Bilingualism in North Africa: Cultural and Sociopolitical Implications

• Author: Charles A. Micaud
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297402700105
• Published date: 01 March 1974
• Date: 01 March 1974
• Subject Matter: Articles

92

BILINGUALISM

IN

NORTH

AFRICA:

CULTURAL

AND

SOCIOPOLITICAL

IMPLICATIONS

CHARLES

A.

MICAUD

University

of

Denver

CCORDING

to

the

constitutions

of

Tunisia,

Morocco,

and

Algeria,

Arabic

is

the

official

language

and

Islam

the

state

religion

of

each

of

the

three

~L

countries.

Yet

all

three

have

adopted

a

bilingual

system

of

education

that

spells

bicultural

training

-

in

which

French

dominates

in

the

secondary

schools

and

universities.

Although

Arabization

has

many

vocal

champions,

nothing

significant

has

been

done

to

change

the

present

system.

In

fact,

as

Charles

Gallagher

rightly

pointed

out

some

years

ago,

there

is

very

little

frank

discussion

of the

pros

and

cons

of

Arabiza-

tion,1

for

it

is

a

highly

controversial

issue

with

serious

political

implications.

Mean-

while,

bilingualism

is

becoming

institutionalized

and

is

likely

to

stay

as

a

permanent

fixture,

whatever

its

drawbacks.

Biculturalism

has

often

been

interpreted

as

the

competition

of

two

prestigious

but

antagonistic

cultures

representing

irreconcilable

world

views.

This

cultural

antithesis

-

somewhat

justified

in

the

years

preceding

and

immediately

following

independence

-

has

continued

to

be

dramatized,

even

by

western

observers

who

write

about

the

crisis

of

identity

of

the

victims

of

biculturalism,

their

split

person-

ality,

the

traumatic

experience

of

being

exposed

to

two

hostile

value

systems,

and

finally

the

probable

showdown

between

secularism

and

the

religious

backlash

that

can

be

expected.

These

unfortunate

psychological

consequences

may

well

exist,

but

have

yet

to

be

documented.

This

dramatization

of

the

cultural

conflict

is to

be

explained

in

part

by

the

genuine

concern

felt

by

the

specialists

of

the

Middle

East

who

are

keenly

aware

of

the

importance

of

traditional

values

and

the often

superficial

impact

of

moderniza-

tion

in

most

Arab

lands,

and

who

are

led

to

minimize

the

differences

between

Maghreb

and

Machrek,

including

the

decisive

influence

of

French

culture.

Some

scholars

may

also

be

inclined

to

take

culture

as

an

autonomous

category,

relatively

independent

from

the

economic,

social,

and

political

factors

that

in

fact

constantly

transform

it.

Most

writers

have

been

unable

to

appreciate

the

significant

linguistic

changes

that

have

taken

place

since

independence,

for

the

simple

reason

that

these

changes

are

only

beginning

to

be

documented

by

the

linguists.

Let

this

linguistic

evolution

is

of

utmost

importance

in

giving

us

some

indications

concerning

the

changing

character

of

biculturalism

and

in

suggesting

some

hypotheses

concerning

its

sociopolitical

implications

-

hypotheses

that

have

to

remain

very

crude

at

this

stage

of

our

knowledge

and

perhaps

can

never

be

pursued

systematically,

given

their

politically

sensitive

character.

1

"Language

and

Identity"

in

State

and

Society

in

Independent

North

Africa,

ed.

Leon

Carl

Brown

(The

Middle

East

Institute,

1966).

See

also

Gérard

Viratelle,

L’Algérie

algéri-

enne

(Paris,

1970),

pp.

241

ff.