ABSTRACT
Indigenous. The dictionary defines it as an adjective meaning “originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country” (Dictionary.com). The geographical focus of this book is the country located at the far North-West of the African continent: Morocco. Within it, various communities, cultures, races have mixed throughout centuries, sometimes coming from other continents, such as Europe and Asia. In the end, they emerged as one people who, although spread throughout North Africa, shows distinctive characteristics. It does so in particular through its language and alphabet but also through common approaches towards the natural – arid and semi-arid – environment it has learned to move through, as a nomadic people, and then settle in, as a community of farmers. Although the very “essence” of the Berber people we are about to discover in this first part has originated from way further than North Africa, it most definitely reflects a North African identity. By exploring its history, this chapter first describes the making of this “indigenous identity”. It then explores why reviving the heritage of such people is meaningful, why it could be strategic for the future, and also why it has been controversial and contested.
