Post-colonial nation-state building in Morocco required a homogenization of the Moroccan citizen linguistically, culturally, and religiously resulting in an Arabo-Islamic identity. The latter came at the expense of Amazigh (indigenous) people, languages, cultures, and identities. Despite the opportunist state language officialization and recognition in 2011, Tamazight’s (Amazigh language) dissemination in public television remains hampered by political, economic, and logistic forces. The Covid-19 pandemic has resurfaced these structural issues when official state Public Health promotion only spoke French and Arabic. Using a case study approach, I look at the use and engagement with Tamazight in COVID-19 health promotional videos self-produced by two Amazigh individuals. I argue that Tamazight-speaking people maintained their linguistic practices via alternative media. These cyberspaces are sites of agency where linguistic practices transcended the state’s narrative of standardization and officialization. They afford younger generations the ability to learn, teach, and share ways to address linguistic limitations. The digital nature of this media, I argue, allows for the re-mix and re-purposing of content which gives it different meanings and interpretations beyond language. I pit these state-bound, analog, and institutional efforts against the digital, rhizomatic, transnational, and grassroots practices of Amazigh alternative media. This case study contributes to the ongoing academic effort to understand indigenous language standardization and officialization as common nation-state tactics to respond to indigenous demands while not compromising its legitimacy. It is illustrative of the way that reformist tactics, standardization, and indigenous erasure are maneuvered and bypassed by indigenous people within the digital realm.

Last modified

• 08/22/2022

Creator

• Hatim Rachdi

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-ad2q-wj63

Keyword

• Indigenous Languages
• Morocco
• Amazigh
• Digital Media
• Expo
• Covid-19

Rights statement

• In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted