Language Drama in Morocco: Another Perspective on the Problems and Prospects of Teaching Tamazight

Abstract

In ‘Language Policy in Morocco: Problems and Prospects of Teaching Tamazight’, Mohammed Errihani (Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 11, 2006) examines the status of Morocco's new language policy to teach Tamazight in elementary schools. This article theorises about many of the implementation problems that Errihani finds. It argues that the Tamazight language policy is riddled with problems because it was designed by the monarchy as a political tool meant to garner support from diverse audiences rather than as a language education policy sincerely intending to teach Tamazight. The analysis considers both economic and educational data on the status of the Imazighen in Morocco as well as qualitative fieldwork conducted in late 2004 in two rural villages outside of Tafraoute, a Tamazight-speaking village in the south of Morocco. While affirming the importance of Tamazight for all Moroccans, it argues that there exists another very real, yet often overlooked, benefit of teaching Tamazight, for both Amazigh students and the nation as a whole: the educational potential of mother language education.