The Andalusi origins of the Berbers?
2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 2; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/17546551003619647
ISSN1754-6567
Autores Tópico(s)Hispanic-African Historical Relations
ResumoAbstract Building on the contributions of H.T. Norris, Joaquín Vallvé Bermejo, Eduardo Manzano Moreno, Maya Shatzmiller and others about the Berbers, this article uses the difference between the political situation in al‐Andalus and the Maghrib in the eighth century to argue for a possible Andalusi origin of a particular use of the category "Berber." Since before the Arab conquests the sources did not imagine that the "Berbers" inhabited northwest Africa and that today it is common to do so, the article introduces the idea of a Berberization to account for that transformation. It argues that al‐Andalus was an important early site of production of a specific notion of what Berber meant and seeks to show categories such as Arab and Berber did not refer to an unchanging objective reality and that they did not always carry the same connotations or support the same understandings. Embracing the limits posed by the historical record, the article participates in the effort of historians to replace ideologically informed convictions with a more nuanced delineation of the boundaries of the knowable. Keywords: BerbersBerberizational‐AndalusMaghribOriginsUmayyadsArabseighth centuryninth century Chronicle of 754 Acknowledgements Simon Doubleday has read many drafts of this article. To the extent that there is any clarity and nuance to the arguments presented here, it is thanks to his kind patience and attentiveness, and to the vigilance of the anonymous readers. Notes 1Chalmeta Gendrón, Invasión e islamización, 25. 2See for example, Brett and Fentress, The Berbers, 10; Fierro, 'Abd al‐Rahman III, 11; Felipe, Identidad y onomástica, 18; Manzano Moreno, Conquistadores, Emires y Califas, 29; Modéran, Les Maures et l'Afrique Romaine, 11. Scholars sometimes merely assume that the Berbers were "there" before the Arabs invaded. See for example, Cruz Hernández, "The Social Structure of al‐Andalus," 51–83. 3Brett and Fentress, Berbers, 283, n. 5. 4Cf. Felipe, "Leyendas árabes," 380. 5See for example, Bulliet, Conversion to Islam; Viguera Molíns, "The Muslim Settlement of Spania/al‐Andalus," 29–30. Equally problematic is the scholarly tendency to describe the Romanization or Christianization of the Berbers or their conquest by Vandals and Romans. See Fentress, "Romanising the Berbers;" Merrills, Vandals, Romans and Berbers. 6Cf. Bosch‐Vilá, "A propósito de la berberización de al‐Andalus". See also, Benaboud and Tahiri, "Berberising al‐Andalus." These scholars use the idea of Berberization in a markedly different sense. 7Following French colonial habits, scholars often use North Africa to mean northwest Africa. Equally problematic is the category "Berbérie," which still appears in scholarship. For example see, Guichard, Structures sociales; Martinez‐Gros, L'idéologie Omeyyade. 8Hannoum, "Translation and the Colonial Imaginary;" and "Colonialism and Knowledge in Algeria;" Lorcin, Imperial Identities; Trumbull IV, "Empire of Facts." 9Norris, Berbers in Arabic Literature. 10See also Azmeh, al‐'Arab wa‐al‐barābira. 11Vallvé Bermejo, Abderramán III, 86; and "España en el siglo VIII." See also Vallvé Bermejo, Nuevas ideas sobre la conquista árabe de España. 12Shatzmiller, "Le mythe d'origine Berbère." 13Shatzmiller, "Le mythe d'origine Berbère," 146. 