Berber Academy

The Berber Academy (Berber language: Agraw Imaziɣen, French: Academie Berbère) was an Algerian cultural association founded in 1966 by Mohand Arav Bessaoud and a group of Algerian Berbers, including Ramdane Haifi. This group consisted of intellectuals, artists and journalists, all eager to develop the Berber language using the Neo-Tifinagh alphabet and Berber Latin alphabet.

Fearing misuse of the term "academy", they renamed the association Agraw Imaziɣen (Berber Assembly) in 1967. The association was dissolved in 1978 for unknown reasons.

Berber alphabet standard

The Academy proposed a Neo-Tifinagh Berber alphabet standard on the basis of Tuareg Tifinagh in order to promote the Berber language. Periodically, and often in Neo-Tifinagh, the organization published the journal Imazighen. The Academy also published Berber books using the Berber Latin alphabet.

The Academy allegedly proposed some early designs for the now-massively-popular Berber flag.

See also

• Berber flag
• Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture
• Berber language
• Libyco-Berber alphabet
• Tifinagh

Bibliography

• Aghali-Zakara, Mohamed (1994). Graphèmes berbères et dilemme de diffusion: Interaction des alphabets latin, ajami et tifinagh. Etudes et Documents Berbères 11, 107-121.
• Aghali-Zakara, Mohamed; and Drouin, Jeanine (1977). Recherches sur les Tifinaghs- Eléments graphiques et sociolinguistiques. Comptes-rendus du Groupe Linguistique des Etudes Chamito-Sémitiques (GLECS).
• Ameur, Meftaha (1994). Diversité des transcriptions : pour une notation usuelle et normalisée de la langue berbère. Etudes et Documents Berbères 11, 25–28.