The Amazigh Identity

From my experience, the word Amazigh has only recently become recognisable by the wider world in the past few years. Through scrolling endlessly on twitter, there is a question that scarcely fails to pop up on the pages of young political activists: are the North African peoples Arab? If not, why are they so often grouped under the Arab world, both politically and socially, by both academics and those with little to no background on the region?

Origins

The word ‘Berber’ is more widely used to describe the Amazigh people (Imazighen). This is perhaps an improvement from the word Arab…