Interrogating Identity Politics in ‘Amazigh Cinema’

Ahmed Ntama’s Imiss (2017) and Boubrik: My Land (2021) as Case Studies

Abstract

Cinema’s interplay with cultural identities has immensely enticed researchers. Moroccan cinema has contributed to shaping diverse identity configurations in modern Morocco. Amazigh filmmaking, in this regard, subsumes to the so-called ‘emergent Moroccan Cinema’. Seminal attempts at defining Amazigh aspect of Moroccan identity(ies) started in the nineties of the previous century. Awareness of Amazigh ways of living, thinking and being skyrocketed through different media channels to which filmmaking stands for typical sorts. This presentation traces articulations of cultural identities in Moroccan cinema with a special focus on Amazigh filmmaking. It sets to unearth ‘manifest’ and ‘latent’ discursive patterns of Amazighness in Ahmed Ntama’s filmography. The study initially contextualizes the issue investigated using global and local theoretical models with regard to identity construction. It uses CDA (Critical Discourse Analysis) and QCA (Qualitative Content Analysis) to delineate the applications and tentatively the implications of –these theoretical constructs in the film under study. Variables of class, gender, ethnicity and geography will be deployed in deconstructing the representation(s) of Amazigh identity(ies) and culture(s) in the film.