Abstract: 

In this paper, I wanted to explore a topic that I’ve thought about a lot on a more academic level. It’s also a topic that isn’t spoken about very often. In this paper, I aimed to introduce the North African community and discuss some of the debated identity politics that the community faces.

       For a long time, North Africans have been referred to and identified as part of the Arab community, and most North Africans themselves identify with the Arab community. What qualifies someone or a group of people as Arab? Should North Africans be referred to as Arabs? When considering this, it’s important to consider what the term “Arab” means to different people. It’s also important to consider history, location, religion, and language. The unclear boundary clearly shown by North Africans’ unstable and debatable position in the Arab community reflects a diverse set of beliefs and opinions that are present within this community. 

       The way one can understand North Africans’ position in the Arab community is by closely comparing it to Latinx’s relationship to the Spanish. Similar to how the Spaniards settled and took over South America, completely enforcing their religion and customs, and way of living on the indigenous people of the lands they conquered, the Arabs/Ottomans also did the same to the indigenous population of North Africa. Today, we do not refer to Latinx people as Spanish. Although they maintain Spanish as their primary language and still mostly practice Christianity, they are not considered to belong to the same community as people from Spain. So why is it that many still identify North Africans as Arab? 

       To further understand how complex the discourse about North African identity is, the opinions and feelings of North Africans should be considered. On social media, where content is posted by the Arab community, there are often comments and discourse amongst North Africans discussing this subject. A majority of the time, the tone of these conversations is hostile, with many North Africans feeling threatened and wanting to grasp on to their position in the Arab community. They argue that North Africans are indeed Arab and that there is nothing else they can be referred to as. They completely ignore the presence of a very apparent Berber (indigenous) population in their countries. On the other hand, the people they argue with claim that North Africans are Berber and should not be identified as Arab. A lot of this conversation centers around the idea of cultural and religious superiority. As Muslim countries whose populations speak dialects of Arabic, being Arab is seen as superior to being Berber. Less religious North African individuals are more likely to embrace their Berber identity. 

       This dilemma between choosing to identify as Arab or Berber, joined with the absolute lack of mention or acknowledgment of Berbers not only by Arabs and North Africans but by the entire world, makes it almost impossible to reach a conclusion regarding who is right or wrong about whether North Africans should be considered Arab. There is a kind of oppression cycle attached to this identity debate. North Africans needing to hold on to their identity as Arabs because they were taught Arabs were superior to Berbers, and Arabs in return looking down on North Africans and did not fully acknowledging them as part of their community.