![]() Tamazight, the language of Algeria’s Amazigh people, has yet to reach the ubiquity of either French or Arabic, but is slowly making its presence felt. Notwithstanding, several contemporary authors, such as Amal Mostaghanemi, the late Abdelhamid Benhedouga and Tahar Wattar stand as fierce advocates of the Arabic language. Nevertheless, more than a century of colonisation left its mark on Algeria, and like other post-colonial countries, debates continue on the role the occupier’s language should play in the literature of a state after independence.įrench is still widely used in Algerian literature, a fact complicated by the huge Algerian diaspora living in France, for whom the language has come to replace Arabic or Tamazight as the main vernacular of everyday life. In return, poets, such as Moufdi Zakaria, the author of the Algerian national anthem Kassaman, helped define the revolutionary nature of the fledgling state’s cultural output. ![]() ![]() While the military aspect of the independence struggle, embodied in the struggles of fighters like Cheikh Bouamama and Zohra Drif, is what gets most attention, themes of resistance also influenced the arts, especially literature. Algeria spent 132 years under French occupation, a period during which indigenous Algerians and some supportive Europeans fought a multi-pronged battle against the colonisers. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |