DOCSLIB.ORG

University of Kent the Development of Oromo

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
University of Kent the Development of Oromo Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Degeneh Bijiga, Teferi (2015) The Development of Oromo Writing System. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,. DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/52387/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html University of Kent The Development of Oromo Writing System A Thesis By Teferi Degeneh Bijiga School of European Culture and Languages Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D. November, 2015 Abstract The development and use of languages for official, education, religion, etc. purposes have been a major political issue in many developing multilingual countries. A number of these countries, including China and India, have recognised the issues and developed language policies that have provided some ethnic groups with the right to develop their languages and cultures by using writing systems based on scripts suitable for these purposes. On the other hand, other countries, such as Ethiopia (a multilingual African state) had, for a long time, preferred a policy of one language and one script in the belief that this would help the assimilation of various ethnic groups create a homogenous population with one language and culture. Rather than realizing that aim, the policy became a significant source of conflict and demands for political independence among disfavoured groups. This thesis addresses the development of a writing system for Oromo, a language spoken by approximately 40 percent of the total population of Ethiopia, which remained officially unwritten until the early 1990s. It begins by reviewing the early history of Oromo writing and discusses the Ethiopian language policies, analysing materials written in various scripts and certain writers starting from the 19th century. The adoption of Roman script for Oromo writing and the debates that followed are explored, with an ii examination of some phonological aspects of the Oromo language and the implications of representing them using the Roman alphabet. This thesis argues that the Oromo language has thrived during the past few years having implemented a Roman-based alphabetical script. There have been and continue to be, however, internal and external challenges confronting the development of the Oromo writing system which need to be carefully considered and addressed by stakeholders, primarily by the Oromo people and the Ethiopian government, in order for the Oromo language to establish itself as a fully codified language in the modern nation-state. iii Acknowledgements I have received much support and understanding from many people in completing this thesis. But, first of all, I should thank God, who has been so gracious in keeping me well and helping me complete this project. People to whom I am indebted include my mother and father, who have been inspirational, mentor and generous with their unconditional love especially during my childhood. Their moral and practical support has been instrumental in making me the person I am. Professor Richard Hayward was not only my supervisor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, where I started this research, but he has been also a good friend and adviser. I thank him for being there whenever I needed someone to listen to me or support me with most part of the research and for his continuous friendship, during thick and thin times. I would also like to thank Dr Chege Githiora of the SOAS for his input during the early part of the research and for the moral support he offered me. My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisors, Dr David Hornsby and Professor Mike Fischer, who have devoted their time, experience and iv knowledge to make this work a success. Both were dream supervisors in being available by telephone, email and in person to provide me with their useful comments and advice that helped shape the thesis. I am grateful to a number of fellow Oromos who have been kind in sharing with me their wisdom and experience of Oromo language. Among these Mr Taha Abdi and Mr Amin Abdella were informative especially on the Oromo writing system. Professor Asafa Jalata of the University of Tennessee (U.S.A.) and Dr Taye Regassa of Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) have been kind enough proofreading some chapters of the thesis. I say thank you to them and all the other Oromo friends from whom I have benefited in different ways. The Oromo Community in the United Kingdom deserves my heartfelt gratitude for participating in a workshop in which I made a presentation on the Oromo writing system and for its continuous effort in sustaining and developing Afaan Oromo as a written language in the UK. Last, but by no means least, I like to thank Mrs Almaz Negash and my children, Sirbo and Obse Degeneh, for tolerating me spending many weekends, evenings and holidays pursuing my studies rather than spending time with them. I hope and believe they understand my intention and forgive me as the sacrifice was worth paying. Teferi Degeneh Bijiga v Some abbreviation used in the thesis E.C. The Ethiopian calendar (EC) is based on the Julian calendar and lags "seven" years behind the western calendar between September 11th (12th in leap year) to January 1st; or "eight" years behind between January 1st to September 11th (12th in leap year) in western calendar. The Ethiopian calendar has 12 months of 30 days and a short month of 5 or 6 days, depending whether it’s a leap year. In this thesis all years are written in western calendar unless they are indicated otherwise. EPRDF Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front IPA International Phonetic Alphabet OLF Oromo Liberation Front SNNPR Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region TGE Transitional Government of Ethiopia TPLF Tigrai Liberation Front vi Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.........................................................................................IV SOME ABBREVIATION USED IN THE THESIS.................................................VI CHAPTER I..................................................................................................................4 1. INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................4 CHAPTER II...............................................................................................................13 2. THE OROMO PEOPLE AND THEIR LANGUAGE...............................................................................13 2.1. THE OROMO PEOPLE ..................................................................................................................13 2.2. THE OROMO LANGUAGE............................................................................................................24 2.3 PHONEMIC INVENTORY AND PHONOLOGY OF OROMO .............................................................32 2.3.1. The Oromo consonants .......................................................................................................32 2.3.2. Loan phonemes/consonants.................................................................................................35 2.3.3. The glottals /h/ and / ʔ / ......................................................................................................36 2.3.4. Ejective and implosive sounds ............................................................................................41 2.3.5. The implosive /ɗ/ ................................................................................................................43 2.3.6. Consonant clusters..............................................................................................................44 2.3.7. Gemination .........................................................................................................................48 2.3.8. Assimilation........................................................................................................................51 2.3.8.1. Regressive assimilation....................................................................................................51 2.3.8.2. Progressive assimilation ..................................................................................................52 2.3.9. Gemination – compensation................................................................................................52 2.4 THE VOWELS ................................................................................................................................52 2.5
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Georgia: What Now?
    GEORGIA: WHAT NOW? 3 December 2003 Europe Report N°151 Tbilisi/Brussels TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 II. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................. 2 A. HISTORY ...............................................................................................................................2 B. GEOPOLITICS ........................................................................................................................3 1. External Players .........................................................................................................4 2. Why Georgia Matters.................................................................................................5 III. WHAT LED TO THE REVOLUTION........................................................................ 6 A. ELECTIONS – FREE AND FAIR? ..............................................................................................8 B. ELECTION DAY AND AFTER ..................................................................................................9 IV. ENSURING STATE CONTINUITY .......................................................................... 12 A. STABILITY IN THE TRANSITION PERIOD ...............................................................................12 B. THE PRO-SHEVARDNADZE
    [Show full text]
  • 519 Ethiopia Report With
    Minority Rights Group International R E P O R Ethiopia: A New Start? T • ETHIOPIA: A NEW START? AN MRG INTERNATIONAL REPORT AN MRG INTERNATIONAL BY KJETIL TRONVOLL ETHIOPIA: A NEW START? Acknowledgements Minority Rights Group International (MRG) gratefully © Minority Rights Group 2000 acknowledges the support of Bilance, Community Aid All rights reserved Abroad, Dan Church Aid, Government of Norway, ICCO Material from this publication may be reproduced for teaching or other non- and all other organizations and individuals who gave commercial purposes. No part of it may be reproduced in any form for com- financial and other assistance for this Report. mercial purposes without the prior express permission of the copyright holders. For further information please contact MRG. This Report has been commissioned and is published by A CIP catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. MRG as a contribution to public understanding of the ISBN 1 897 693 33 8 issue which forms its subject. The text and views of the ISSN 0305 6252 author do not necessarily represent, in every detail and in Published April 2000 all its aspects, the collective view of MRG. Typset by Texture Printed in the UK on bleach-free paper. MRG is grateful to all the staff and independent expert readers who contributed to this Report, in particular Tadesse Tafesse (Programme Coordinator) and Katrina Payne (Reports Editor). THE AUTHOR KJETIL TRONVOLL is a Research Fellow and Horn of Ethiopian elections for the Constituent Assembly in 1994, Africa Programme Director at the Norwegian Institute of and the Federal and Regional Assemblies in 1995.
