Amazigh textiles and dress in Morocco: metaphors of motherhood

Berber women are artists. They weave brightly colored carpets, and they adorn their faces, hands, and ankles with tattoos, dye their hands and feet with henna, and paint their faces with saffron (Fig. 2). They embroider brightly colored motifs on their indigo head coverings and on special occasions wear elaborate silver and amber jewelry (Fig. 1). Women both create and wear the artistic symbols of Berber identity, making the decorated female body itself a symbol of that identity. (1)

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Issues of identity are of crucial importance to Berbers, who consider themselves the indigenous inhabitants of northern Africa and believe themselves to be distinct ethnically, culturally, and linguistically from Arabs. In contemporary North Africa, pockets of Berber settlements can be found from Egypt to Morocco and throughout the Sahara. The largest number of Berbers is found in Morocco, accounting for 40-60% of its population of 31 million (Chaker 1998:14). Although Arabs arrived in northern Africa as early as the seventh century, it was not until the thirteenth century, when large waves of Arabs arrived from the Middle East, that the majority of Berbers accepted Islam; some learned the Arabic language and were assimilated into the Arab culture. Yet many Berber groups, such as those living in inaccessible areas the mountainous regions of Morocco or its desert fringes, continued to speak their own languages--referred to collectively as Tamazight in Morocco--and maintained their cultural autonomy.

When France declared Morocco a French Protectorate in 1912, colonial policies simplified and exaggerated Berber-Arab relations and created the Dahir berbere in 1930. This legal system separated Berbers and Arabs, the former following their customary laws and being removed from the jurisdiction of the Moroccan sultan. During this time, French anthropological studies in Morocco commonly promoted the notion that Berbers were superficially Muslim, more open-minded, and closer biologically and socially to Europeans than were the Arabs. The goal was to draw Berbers into French culture and have them rally against the Arabs (Irbouh 2005:6). The divide-and-rule policies of the French protectorate government contributed to the rise of an Arab-Islamic sentiment in Morocco after independence in 1956. The Moroccan postcolonial government emphasized the nation's common Islamic faith and Arabic language, serving to legitimize and strengthen the rule of the Moroccan monarch, a descendent of the Prophet Mohammed. Since independence, Berber political activists have been fighting for governmental recognition of Morocco's Berber heritage. They have rejected the name "Berber" as a pejorative term deriving from the Latin word barbarus or "barbarian." Instead they use the overarching Tamazight term Imazighen, defined as "the free people." Amazigh is the adjectival form of the word.

The failure of Morocco's postcolonial national government to officially acknowledge its Amazigh heritage has meant that the survival of Amazigh cultural and linguistic heritage is largely due to its association with women. In contemporary Morocco, Amazigh artistic production continues to be associated with rural villages rather than bustling urban centers. This is largely due to the fact that women often remain in the villages while their husbands, sons, and brothers work in Morocco's largest cities. Motherhood is highly esteemed and the status of a woman increases when she has children, Women are more likely than men to be monolingual and speak Tamazight in their homes, teaching it to their children. The Moroccan scholar Fatima Sadiqi describes the status of Tamazight and writes that "as a language of cultural identity, home, the family, village affiliation, intimacy, traditions, orality, and nostalgia to a remote past, [Tamazight] perpetuates attributes that are considered female in the Moroccan culture" (Sadiqi 2003:225). Sadiqi's comments demonstrate the important role women play in the propagation and preservation of the Imazighen as a people. Mothers also pass the skills of weaving, embroidering, tattooing, and pottery making to their daughters. Amazigh women demonstrate the esteem, respect, and status accorded to motherhood by incorporating fertility symbolism into their woven carpets, clothing, tattoos, and hairstyles. Amazigh arts, therefore, are metaphors of motherhood, demonstrating the crucial role women play in propagating and preserving Amazigh identity.

Weaving Metaphors of Motherhood

Textiles hold a predominant place in Amazigh art all across Morocco. Amazigh women are renowned for their brightly colored carpets, blankets, and clothing made from goat, sheep, and camel wool (Fig. 3). Women dominate the weaving process, metaphorically giving life to textiles. In rural areas they comb, spin, and dye wool for the blankets, shawls, and carpets that they weave on upright vertical looms. Wool has considerable baraka, or "blessing," and some of this baraka is transferred to the weavers. Amazigh women who work wool are highly respected, and it is said that a woman who makes forty carpets during her lifetime is guaranteed passage into heaven after she dies.