Representation of the Berbers in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century French Literature
French Representation of the Berber in early 20th Century.
This paper centers on a discussion of works by early 20th Century French scholar Henri Basset (1919). The turn of the century is a crucial period in the development of the concept of race and that of the research on world languages in an attempt to discover a universal language. North Africa, a region colonized by France, offered to scholars of all fields the perfect laboratory for these researches. While the work of French scholars, engineers and the military in North Africa was felt at many levels, I want to look at one particular aspect: the way literature from this region was portrayed and understood and more precisely, I want to look at the texts discussing Berber literature.
In this paper, I also look at the impact of these studies on the coming generation of North African scholars. Indeed, while discussing the observers’ conclusions and appraisal of Berber literature, it is important to look at the extent to which these studies have affected and to some extent shaped the development of Berber studies by Berbers themselves.
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