Africa

ALGERIA - RELEGION AND PEOPLE

Islam is the totally dominant religion. With a foreign community reduced to practically nothing since independence, the official figures of religious adherence, indicate that Islam counts for about 100%. As of 1997 there were 2,700 Roman Catholics and 1,500 Protestant Christians in Algeria. Of peoples, Berbers and Arabs live in the north of the country, while Tuareg live in south as local minority to the Arabs and the Berbers. But Algeria is a country that has been dominated by Western culture and learning, and research have proven that this leads to a certain percentage of Atheists. An estimated 2- 3% Atheists would probably be correct for Algeria.

In Algeria it is Sunni Islam that holds the ground. Islam is in Algeria a political force, where three views dominate. The Islamist view involves the act of looking at Islam as a holistic religion, embracing all aspects of life, public and private. The secular view, which seems to have most followers, considers Islam as a guideline, but opens up for more freedom to deviate than Islamism do. The third view, is the traditional, the one most common among elder and people in rural areas. This view is somewhere in between Islamism and secularism, but unlike the two, involves scepticism towards the modern society.

More than any other country has the differences between Arabs and Berbers been clearer than in Algeria. The Berbers constitute today the group of the highest educated, and hold many leading positions in society. During the colonial period, the French tried to weaken the Arab parts of Algerian culture, by preferring Berbers in education and administration. This pattern holds on until today. Algeria has therefore the strongest Berber culture of all countries with a Berber population, and Berber language lives on, but only as a everyday language (French is the administrative and cultural language for them, and many Berbers don’t know very much Arabic).

The dividing line between the two cultures have some influence on today’s conflict between Islamists and the government, where most Islamists consider themselves as Arabs. But on the governmental side one finds both Arabs and Berbers. In between them, one finds the large group of people less politically active, which in many cases are Berbers.

The distribution of languages are as follows: Algerian Arabic spoken by about 83% of the population (1996 figures).

Berber languages is the other large group, but consists of several variants: Kabyle spoken by 2,5 million (some sources say as much as 6 million) in the mountainous north of the country. Chaouia spoken by 1,4 million, mainly living in the south and southeast of the Grand Kabylie in the Aurs Mountains. Tumzabt is spoken by 70,000 living in the M’zab oasis (Ghardaa is the main city). Chenoua spoken by about 50,000 in certain towns in the northwest of the country. Taznatit is spoken by about 40,000 living around the oasis of Timimoun. Tamahaq is spoken by about 25,000, mainly living around Tamanrasset in the south. Tidikelt is spoken by 10,000 living in the Tidikelt region west of In Salah. Temacine is spoken by 6,000 near the oasis of Temacine in the middle-eastern part of the country. Tagargrent is spoken by about 5,000 living in oasis in the middle-eastern part of the country. Korandje spoken by a few thousand people living in Tabelbala oasis in the country’s western parts. Many of the inhabitants of Tabelbala speak another Berber dialect, Tachelhit.

French is still spoken by more than 100,000 people