ID | 139900 |
Title Proper | Tensions of nationalism |
Other Title Information | the Mzabi student missions tunis and the politics of anticolonialism |
Language | ENG |
Author | Amal N. Ghazal |
Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article examines the significant yet largely overlooked role of the Mzabis, a community from the northern edges of the Algerian desert, in Algerian and Tunisian anticolonialism and nationalism. In so doing, it pursues two aims: first, to shed light on the importance of Tunis to the politicization of the Mzabis in the 1920s and to their induction into local and regional anticolonial and national movements; and second, to highlight the tensions of subsuming regional identities into overarching national identities by focusing on Mzabi political activists’ negotiation of the relationship between the Mzab and Algeria as a national project. The article also explores the spectrum of political possibilities and alternatives envisioned by Mzabis as they participated in religious reform, anticolonial, and nationalist movements. This spectrum, I argue, conveys the fluid relationship between local, national, and regional identities, thus undermining teleological readings of national identity formation. |
`In' analytical Note | International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 47, No.1; Feb 2015: p.47-63 |
Journal Source | International Journal of Middle East Studies 2015-03 47, 1 |
Key Words | Nationalism ; National Movements ; Tunis ; Algerian Desert ; Mazabi Student ; Politics of Anticolonialism ; Tunisian Anticolonialism and Nationalism ; Tunis - Politicization ; Local and Regional Anticolonial ; Mzabi Political Activists ; Religious Reform |