Auto-Ethnography in a Kabyle Landscape

Abstract

In this auto-ethnography, as an indigenous man in a Kabyle landscape, I take into account the relational experience that involves the development of a Kabyle identity. The indigenous cultures in North of Africa all come from the same family called the Imazighen (free men). Kabyle live in the North East of Algeria but there are other Imazighen living in the diaspora all over North Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, like Touaregs or Mozabites. My inquiry narrates my personal experience as a Kabyle man born of Kabyle parents in France. In this auto-ethnography I return to my father’s village to understand and access my heritage. I hope that this narrative helps my readers to reflect on the effects of globalization on the transmission of indigenous cultures. I portray Algeria, a North African Muslim country in 2010. I draw on critical pedagogy, socio-constructivism and indigenous knowledge and experiences. Looking to Algeria with the perspective of an indigenous person, I explore the social organization in my village and the way values and relationship shape the traditional education of a Kabyle man. My experiences and research in my ancestral village show that the war Kabyle people have fought against France has not resulted in independence. Rather, in my case, decolonization made me twice stranger to myself as Kabyle in an Arabic dominated country but also as an immigrant in France, the old colonial country, and Canada. However, my spiritual and sacred heritage is still alive in me, shaped by both my own experiences and the teachings of other members of my culture, and I have expressed this heritage throughout this narrative.