ABSTRACT
On October 17, 2001, a signing ceremony for the dahir creating the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) 1 was held on the Ajdir plateau near Khenifra, in the heart of Morocco’s Middle Atlas mountains. At the ceremony, King Mohamed VI, whose Amazigh (Berber) mother lives nearby, delivered a speech remarkable for its succinct integration of a revised national ‘imagined community’ 2 that gives amazighité a central position in defining Moroccan identity:
We desire, first of all, to recognize the entirety of our common history and cultural and national identity which has been built around multiple contributions. The plurality of streams that have forged our history and fashioned our identity cannot be separate from the unity of our nation, which is grouped around sacred values and inviolable foundations: the tolerant and generous Muslim religion, the defense of the country in its unity and integrity, allegiance to the Throne and King, and attachment to a democratic, social, and constitutional monarchy. We also want to affirm that Amazighité has the deepest roots in the history of the Moroccan people, shared by all Moroccans without exception, and that it cannot be used for political designs of any nature. Morocco is distinguished, across the ages, by the unity of its inhabitants … They have always proved their firm attachment to their sacred values and resisted every foreign invasion or attempt at division. 3
