Conquest and Contact in North African Languages

This chapter investigates how language contact and conflict in North Africa impacts society, particularly education. It explores the intersections between cultures, languages, and education with the aim of providing a framework that would enrich the discussion of conquest and language conflict in terms of highlighting the role education and policy could play in the development and management of multilingual and multicultural societies. For the last sixty years, the linguistic situation in North Africa has witnessed many changes characterized by the significance of Arabic, which has been consolidated through the Arabization process, and by the important role of French, especially in higher education and in the private sector. While French remains widely used, Berber has finally been recognized as an official language and been introduced in elementary education in Morocco and Algeria. The shift is part of a larger movement toward pluralism and openness, especially since the Arab uprisings in 2011.