ABSTRACT
The dramatic series of events that unfolded across North Africa in the opening months of 2011 and that saw large crowds descending onto the streets of the region’s major cities to demand political change rapidly became commonly known as the “Arab Spring.” This was despite the fact that a significant percentage of the population of the region would not describe itself as Arab, but rather as Berber or Amazigh, to use the term increasingly used by many Berbers themselves. The popular uprisings that occurred across the region did, though, have a noticeable impact on the issue of Berber/Amazigh identity, mainly through the shaking up or remaking of existing political configurations within the states of the region that allowed for the issue of Amazigh identity to have a newly raised political profile.
