Tribe and Society in Rural Morocco is a collection of 11 articles based on fieldwork and ethnographic studies conducted on Moroccan Berber-speaking tribes in particular, among the Aith Waryaghar in the Northern part, the Ait Atta in the South-central Atlas, and the Saghru. Although Arabs and Berbers have lived side by side in Morocco for many years, it is quite evident that the Berber element is very much more than just a remainder. Instead it is 'the backbone' of Moroccan nation and even the foundation of the whole North African structure. Its presence is still very strong even today (p.26). Three different sets of Berber tribal groups exist in Morocco: Tashilhit of the Western high and Anti-Atlas, Tamazight in the Middle Atlas, and Tharifith in the Rif. Today, all Berbers tend to refer to themselves as Imazighen [...] This collection is divided into two parts. In the first part, Hart portrays various features of the precolonial socio-cultural, socio-economic and socio-political organization and customary law of various of Berber-speaking groups. [...] The second part of the book deals specifically with the two ethnolingusitic Berber groups in the Northern part of Morocco: The Arabic-speaking Jbala in the west and the Thamazighth/Tharifith-speaking Rifians in the east. Hart succeeds in making a classification of these two groups based on linguistic, economic, cultural, sociopolitical and religious differences... -- from http://www.jstor.org (May 5, 2011).

An anthropological study of Berber society and particularly the Rifian tribes of Morocoo, a Muslim society. This book deals with the background of these tribes, their settlement in various areas and contemporary issues.

Focusing on the life and work of the British representative in Tangier, John Drummond Hay, this book provides fascinating insights into a critical period in Moroccan history and Moroccan-British relations during the nineteenth-century.

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.

The essays in this volume explore the complexities of the relationship between states, social groups and individuals in contemporary North Africa, as expressed through the politics, culture and history of nationhood. From Morocco to Libya, from bankers to refugees, from colonialism to globalisation, a range of individual studies examines how North Africans have imagined and made their world in the twentieth century.

A scholarly volume devoted to an understanding of contemporary nomadic and pastoral societies in the Middle East and North Africa. This volume recognizes the variable mobile quality of the ways of life of these societies which persist in accommodating the ‘nation-state’ of the 20th and 21st century but remain firmly transnational and highly adaptive. Composed of four sections around the theme of contestation it includes examinations of contested authority and power, space and social transformation, development and economic transformation, and cultures and engendered spaces.

This book examines how ruling elites manage and manipulate their political opposition in the Middle East. In contrast to discussions of government-opposition relations that focus on how rulers either punish or co-opt opponents, this book focuses on the effect of institutional rules governing the opposition. It argues rules determining who is and is not allowed to participate in the formal political arena affect not only the relationships between opponents and the state, but also between various opposition groups. This affects the dynamics of opposition during prolonged economic crises. It also shapes the informal strategies that ruling elites use toward opponents. The argument is presented using a formal model of government-opposition relations. It is demonstrated in the cases of Egypt under Presidents Nasir, Sadat and Mubarek; Jordan under King Husayn; and Morocco under King Hasan II.

These case studies link genealogical knowledge to particular circumstances in which it was created, circulated and promoted. They stress the malleability of kinship and memory, and the interests this malleability serves. From the Prophet's family tree to the present, ideas about kinship and descent have shaped communal and national identities in Muslim societies. So an understanding of genealogy is vital to our understanding of Muslim societies, particularly with regard to the generation, preservation and manipulation of genealogical knowledge.

Practical tips on everything from the best-value hotels and restaurants to transport and roads. Lively accounts of the monuments and sites with informed treatment of Moroccan culture, past and present. Evocative descriptions of the routes and landscapes from mountain pistes to age-old caravan trails across the desert. Comprehensive coverage of trekking in the high Atlas, windsurfing on the Atlantic coast and bird watching in the lakes and estuaries. Full colour photos and more than 70 maps.

Berbers, also known as Imazighen, are the ancient inhabitants of North Africa, but rarely have they formed an actual kingdom or separate nation state. Ranging anywhere between 15-50 million, depending on how they are classified, the Berbers have influenced the culture and religion of Roman North Africa and played key roles in the spread of Islam and its culture in North Africa, Spain, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Taken together, these dynamics have over time converted to redefine the field of Berber identity and its socio-political representations and symbols, making it an even more important issue in the 21st century. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Berbers contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 200 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, places, events, institutions, and aspects of culture, society, economy, and politics. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Berbers.