We Share Walls: Language, Land, and Gender in Berber Morocco (Wiley Blackwell Studies in Discourse and Culture)

We Share Walls: Language, Land, and Gender in Berber Morocco explores how political economic shifts over the last century have reshaped the language practices and ideologies of women (and men) in the plains and mountains of rural Morocco. Offers a unique and richly textured ethnography of language maintenance and shift as well as language and place-making among an overlooked Muslim group Examines how Moroccan Berbers use language to integrate into the Arab-speaking world and retain their own distinct identity Illuminates the intriguing semiotic and gender issues embedded in the culture Part of the Blackwell Studies in Discourse and Culture Series

We Share Walls: Language, Land, and Gender in Berber Morocco explores how political economic shifts over the last century have reshaped the language practices and ideologies of people in the plains and mountains of rural southwestern Morocco. Through an entrenched moral code that favors male emigration, women have come to personify the rugged homeland and embody its native language – Tashelhit. They create frameworks in which knowledge of rural land, people, and expressive culture is positively valued. In contrast, national narratives centered on Arab identity marginalize Berbers yet immortalize Berber women as remnants of an idealized past.

Through close analysis of verbal and song-texted forms, We Share Walls is a richly textured ethnography of anxiety and temerity among an overlooked Muslim group. Hoffman documents language choices and consequences in public and private contexts, providing insight into the everyday strategies Moroccan Berbers use to accommodate themselves to an Arabic-speaking society while retaining their own distinctive identity. With its fascinating semiotic and gender issues simmering beneath the surface, this engaging book will be of interest to scholars and students of anthropology, performance studies, sociolinguistics, and gender studies.

We Share Walls: Language, Land, And Gender In Berber Morocco Explores How Political Economic Shifts Over The Last Century Have Reshaped The Language Practices And Ideologies Of Women (and Men) In The Plains And Mountains Of Rural Morocco.offers A Unique And Richly Textured Ethnography Of Language Maintenance And Shift As Well As Language And Place-making Among An Overlooked Muslim Group. Examines How Moroccan Berbers Use Language To Integrate Into The Arab-speaking World And Retain Their Own Distinct Identity. Illuminates The Intriguing Semiotic And Gender Issues Embedded In The Culture. Prelude -- Introduction : Staying Put -- On Fieldwork Methods And Movements : Song Is Good Speech -- Dissonance : Gender -- The Gender Of Authenticity -- Consonance : Homeland -- Building The Homeland : Labor, Roads, Emigration -- Voicing The Homeland : Objectification, Order, Displacement -- Antiphony : Periphery -- Transformation In The Sous Valley -- Ishelhin Into Arabs? Ethnolinguistic Differentiating Practices In The Periphery -- Resonance -- Mediating The Countryside : Purists And Pundits On Tashelhit Radio -- Conclusion. Katherine E. Hoffman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [245]-256) And Index. We Share Walls......Page 2 Contents......Page 10 List of Figures, Tables and Transcripts......Page 11 Series Preface......Page 14 Copyright Acknowledgments......Page 16 Note on Transcription and Transliteration......Page 20 Part I Prelude......Page 22 1 Introduction: Staying Put......Page 24 2 On Fieldwork Methods and Movements: “Song Is Good Speech”......Page 52 Part II Dissonance: Gender......Page 68 3 The Gender of Authenticity......Page 70 Part III Consonance: Homeland......Page 102 4 Building the Homeland: Labor, Roads, Emigration......Page 104 5 Voicing the Homeland: Objectification, Order, Displacement......Page 131 Part IV Antiphony: Periphery......Page 166 6 Transformation in the Sous Valley......Page 168 7 Ishelhin into Arabs? Ethnolinguistic Differentiating Practices in the Periphery......Page 185 Part V Resonance......Page 214 8 Mediating the Countryside: Purists and Pundits on Tashelhit Radio......Page 216 9 Conclusion......Page 249 Notes......Page 258 References......Page 266 Index......Page 278 "We Share Walls: Language, Land, and Gender in Berber Morocco explores how political economic shifts over the last century have reshaped the language practices and ideologies of people in the plains and mountains of rural southwestern Morocco. Through an entrenched moral code that favors male emigration, women have come to personify the rugged homeland and embody its native language - Tashelhit."--Jacket