Arabs and Berbers: From Tribe to Nation in North Africa

448 Pages·1972·10.474 MB·English

by  Ernest Gellner, Charles Micaud

Arabs and Berbers
FROM TRIBE TO NATION IN NORTH AFRICA
EDITED BY
Ernest Gellner
AND
Charles Micaud
DUCKWORTH

First published in Great Britain in 1973 by
Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd.
The Old Piano Factory, 43 Gloucester Crescent, London NWi
© 1972 by D. C. Heath and Company
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, mthout the prior
permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN o 7156 0639 5
Printed in Great Britain
by Ebenezer Baylis and Son Ltd.
The Trinity Press, Worcester, and London

CONTENTS
PREFACE 9
introduction Ernest Gellner n
The traditional base
part one
1 The tribe in modem Morocco: two case studies 25
David M. Hart
2 Political and religious organization of the Berbers of the
central High Atlas 59
Ernest Gellner
3 The socio-political organization of a Berber Taraf tribe:
pre-protectorate Morocco 67
Antal R. Vinogradov
4 Berber imperialism: the Ait Atta expansion in southeast
Morocco 85
Ross E. Dunn
5 Local politics and state intervention: northeast Morocco
from 1870 to 1970 109
J. David Seddon
6 The Mzab 141
E. A. Alport
Ethnicity and nation
part two
7 The social and conceptual framework of Arab-Berber
relations in central Morocco 155
Lawrence Rosen
8 The image of the Moroccan state in French ethnolo­
gical literature: a new look at the origin of Lyautey’s
Berber policy 175
Edmund Burke III
9 The impact of the Dahir Berbère in Salé 201
Kenneth Brown
10 The Berbers and the rise of Moroccan nationalism 217
Louis-Jean Duelos
11 Tribalism, trade and politics: the transformation of the
Swasa of Morocco 231
John Waterbary
12 The neo-makhzan and the Berbers 259
Abdaslam Ben Kaddour
13 Note on the role of the Berbers in the early days of
Moroccan independence 269
A. Coram
14 The political evolution of the Berbers in independent
Morocco 277
Octave Marais
15 The Berbers in the Algerian political elite 285
William B. Quandt
Ethnicity and social change
part three
16 Traditionalism through ultra-modernism 307
Jeanne Favret
17 Berber migrants in Casablanca 325
André Adam
18 Social change among the Tuareg 345
Jeremy H. Keenan
' 19 Patterns of rural rebellion in Morocco during the early
years of independence 361
Ernest Gellner
20 Political authority and social stratification in Mauritania 375
C. C. Stewart
part four The coup of xo July 1971
21 The coup manqué 397
John Waterbary
22 The Berbers and the coup 425
A. Coram
23 Berbers and the Moroccan political system after the
coup
Octave Marais 431
conclusion Charles Micaud 433
441
INDEX
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES
3.1 Typical segmentary organization among the Beni Mtir 71
4.1 Segmentation of the Ait Khabbash 87
15.1 Berbers within the Algerian elite: the revolutionary
period 293
15.2 Berbers within the Algerian elite: the Ben Bella and
Boumedienne periods 300
MAPS
0.1 North-West Africa with regions of Berber speech 16-17
4.1 Ait Atta expansion 91
4.2 The Ziz Valley and Tafilalt 94
5.1 Morocco no
5.2 Province of Nador, northeast Morocco in
5.3 Distribution of tribes in northeast Morocco 112
18. i West-Central Sahara 346
18.2 Ahaggar 347
21. i Morocco and the coup of 1971 408

PREFACE
-------1---------
We acknowledge our indebtedness to the Center for International Race Relations
at the University of Denver which made this book possible. Besides exploring
the significance of ethnicity in the process of nationbuilding and modernization
in North Africa, the present volume makes available contributions by scholars
with an intimate knowledge of various aspects of North African society, contribu­
tions that might otherwise not reach the large audience they deserve. We hope
that the many case studies brought together here will give students of North
Africa a unique and many-sided background for understanding a complex
society, in which traditional structures and values continue to play a major role.
Except for five reprints of articles, listed in the following paragraph, the contri­
butions appear for the first time. All articles (except of course those of Part Four)
were completed well before the Moroccan events of July 1971. We have judged it
preferable to retain the coherence of analysis and argument, rather than attempt
any last-minute injection of new illustrative material.
We thank the following for permission to reprint: the Editor of Man for The
Mzab by E. A. Alport; the Editorial Board of Archives européennes de sociologie
for Traditionalism through Ultra-modernism by Jeanne Favret; Dr Alan Horton
and the American Universities Field Staff for The Coup Manqué by John
Waterbury; the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Sociology for Patterns
of Rural Rebellion in Morocco during the Early Years of Independence by Ernest
Gellner; and to the International African Institute for the map on pp. 16-17.
Political and Religious Organization of the Berbers of the Central High Atlas by
Ernest Gellner was orginally presented at the World Anthropological Congress
in Moscow in 1964.
We are grateful to Miss Adrian Adams for her excellent translation of the
manuscripts received in French; to Mrs Thelma O’Brien for her invaluable
secretarial assistance to Professor Gellner; and to Susan Gellner for putting in a
very great deal of work on the Index. We also acknowledge our gratitude to the
contributors of the volume, who agreed so readily to participate in this team
effort.
E. G. and C. M.