The Bulaaq Publishing House in Amsterdam will bring to the public a long-awaited Dutch translation of the book Thirty Three Centuries of History of the Imazighen published in 1989, authored by Mohammed Chafik in Arabic. The book includes a chapter written for this edition about the recent developments in the Amazigh (Berber) world, since the independence of the main home countries of Imazighen, Morocco and Algeria. The book can be ordered from Bulaaq,  The Cultural Association Adrar (Tilburg), or in België at  Van Halewyck, Leuven. For books available for sale by Adrar klick here

On September 24 2003, Dr Yahya E-rramdani defended his doctoral dissertation Acquiring Tarifit-Berber by Children in the Netherlands and Morocco at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. The book is published by Aksant Uitgeverij(Amsterdam), and is also available at Adrar at this e-mail

Education

Colloquia and symposia

Mother tongue education of Tamazight has become a fact in Morocco starting Spetember 15, 2003. More than 300 elementary schools are taking part in this experiment. More than 1000 teachers had received an estra training for this puropose. The BMCE (Banque Marocaine pour le Commerce Exterieure) Foundation had already initiated this teaching in some primary schools that it had built as part of its program. The time allotted to this teaching is 2 hours a week. Because of the nature of regional variation in Tamazight (Berber), the teaching has to take this into consideration: The three major varieties are all taught in their respective regions (Tarifit in the north, Tamazight in the central area, and Tashelhit more to the south). The ides -according to IRCAM sources is to gradually insert a small amount of Standard Tamazight in the educational programs, with the goal to reach one variety, a Standrd for all learners and/of speakers of Tamazight. How well-founded is this strategy, and can it really guarantee a better future for Tamazight? The answer to all likeliyhood is NO. One cannot say much about the real plans of the ministry of Education in Morocco, as long as there are no documents accessible to the public, which would outline the language policy of Morocco, it is very hard to speculate on what the future will be like. The well-known Charte Nationale de l'education has attributed a role of a "supporting language" for Tamazight and other dialects, to improve the teaching of Arabic...An approach familiar to those living in immigration countries, where their mother tongue is relegated to the service of the 'national' or official language, as is the case with the popular OALT (Education in Modern Ethnic Minority Languages).For a brief overview of the relevant articles for Tamazight klick> here

The CRDPP (Centre de la Recherche Didactique et des Programmes Pédagogiques)is orgnising on the 28 and 29 of November 2003 an international symposium about the status of teaching Tamazight. More information (in French) is available at the official website of the IRCAM The CAL (Centre d'amenagement linguistique) of the IRCAM is organising an international symposium on standardising the Amazigh language, on 8 and 9 december 2003. More information on this event and on other upcoming ones at the IRCAM are als available at the website of IRCAM.

A very nice music CD by Choukri has just been launched! For information and ordering, follow this link.
The band Thidrin has also launched the CD Mohand Ameqqran (in reference to the Rif leader Abdelkrim Al-Khattabi). Follow this link for more information, but also for a visit to the virtual gallery of M'hamed Abettoy website of the band Thidrin.

The Berber Festival at the Intercultural Centrum Zuiderpershuis (Antwerpen, Belgium) features concerts, films, talks, and a lot more. Visit the website of the Intercultural Center for the Art.