Doris Gray  (Florida State University)
Postcolonial Literature avant la lettre: Berber story-telling in Morocco

Throughout the Atlas mountains of North Africa, story-telling of various Berber populations has a long tradition. This paper will focus on tales of Imazighen in the Middle Atlas region of Morocco and examine ways in which these tales have incorporated historic events, such as the advent of colonial French forces and their eventual departure from Moroccan soil. A recurring theme in poems and stories is that of the "ogre" who has come to represent threats and dangers to traditional ways of life in remote mountain villages. Many of these stories have women as their heroine; women who confront the "ogre," who call for solidarity when clan allegiance is under attack but also women who commit treason and need to punished. Because oral tradition is marked by flexibility, tales are adjusted to incorporate commentary on current events even though its main purpose is to extol the virtues of traditional values. Oral texts travel from location to location and are free from commercial pressures and resist concepts of ownership. One might argue that Berber tales in their original, oral expression are a quintessential form of postcolonial literature because here the "subaltern"speak their mind freely and are not concerned with western modes of literary transmission and dissemination. However, because Morocco has been dominated by Arabic culture since the seventh century, use of various Berber languages has not been encouraged and the Tinifnagh script has been all but wiped out. In recent years, there has been an official attempt in Morocco to revive written Berber languages and to teach Tamazight in public schools. This effort has resulted in renewed interest in oral Berber traditions and their influence on Moroccan culture.