A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Tamazret Celebrates its Amazigh Heritage

The Amazigh revival throughout North Africa continues apace, and Tunisia, though it has the fewest actual speakers of Tamazight languages in the Maghreb, is among them: the southwestern Tunisian town of Tamazret (or Tamezret) is holding its 20th Annual Festival of Tamazret, emphasizing the town's ethnic heritage.

The Festival's Facebook page is here;  the webpage of the sponsoring Association for the Protection of the Heritage of Tamezret is here (mostly in French, some Arabic); the Festival's program (in Arabic) is here.

Tamazret and other villages in the Matmata area speak a form of Zenata, a division of the Berber or Tamazight languages. A website in French on the Tamazret dialect can be found here.


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