14Shatzmiller, "Le mythe d'origine Berbère," 147. 15Shatzmiller, "Le mythe d'origine Berbère," 146. 16Manzano Moreno, Conquistadores, Emires y Califas, and "Beréberes de al‐Andalus." 17Manzano Moreno, Conquistadores, 22. 18Manzano Moreno, Conquistadores, 15–16. 19See Ibn 'Abd al‐Ḥakam, History of the Conquest. 20Ibn 'Abd al‐Ḥakam, History of the Conquest, 199. 21Ibn 'Abd al‐Ḥakam, History of the Conquest, 199. 22Ibn 'Abd al‐Ḥakam, History of the Conquest, 199–204. 23Ibn 'Abd al‐Ḥakam, History of the Conquest, 170. 24Ibn 'Abd al‐Ḥakam, History of the Conquest, 170–1. 25Ibn 'Abd al‐Ḥakam, History of the Conquest, 183–8. 26Ibn 'Abd al‐Ḥakam, History of the Conquest, 198. 27For a recent example, see Brett and Fentress, Berbers, 27. 28Ibn Ḥabīb, Kitāb al‐Ta'rīj. 29Manzano Moreno analyzed the concerns of Ibn 'Abd al‐Ḥakam and Ibn Ḥabīb and showed that they had reason to insist that al‐Andalus was conquered by the force of arms ('anwatan) (Conquistadores, 34–42). 30Ibn al‐Ṣaghīr, Akhbār al‐a'imma, 52; and Motylinski, Chronique d'Ibn Ṣaghir, 331. 31Ibn Sallām, Kitāb Ibn Sallām. 32Ibn Sallām, Kitāb Ibn Sallām, 121–5. 33Ibn Sallām, Kitāb Ibn Sallām, 84. 34Ibn Sallām, Kitāb Ibn Sallām, 118. 35Wolf, Conquerors and Chroniclers, 59–60. 36See Modéran, Les Maures et l'Afrique Romaine. 37Wolf, Conquerors and Chroniclers, 59–60. 38See Gil, Corpus scriptores. For an English translation see Hoyland, Seeing Islam, 611–30. 39Hoyland, Seeing Islam, 618; Gil, Corpus scriptores, 1: 10. 40The province of Ifrīqiyā was established by the Arabs after their conquest of Byzantine Africa. Those elites who supported the Arabs were not exactly the same as those who supported the Romans even if the sources continue to use "Africa" and "African" after the Muslim conquest. 41See for example, al‐Wāqidī, Futuḥ al‐shām, 2: 203; al‐Jāḥiẓ, Rasā'il al‐Jāḥiẓ, 1: 216. 42Cf. Norris, Berbers in Arabic Literature. 43López Pereira, Crónica Mozárabe de 754; and Wolf, Conquerors, 111–58. 44See Martinez‐Gros, L'idéologie Omeyyade. 45See Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain. 46On the struggles between Muslims after the conquest of Iberia, see Chalmeta Gendrón, Invasión; Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain; and Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal. 47In the east, "Arab" was most commonly contrasted to 'a jam, which referred to "Persians." The Berbers are sometimes described as 'a jam by eastern authors. 48Wolf, Conquerors, 140; López Pereira, Crónica mozárabe de 754, 90. 49Wolf, Conquerors, 142; López Pereira, Crónica mozárabe de 754, 96. 51§84: Wolf, Conquerors, 148–9; López Pereira, Crónica mozárabe de 754, 106–8. 50Wolf, Conquerors, 148; López Pereira, Crónica mozárabe de 754, 106. 52It is important to note that the Maghrib is not described as the land of the Moors but only as the region that has the greatest number of Moors. 54Wolf, Conquerors, 148; López Pereira, Crónica mozárabe de 754, 109–10. 53See Rosenthal, "Nasab." 55It is not clear that all the Moors of Spain were anti‐Umayyad. 56See Chalmeta Gendrón, "Muwallad." 57Viguera Molins, Los reinos de taifas; Wasserstein, Rise and Fall of the Party‐Kings. 58For a discussion of early settlements, see for example, Chalmeta Gendrón, Invasión, 158, 224; Felipe, Identidad y onomástica, 387–93. 59For examples of Andalusi anti‐Berber texts, see García Gómez, Andalucía contra Berbería. See also Norris, Berbers in Arabic Literature.
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