    [Show full text]
  • Representing the Algerian Civil War: Literature, History, and the State
    Representing the Algerian Civil War: Literature, History, and the State By Neil Grant Landers A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in French in the GRADUATE DIVISION of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Committee in charge: Professor Debarati Sanyal, Co-Chair Professor Soraya Tlatli, Co-Chair Professor Karl Britto Professor Stefania Pandolfo Fall 2013 1 Abstract of the Dissertation Representing the Algerian Civil War: Literature, History, and the State by Neil Grant Landers Doctor of Philosophy in French Literature University of California, Berkeley Professor Debarati Sanyal, Co-Chair Professor Soraya Tlatli, Co-Chair Representing the Algerian Civil War: Literature, History, and the State addresses the way the Algerian civil war has been portrayed in 1990s novelistic literature. In the words of one literary critic, "The Algerian war has been, in a sense, one big murder mystery."1 This may be true, but literary accounts portray the "mystery" of the civil war—and propose to solve it—in sharply divergent ways. The primary aim of this study is to examine how three of the most celebrated 1990s novels depict—organize, analyze, interpret, and "solve"—the civil war. I analyze and interpret these novels—by Assia Djebar, Yasmina Khadra, and Boualem Sansal—through a deep contextualization, both in terms of Algerian history and in the novels' contemporary setting. This is particularly important in this case, since the civil war is so contested, and is poorly understood. Using the novels' thematic content as a cue for deeper understanding, I engage through them and with them a number of elements crucial to understanding the civil war: Algeria's troubled nationalist legacy; its stagnant one-party regime; a fear, distrust, and poor understanding of the Islamist movement and the insurgency that erupted in 1992; and the unending, horrifically bloody violence that piled on throughout the 1990s.
    [Show full text]
  • Ethiopia Toponymic Factfile
    TOPONYMIC FACTFILE Ethiopia Country name Ethiopia State title Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Name of citizen Ethiopian Official language(s)1 Amharic (amh)2 Country name in official language(s) ኢትዮጵያ (Ītiyop’iya) የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ (YeĪtiyop’iya State title in official language(s) Fēdēralawī Dēmokirasīyawī Rīpeblīk) Script Amharic (also seen as Ge’ez or Ethiopic script3) Romanization System BGN/PCGN Romanization of Amharic, 1967 ISO-3166 code (alpha-2/alpha-3) ET/ETH Capital (Conventional name) Addis Ababa4 Capital in official language (romanized in አዲስ አበባ (Ādīs Ābeba)5 brackets) Population c.115 million6 Introduction Ethiopia is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa, sharing international boundaries with Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan and South Sudan. It is similar in size to South Africa and Egypt, and is the 2nd most populous country in Africa (after Nigeria). Until 1993, Eritrea was incorporated as part of Ethiopia. Ethiopia was occupied by Italy from 1936 to 1941, but otherwise has not been colonised by a European power. Geographical names policy PCGN policy for geographical names in Ethiopia is to apply the BGN/PCGN 1967 Romanization System for Amharic to names in their original script forms. This system is used on official US and UK cartographic products. 1 As of February 2020, four regional languages have been elevated to the status of working federal government languages: Oromo; Tigrinya; Somali and Afar. 2 ISO 639 codes are given for languages mentioned in this Factfile. 3 Ge’ez (or Ethiopic) is a group name for a number of alphabets, including Tigrinya and Amharic: they are ‘abugida’ scripts, in which each character carries an inherent vowel (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Jihadism in Africa Local Causes, Regional Expansion, International Alliances
