd Abane, L'Algérie en guerre: Abane Ramdane et les fusils de la rébellion, p. 74
  4. ^ Le Djurdjura à travers l'histoire by Ammar ou Said Boulifa 1925
  5. ^ Lucien Oulahbib, Le monde arabe existe-t-il ?, page 12, 2005, Editions de Paris, Paris.
  6. ^ Abdelmadjid Hannoum, Violent modernity: France in Algeria, Page 124, 2010, Harvard Center for Middle Eastern studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  7. ^ Amar Boulifa, Le Djurdjura à travers l'histoire depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'en 1830 : organisation et indépendance des Zouaoua (Grande Kabylie), Page 197, 1925, Algiers.
  8. ^ a b c "‘Confronting the Death Arriving From the West’ – Santa Claus in Algeria". memri. January 5, 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2012. 
  9. ^ www. kabylia-gov.org
  10. ^ Salem Chaker, Pour une histoire sociale du berbère en France, Les Actes du Colloque Paris - Inalco, Octobre 2004
  11. ^ James Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: D-K, Good Publishing Group, 2002, p.863. Quote: "Outside North Africa, the largest Kabyle community, numbering around 1.5 million, is in France."
  12. ^ Adams et al. 2008, The genetic legacy of religious diversity and intolerance: paternal lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula
  13. ^ Arredi B, Poloni ES, Paracchini S, Zerjal T, Fathallah DM, Makrelouf M, Pascali VL, Novelletto A, Tyler-Smith C. (2004). "A Predominantly Neolithic Origin for Y-Chromosomal DNA Variation in North Africa". Am J Hum Genet. 75 (2): 338–345. doi:10.1086/423147. PMC 1216069. PMID 15202071. 
  14. ^ Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman and Donald Neal Yates. When Scotland Was Jewish: DNA Evidence, Archeology, Analysis of Migrations ... (quot: Haplogroup J is found at highest frequencies in Middle Eastern and North African). p. 32. Retrieved August 5, 2012. 

External links

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