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Berdahem
Abelaziz
Morroco
E-mail
abd100@student.uit.no
Phone/Mobile
97713751
Educational Background:
Bachelor of Arts in English and Literature (2000)
Monograph title: Postcolonial Approach to Travel Writing: the Case of Vincent Carpanzano’s “Tuhami: Portrait of a Morrocan. University of Moulay Ismail, Meknes, Morocco
Master"s of Indigenous Studies Thesis Title:
Free in our name but invisible in our land? Indigenous Identity Awareness: the case of Imazighen ("Berbers") in the Moroccan Arab State
Thesis Topic/Question:
In the Tamazighet language Imazighen means “free people”, but do they have the freedom to enjoy rights to their culture and language under the rule of the Moroccan Arab state?
The thesis asks the questions: Has there been continuous awareness of indigenousness among Imazighen in Morocco throughout the periods of European Colonization and post-independence Arabization? Is Imazighen self-ascription as indigenous simply a creation of local and global indigenous activism, as the Moroccan Arab state and the anti-Amazighe movement have claimed, or is it a reflection of their authentic presence in North Africa since time immemorial-with all the attachments to land, culture and language that First Peoples generally share? What are the different discourses in demanding their rights to culture and language as an indigenous people within the Moroccan state and in the face of anti- Amazighe Movement and the pro-Arab state?
The thesis is co-funded by the research project entitled “The Challenge of Indigenousness: Politics of Rights, Resources and Knowledge” at the Centre for Sámi Studies, University of Tromsø, financed by the Norwegian Research Council
Motivations for applying to the MIS program:
“I wanted to empower myself more as an indigenous person and to learn about the strategies and realities of other indigenous peoples, particularly the situation in Sápmi. I also wanted to promote the indigenous realities in Africa generally and in North Africa specifically, and to do so within an interdisciplinary and an international program- where students often learn as much from each other as they do from discourses within the disciplines.“
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