    SWP Research Paper Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs Guido Steinberg and Annette Weber (Eds.) Jihadism in Africa Local Causes, Regional Expansion, International Alliances RP 5 June 2015 Berlin All rights reserved. © Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, 2015 SWP Research Papers are peer reviewed by senior researchers and the execu- tive board of the Institute. They express exclusively the personal views of the authors. SWP Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs Ludwigkirchplatz 3­4 10719 Berlin Germany Phone +49 30 880 07-0 Fax +49 30 880 07-100 www.swp-berlin.org [email protected] ISSN 1863-1053 Translation by Meredith Dale (Updated English version of SWP-Studie 7/2015) Table of Contents 5 Problems and Recommendations 7 Jihadism in Africa: An Introduction Guido Steinberg and Annette Weber 13 Al-Shabaab: Youth without God Annette Weber 31 Libya: A Jihadist Growth Market Wolfram Lacher 51 Going “Glocal”: Jihadism in Algeria and Tunisia Isabelle Werenfels 69 Spreading Local Roots: AQIM and Its Offshoots in the Sahara Wolfram Lacher and Guido Steinberg 85 Boko Haram: Threat to Nigeria and Its Northern Neighbours Moritz Hütte, Guido Steinberg and Annette Weber 99 Conclusions and Recommendations Guido Steinberg and Annette Weber 103 Appendix 103 Abbreviations 104 The Authors Problems and Recommendations Jihadism in Africa: Local Causes, Regional Expansion, International Alliances The transnational terrorism of the twenty-first century feeds on local and regional conflicts, without which most terrorist groups would never have appeared in the first place. That is the case in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Syria and Iraq, as well as in North and West Africa and the Horn of Africa.
    [Show full text]
  • Aw As Adjunct to Custom?
    LAW AS ADJUNCT TO CUSTOM? Abkhaz custom and law in today’s state-building and ‘modernisation’ - (Studied through dispute resolution) DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND CONSERVATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 12 FEBRUARY 2015 By Michael Costello Examiners: Professor Michael Fischer Associate Professor Jacob Rigi Supervisor: Lecturer Glenn Bowman 1 LAW AS ADJUNCT TO CUSTOM? The relationship between Abkhaz custom and law in today’s state-building and ‘modernisation’ - (Studied through dispute resolution) Abstract The setting for research is Abkhazia a small country south of the Caucasus Mountains and bordering Europe and the Near East. The Abkhaz hold onto custom – apswara – to make of state law an adjunct to custom as the state strives to strengthen its powers to ‘modernise’ along capitalist lines. This institution of a parallel-cum-interwoven and oppositional existence of practices and the laws questions the relationship of the two in a novel way. The bases of apswara are its concepts of communality and fairness. Profound transformations have followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the breakaway from and subsequent war with Georgia, none of which have brought the bright prospects that were hoped-for with independence. The element of hope in post-Soviet nostalgia provides pointers to what the Abkhaz seek to enact for their future, to decide the course of change that entertains the possibility of a non-capitalist modernisation route and a customary state. Apswara is founded on the direct participatory democracy of non-state regulation. It draws members of all ethnicities into the generation of nationalist self-awareness that transcends ethnicity and religions, and forms around sacred shrines and decisions taken by popular assemblies.
    [Show full text]
  • 002.Alex.Comitato.2A Bozza
    Xaverio Ballester /A/ Y EL VOCALISMO INDOEUROPEO Negli últimi quarant’anni la linguística indo- europea si è in gran parte perduta dietro al mito delle laringali, di cui non intendo tenere alcun conto, e dello strutturalismo, di cui ten- go un conto molto limitato. Giuliano Bonfante, I dialetti indoeuropei, p. 8 De la regla a la ley o de mal en peor Bien digna de mención entre las primerísimas descripciones del mode- lo vocálico indoeuropeo es la propuesta de un inventario fonemático con únicamente tres timbres vocálicos /a i u/, una propuesta empero que fue desgraciadamente y demasiado pronto abandonada, siendo quizá la más conspicua consecuencia de este abandono el hecho de que para la Lin- güística indoeuropea oficialista la ausencia de /a/ devino en la práctica un axioma, de modo que, casi en cualquier posterior propuesta sobre el voca- lismo indoeuropeo, se ha venido adoptando la idea de que no hubiese exis- tido nunca la vocal /a/, y explicándose los ineluctables casos de presencia de /a/ en el material indoeuropeo con variados y bizarros argumentos del tipo de vocalismo despectivo, infantil o popular. Sin embargo, si conside- rada hoy spregiudicatamente, la argumentación que motivó el desalojo de la primitiva /a/ indoeuropea no presenta, al menos desde una perspectiva fonotipológica hodierna, ninguna validez en absoluto. Invocaremos un testimonio objetivo del tema para exponer brevemen- te la cuestión. Escribía O. Szemerényi: «Sotto l’impressione dell’arcai- cità del sanscrito, i fondatori dell’indoeuropeistica e i loro immediati suc- cessori pensavano che il sistema triangolare del sanscrito i–a–u rappre- sentasse la situazione originaria.
