The Berber Spring of 1980: A socio-anthropological approach to the event
Abstract
The present study aims to offer a socio-anthropological perspective to the events of the Berber Spring of 1980. Through this analysis, we seek to examine this historical moment, deeply rooted in the collective memory of Berber-speaking populations, as an event. The objective of this research is to make the event intelligible by situating it within its historical context in order to demonstrate the role it plays in the historical process of the struggle for recognition of the Berber dimension in the definition of Algerian national identity. We have examined both the sociological and anthropological reasons as well as the historical conditions that led to its emergence. Furthermore, the event-based approach we adopt here requires us to focus not only on the processes and mechanisms of its construction and the conditions of its emergence; however, it tackles also the impact of various changes and ruptures it brought on the local social sphere.
Through this study, we adopted an empirical approach that enabled us to gather the necessary ethnographic data. The archives we consulted and the interviews we conducted with the participants, who shaped the event, allowed us, through an anthropological approach, to shed light on the event’s immediate circumstances, which are fostered by the diversity of participants’ experiences to put under scrutiny the event, the Berber Spring of 1980. Indeed, while the consultation and analysis of the archives helped us gain knowledge and understanding of the participants’ demands during the event, the interviews allowed us, through a reconstruction of the activists’ trajectories, to better grasp the twists and the turns of the event. These accounts also enabled us to analyze the modes of action, coordination mechanisms, and meanings inherent in both the actors’ actions and the event itself.
Made possible by a process of awareness-raising and identity-based mobilization, against a backdrop of societal homogenization, the Berber Spring emerged unexpectedly. Through the broad support and participation, it inspired and the mobilization it generated, it enabled the public expression of Berber demands and their establishment as a popular cause. This event, characterized by its novelty and the dynamism of its action, brought about significant ruptures in the context of its emergence. It produced new symbols and new ideas and induced changes in ways of being and acting in politics. It affected the evolution of political processes and contributed significantly both to the emergence of new spaces and forms of political socialization and to the reconfiguration of the local public sphere in Kabylia. Produced by a generation of activists, this event constitutes a landmark in the collective memory of Berber-speaking populations, perceived as a moment that opened up new horizons of possibility, whether in terms of the struggle for recognition of Berber identity or in terms of commitment and participation in public life.
Keywords: event, collective action, commitment, actor, socialization mutation
