Like many indigenous groups that have endured centuries of subordination, the Berber/Amazigh peoples of North Africa are demanding linguistic and cultural recognition and the redressing of injustices. Indeed, the movement seeks nothing less than a refashioning of the identity of North African states, a rewriting of their history, and a fundamental change in the basis of collective life. In so doing, it poses a challenge to the existing political and sociocultural orders in Morocco and Algeria, while serving as an important counterpoint to the oppositionist Islamist current. This is the first book-length study to analyze the rise of the modern ethnocultural Berber/Amazigh movement in North Africa and the Berber diaspora. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman begins by tracing North African history from the perspective of its indigenous Berber inhabitants and their interactions with more powerful societies, from Hellenic and Roman times, through a millennium of Islam, to the era of Western colonialism. He then concentrates on the marginalization and eventual reemergence of the Berber question in independent Algeria and Morocco, against a background of the growing crisis of regime legitimacy in each country. His investigation illuminates many issues, including the fashioning of official national narratives and policies aimed at subordinating Berbers in an Arab nationalist and Islamic-centered universe; the emergence of a counter-movement promoting an expansive Berber "imagining" that emphasizes the rights of minority groups and indigenous peoples; and the international aspects of modern Berberism.
A comparative study based on extensive fieldwork, and an original database of gender-based reforms in the Middle East and North Africa, Aili Mari Tripp analyzes why autocratic leaders in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia adopted more extensive women's rights than their Middle Eastern counterparts.
“Undoubtedly the most comprehensive analysis of the role of culture and emergent practices in capacity building currently at hand. d’Estrée and Parsons have produced a commendable amalgamation and scrutiny of local, cultural, and Indigenous mediation practices in a number of contexts that empower local people while interacting and integrating with Western mediation models in a blend of hybridity. The book is beautifully structured and will attract a wide readership including graduate and undergraduate students.” —Sean Byrne, Director, Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace & Justice, and Professor, Peace & Conflict Studies, University of Manitoba, Canada “Since late 1990s conflict resolution field has recognized the need to integrate culture in its processes. This book goes beyond such theoretical recognition and provides empirical evidence and solid concrete cases on how local actors from a wide range of cultural contexts integrated their cultural analysis and tools in their own sustainable conflict resolution processes. It also offers an effective set of guidelines and lessons learned for policy makers and peacebuilding practitioners on the need to deepen their reliance on local cultural practices of peace.” —Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution, School of International Service, American University, and Founder and Director of the Salam: Peacebuilding and Justice Institute in Washington, DC, USA “The evolving identities of communities impacted by deep historical divisions and population migration, in the context of life threatening resource shortages, present opportunities and challenges for conflict transformation professionals at every level. d'Estrée and Parsons respond to this challenge with a remarkable collection of stories from around the world that amplify the innovation in the field while capturing its history and complexity. It serves as the bridge between mediation and peacebuilding that is so necessary today.” —Prabha Sankaranarayan, CEO, Mediators Beyond Borders International “In this excellent book, Tamra Pearson d’Estrée and Ruth Parsons (and their impressive collection of case study authors) have analysed four generations of conflict resolution/transformation theory and practice. They highlight the diverse ways in which the burgeoning field of conflict resolution theorists and practitioners mirrored the ascendance and now decline of the neo-liberal western project. First and second generation efforts were based on notions of possessive individualism, rational choice theory and a general acceptance of the status quo. Culture was ignored or eliminated as were deeper questions of political and social inequality. But more importantly, there was an unwillingness to consider the power and the wisdom that resided in locality. Third and fourth generation conflict transformers, on the other hand, have engaged these deeper questions and focused more attention on emancipatory creative partnerships, social and economic justice, co-learning and hybridised models flowing from external engagement with local wisdom. This is a book that needs to be read by anyone interested in the transformative power of conflict resolution and long term social and political change.” —Kevin P Clements, Professor, Chair and Foundation Director, The National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, New Zealand While waves of scholarship have focused either on the value of presumed universal models or of traditional practices of conflict resolution, curiously missing has been the recognition and analysis of the actual intermingling and interacting of western and local cultural practices that have produced new and emergent practices in our global community. In this compilation of case studies, the authors describe partnerships forged between local practice expertise and bearers of “western/institutional” models to build innovative approaches to mediation and conflict resolution. Including stories of these experiences and the resulting hybrid models that emerged, the book explores central questions of cultural variation and integration, such as the perception of purpose and function of resolution processes, attitudes toward conflict, arenas and timeframes, third party roles, barriers to process use, as well as how to remain true to culture and context. It also examines partnership dynamics and lessons learned for modern cross-cultural collaboration.
This volume provides a comparative analysis of media systems in the Arab world, based on criteria informed by the historical, political, social, and economic factors influencing a country’s media. Reaching beyond classical western media system typologies, Arab Media Systems brings together contributions from experts in the field of media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to provide valuable insights into the heterogeneity of this region’s media systems. It focuses on trends in government stances towards media, media ownership models, technological innovation, and the role of transnational mobility in shaping media structure and practices. Each chapter in the volume traces a specific country’s media – from Lebanon to Morocco – and assesses its media system in terms of historical roots, political and legal frameworks, media economy and ownership patterns, technology and infrastructure, and social factors (including diversity and equality in gender, age, ethnicities, religions, and languages). This book is a welcome contribution to the field of media studies, constituting the only edited collection in recent years to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of Arab media systems. As such, it will be of great use to students and scholars in media, journalism and communication studies, as well as political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists with an interest in the MENA region.
This book compares the relatively peaceful relationship between the Berbers and the Moroccan state with the violent relationship between the Kurds and the Turkish state.
Genomics and Health in the Developing World provides detailed and comprehensive coverage of population structures, human genomics, and genome variation--with particular emphasis on medical and health issues--in the emerging economies and countries of the developing world. With sections dedicated to fundamtals of genetics and genomics, epidemiology of human disease, biomarkers, comparative genomics, developments in translational genomic medicine, current and future health strategies related to genetic disease, and pertinent legislative and social factors, this volume highlights the importance of utilizing genetics/genomics knowledge to promote and achieve optimal health in the developing world. Grouped by geographic region, the chapters in this volume address: - Inherited disorders in the developing world, including a thorough look at genetic disorders in minority groups of every continent - The progress of diagnostic laboratory genetic testing, prenatal screening, and genetic counseling worldwide - Rising ethical and legal concerns of medical genetics in the developing world - Social, cultural, and religious issues related to genetic diseases across continents Both timely and vastly informative, this book is a unique and comprehensive resource for genetists, clinicians, and public health professionals interested in the social, ethical, economic, and legal matters associated with medical genetics in the developing world.
"This volume formulates the hypothesis of a truly global revolution that reflected a Great Divide between ancient and new legal regimes. The volume brings together several case studies of transition from an ancient to a new legal regime characterized by the positivization of the law. This was an effect of Western imperialism, but also of local elites' conviction that positive law was an efficient instrument of governance. The contributors emphasize the depth and scale of the positivist legal revolution and explore the phenomenon whether it was the outcome of either direct colonialism (Morocco, Egypt, India) or indigenous reformism (Ottoman empire, China, Japan). Contributors are: Léon Buskens, Jean-Philippe Dequen, Baudouin Dupret, Jean-Louis Halpérin, Béatrice Jaluzot, Gianluca Parolin, Avi Rubin, and Tzung-Mou Wu"--
Language policy is heterogeneous and varies according to its object, levels of intervention, purpose, participants and institutions involved, underlying language ideologies, local contexts, power relations, and historical contexts. This volume offers unique cross-cultural perspectives on language planning and policy in diverse African and Middle Eastern contexts, including South Africa, Bahrain, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Zambia, and Algeria. The African diaspora is also considered, as is the case of Brazil. By bringing together diverse contexts in Africa and the Middle East, this volume encourages a dialogue in the burgeoning scholarship on language policies in different regions of Africa and the Middle East in order to inspect the intersection between language policy discourses and their social, political, and educational functions.
Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples.
