The Berber Elevation of Amazighi Culture May Not Do So at the Expense of Gospel Universality in the Algerian Church

By Raffi Chilingirian

News and Analysis

Algeria’s Parliament has rejected a proposal to finance the teaching of the Amazigh (Berber) language as part of the government’s 2018 budget. This decision was received with protests of anger and demonstrations throughout Amazigh regions of the country.

At the end of November, a proposal was presented to amend the draft Budget Law 2018 in order to ensure the teaching of the Amazigh language in all public and private schools. The Finance Committee rejected the amendment proposal, clarifying that the state had already made significant efforts in teaching the Amazigh language. As a response to the rejection, thousands of students and trade unionists took to the streets to demonstrate in several Berber-majority cities. The state of Bouira witnessed clashes between the police and the students, demanding the elevation of the Amazigh language and funding its education in schools. The Berbers had expressed their discontent with the marginalization of their language and culture in the past, specifically after the Algerian government adopted the Arabization measures which led the government to discourage and repress various aspects of Berber identity, culture, and language.

Despite the fact that the Algerian authorities have positively responded to Berber demands over the years, incorporating the Amazigh language into the fabric of society requires implementation mechanisms for real change to take place. Previously, authorities had promised to build an academy to teach the Amazigh language, but this attempt proved futile.

On one hand, the Algerian authorities fear that these demands are being fueled by those pushing towards a separate Berber region. On the other hand, the Berbers see the Algerian government merely issuing empty promises, without any real implementation in the education sector. It could be that this push for elevating the Amazigh language encourages the integration of Berber communities within the Algerian social fabric, but there remains a fear by others that this move will support separatist and independence movements. The Algerian government is concerned for national unity and cohesion, while the Amazigh community feels marginalized.

Theological Reflections and Recommendations

The history of the church in North Africa has not been bright. In the ancient world, post-Constantinian Rome had attempted to impose its own Greco-Roman culture and Latin language on the communities in the region, often disregarding the heritage, culture, identity, and language of the indigenous communities of North Africa. With the 7^th century advent of Islamo-Arab power across the Maghreb and subsequent Christian exodus, the shallow roots and cultural chauvinism of Greco-Roman Christian society in North Africa were exposed. It became evident that Christian faith had never fully penetrated the native culture. Subsequently, Islamo-Arabic culture became hegemonic in the region and Berber-Arab tensions have remained, albeit certainly not static, ever since. However, the post-colonial Arabization projects referenced above, themselves largely a reaction to the cultural chauvinism and mission civilisatrice of the French colonial project, put Amazigh communities on the defensive.

Since the advent of the modern missionary movement, Christian workers have often been instrumental in supporting minority cultures and indigenization the world over, with the translation and teaching of scripture serving as foundational to the development of written languages or widespread literacy. There have been many, many missteps, abuses, and cases of gross chauvinism over the years, particularly when the church has allied itself too closely with the hegemonic power of its time. But missionaries have also engendered great respect by working to preserve indigenous culture in the face of outside aggression, as was the case in Korea under Japanese imperial occupation.

It is important here to note that most contemporary Christ-followers in North Africa are from among the Amazigh, many of whom also take great pride in their Berber identity and serve as teachers and transmitters of culture. It is fundamental, therefore, to be wise when we consider such a fact in light of the intercommunal tensions that often exist between Arab and Amazigh, and most especially when considered in light of the contemporary international tensions that are perceived to exist between Muslims and Christians. In such potentially charged contexts, we must be forever mindful of the dangers of scapegoating and guilt-by-association on one hand as well as sectarianism and demonization on the other that can so easily develop between communities. For this is the air we breathe in Lebanon.

Yet, to be a follower of Christ is to hold always to the universal vision when those “from every nation, tribe, people, and language” will stand before the Lamb of God in adoration (Revelation 7: 9-10). In this vision, the particularities of our unique cultures and distinct ways of life are preserved, blessed by God in eternity. As such, they are something in which we can and should take great pride. And yet, this vision of unity in diversity likewise prevents us from idolizing our particularities, from asserting ourselves and our cultural heritage over against or at the expense of another. It is a bold rejection of religio-cultural chauvinism.

We find echoes of this future vision in our scriptural past when the fires of Pentecost descended upon the city of Jerusalem, al-Quds, the holy city of peace:

“And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” (Acts 2:8-11).