We Share Walls : Language, Land, and Gender in Berber Morocco

"We Share Walls: Language, Land, and Gender in Berber Morocco" explores how political economic shifts over the last century have reshaped the language practices and ideologies of women (and men) in the plains and mountains of rural Morocco.

Through an entrenched moral code that favors male emigration, women have come to personify the rugged homeland and embody its native language - Tashelhit.

They create frameworks in which knowledge of rural land, people, and expressive culture is positively valued.

In contrast, national narratives that favor Arab identity marginalize Berbers yet immortalize Berber women as remnants of an idealized past.

Through close analysis of verbal and song-texted forms, "We Share Walls" is a richly textured ethnography of anxiety and temerity among an overlooked Muslim group.

Hoffman documents language choices and consequences in public and private contexts, providing insight into the everyday strategies Moroccan Berbers use to accommodate themselves to an Arab-speaking world, yet remain at least somewhat distinct.With its fascinating semiotic and gender issues simmering beneath the surface, this engaging book will be of interest to scholars and students of anthropology, performance studies, sociolinguistics, and gender studies.