    [Show full text]
  • Addis Ababa University College of Natural and Computational Sciences
    Addis Ababa University College of Natural and Computational Sciences Text to Speech Synthesizer for Afaan Oromoo using Statistical Parametric Speech Synthesis Muhidin Kedir Wosho A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Computer Science in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Master of Science in Computer Science Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June, 2020 Addis Ababa University College of Natural and Computational Sciences Muhidin Kedir Wosho Advisor: Dida Midekso (PhD) This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Muhidin Kedir Wosho, titled: Text to speech synthesizer for Afaan Oromoo using statistical parametric speech synthesis based on HMM and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Computer Science complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the examining committee: Name Signature Date Advisor: Dida Midekso (PhD) _________ _____________ Examiner: Solomon Gizew (PhD) ___________ ______________ Examiner: Minale Ashagrie (PhD) ___________ _______________ Abstract Speech synthesis systems are concerned with generating a natural sounding and intelligible speech by taking text as input. Speech synthesizers are very essential in helping impaired people, in teaching and learning process, for telecommunications and industries. Nevertheless, it has been a lot of challenging such as text processing, grapheme to phoneme and modeling prosody for years. Text preprocessing includes tokenization and normalization and then converting the grapheme representation of sounds to their phonetic representation and modeling prosodic features of various speaking styles. To address these challenges, different techniques have been studied and implemented. Speech synthesizers using statistical parametric speech based on hidden Markov model (HMM) are done for foreign languages which are not applicable for Afaan Oromoo language since the Afaan Oromoo language’s special characteristics are not considered in foreign synthesizers.
    [Show full text]
  • Partial List of Mass Execution of Oromos and Other Nation And
    Udenrigsudvalget 2013-14 URU Alm.del Bilag 174 Offentligt Partial list of Mass execution of Oromos and other nation and nationalities of Ethiopia (Documented by Oromo Liberation Front Information and Research Unit, March 2014) Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere!!! Ethiopia is one of the Countries at Genocide Risk in accordance with Genocide Watch’s Report released on March 12, 2013. •Genocide Watch considers Ethiopia to have already reached Stage 7, genocidal massacres, against many of its peoples, including the Anuak, Ogadeni, Oromo and Omo tribes. •We recommend that the United States government immediately cease all military assistance to the Ethiopian Peoples Defense Forces. We also recommend strong diplomatic protests to the Meles Zenawi regime against massive violations of human rights in Ethiopia Article 281 of the Ethiopian Penal Code : Genocide; Crimes against Humanity Whosoever, with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, religious or political group, organizes, orders or engages in, be it in time of war or in time of peace: (a) killings, bodily harm or serious injury to the physical or mental health of members of the group, in any way whatsoever; or (b) measures to prevent the propagation or continued survival of its members or their progeny; or (c) the compulsory movement or dispersion of peoples or children, or their placing under living conditions calculated to result in their death or disappearance, is punishable with rigorous imprisonment from five years to life, or, in cases of exceptional
    [Show full text]
  • The Origin of Afaan Oromo: Mother Language
