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Libya
Berbers
Part of what was once the dominant ethnic group throughout North
Africa, the Berbers of Libya today live principally in remote
mountain areas or in desert localities where successive waves
of Arab migration failed to reach or to which they retreated to
escape the invaders . In the 1980s Berbers, or native speakers
of Berber dialects, constituted about 5 percent, or 135,000, of
the total population, although a substantially larger proportion
is bilingual in Arabic and Berber. Berber place-names are still
common in some areas where Berber is no longer spoken. The language
survives most notably in the Jabal Nafusah highlands of Tripolitania
and in the Cyrenaican town of Awjilah. In the latter, the customs
of seclusion and concealment of women have been largely responsible
for the persistence of the Berber tongue. Because it is used largely
in public life, most men have acquired Arabic, but it has become
a functional language for only a handful of modernized young women.
By and large, cultural and linguistic, rather than physical,
distinctions separate Berber from Arab. The touchstone of Berberhood
is the use of the Berber language. A continuum of related but
not always mutually intelligible dialects, Berber is a member
of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It is distantly related to
Arabic, but unlike Arabic it has not developed a written form
and as a consequence has no written literature.
Unlike the Arabs, who see themselves as a single nation, Berbers
do not conceive of a united Berberdom and have no name for themselves
as a people. The name Berber has been attributed to them
by outsiders and is thought to derive from barbari, the
term the ancient Romans applied to them. Berbers identify with
their families, clans, and tribe. Only when dealing with outsiders
do they identify with other groupings such as the Tuareg. Traditionally,
Berbers recognized private property, and the poor often worked
the lands of the rich. Otherwise, they were remarkably egalitarian.
A majority of the surviving Berbers belong to the Khariji sect
of Islam, which emphasizes the equality of believers to a greater
extent than does the Maliki rite of Sunni Islam, which is followed
by the Arab population (see Religious Life , this ch.). A young
Berber sometimes visits Tunisia or Algeria to find a Khariji bride
when none is available in his own community.
Most of the remaining Berbers live in Tripolitania, and many
Arabs of the region still show traces of their mixed Berber ancestry.
Their dwellings are clustered in groups made up of related families;
households consist of nuclear families, however, and the land
is individually held. Berber enclaves also are scattered along
the coast and in a few desert oases. The traditional Berber economy
has struck a balance between farming and pastoralism, the majority
of the village or tribe remaining in one place throughout the
year while a minority accompanies the flock on its circuit of
seasonal pastures.
Berbers and Arabs in Libya live together in general amicability,
but quarrels between the two peoples occasionally erupted until
recent times. A short-lived Berber state existed in Cyrenaica
during 1911 and 1912. Elsewhere in the Maghrib during the 1980s,
substantial Berber minorities continued to play important economic
and political roles. In Libya their number was too small for them
to enjoy corresponding distinction as a group. Berber leaders,
however, were in the forefront of the independence movement in
Tripolitania.
Data as of 1987
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