Amazigh language policy in Algerian education: between revendication and slow implementation
Date
2024
Authors
Quattrini, S.
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Journal article
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Rowaq Arabi, 2024; 29(3):11-28
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Language policy in education is often a site of struggle for equality and identity, especially for minorities and Indigenous peoples.1 This paper focuses on Amazigh language policy as it relates to, and sits in tension with, the advocacy of Indigenous Amazigh activists and language practitioners in Algeria. While the country has made some progress at a policy level concerning Tamazight teaching in schools over the past thirty years, this progress has often come at a high price for Amazigh activists and has been accompanied by socio-political tensions. Hence, the slow rollout of Tamazight teaching on the ground cannot be analysed without looking at the structural discrimination faced by the community and the overall shrinking of civil society space. The paper employs a human rights framework, particularly an Indigenous peoples’ rights lens, while borrowing concepts from decolonial linguistics. Drawing on desk based research of existing policies and targeted interviews with Tamazight speakers, the paper concludes that state-sponsored measures must be supported by genuine civil society participation, especially of representatives of concerned communities, through a human rights-based approach to language planning. It identifies priority areas for Amazigh language policy in multilingual education to advance equitable and inclusive education in Algeria.
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Copyright 2024. This content is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en)