    Global Journal of HUMAN-SOCIAL SCIENCE: G Linguistics & Education Volume 15 Issue 12 Version 1.0 Year 2015 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA) Online ISSN: 2249-460x & Print ISSN: 0975-587X The Origin of Afaan Oromo: Mother Language By Ibrahim Bedane Madda Walabu University, Ethiopia Abstract- Many people have spent their lives in search of language origin and have made great efforts to discover which language is the mother of all other languages (Mother language). As their efforts were not rightly directed, they could not achieve success. Thus, this paper examines the origin of Afaan Oromo and its impact on theories of languages and language origin. In the area of language and language origin, this paper argued that Afaan Oromo has unique properties to offer the field, or at least the richness that is provided by the majority of words creation offers basic and unusual opportunities for theoretically-minded theories. In both cases what we have learned from Afaan Oromo has provided us major insight into the nature of language origin and mother language. No wonder, ‘One of the best-kept secrets of the Afaan Oromo is the predictability, clarity, source imitating and/or conceptually approximating nature and rules of roots and its verb inflections’. Afaan Oromo is purely natural nature based language. Each and every roots of Afaan Oromo were created from either corresponding Sounds or available roots and thus, converges to sounds proximate to it. Keywords: afaan oromo, imitative root, mother language, root system, root creation, sign, sound, symbolic root, 5s acquisition process.
    [Show full text]
  • OOWEKYALA SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY by DARIN MATHEW
    OOWEKYALA SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY by DARIN MATHEW HOWE B.A. (Hons.), University of Ottawa, 1994 M.A., University of Ottawa, 1995 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Linguistics) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA December 2000 © Darin Mathew Howe, 2000 Authorisation Form In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Abstract This dissertation treats the sound pattern of Oowekyala, a nearly extinct Wakashan language of British Columbia. Proposed analyses are set in Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993). Following an introduction to the language (its speakers, their location, adjacent languages, etc.) and to the adopted theory, the discussion focuses on three dimensions of Oowekyala phonology: intrasegmental, intersegmental, and correspondence-related. The segment-internal (paradigmatic) phonology results from the interaction between lexical faithfulness and context-free markedness constraints. This interaction is discussed with respect to the various features that cross-classify the segment inventory of Oowekyala. For instance, it is argued that laryngeals are [+sonorant], that affricates are [-continuant], that [+voice] and [+constricted glottis] occur as floating elements and that these floaters may cause lenition (insertion of [+sonorant]), and that gutturals (uvulars and laryngeals) are [-ATR].
    [Show full text]
  • Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Alternative Report Submission Indigenous Rights Violations in Algeria
    Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Alternative Report Submission Indigenous Rights Violations in Algeria Prepared for: The 94th Session of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Submission Date: November 2017 Submitted by: Cultural Survival 2067 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02140 Tel: 1 (617) 441 5400 [email protected] www.culturalsurvival.org I. Reporting Organization Cultural Survival is an international Indigenous rights organization with a global Indigenous leadership and consultative status with ECOSOC since 2005. Cultural Survival is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States. Cultural Survival monitors the protection of Indigenous Peoples' rights in countries throughout the world and publishes its findings in its magazine, the Cultural Survival Quarterly, and on its website: www.cs.org. Cultural Survival also produces and distributes quality radio programs that strengthen and sustain Indigenous languages, cultures, and civil participation. II. Background Information: History, Population and Regions The total population of Algeria is estimated to be just over 41 million.1 The majority of the population — about 90% — are the Arab people living in the northern coastal regions.2 In addition, Algeria also has a nomadic or semi-nomadic population of about 1.5 million.3 Generally, the Indigenous People of Algeria are called Berbers; however, the term is regarded as a pejorative, as it comes from the word “barbarian.”4 As a result, although not officially recognized as Indigenous,5 Algeria's Indigenous Peoples self-identity as the Imazighen (plural) or Amazigh (singular).6 Due to lack of recognition, there is no official statistics or disaggregated data available on Algeria’s Indigenous population.
    [Show full text]