Just now

I have just gotten out of a talk by Rami Khouri, dealing with American policy in the Middle East. My thoughts on this topic are sparse at the moment, as I have been focusing my free time in a twofold manner: in the first instance I am studying the history of the late Ottoman Empire with respect to its Arab Christian subjects as well as getting into greater touch with that aspect of my social setting; in second instance I am exploring by means of my library, together with that of other university libraries in the area, English language sources on topics related to Amazigh-Berber history in Algeria, especially those on the Aures and the M’zab Valley. The latter region because I came across several photos of it in my library which were quite striking which caused me to remember a single visit to the city of Ghardaïa, a scenic place in the M’zab were Berber is spoken and a very traditional form of Islam practiced. The reason for going was to visit family friends, and anyone who makes their way to this region will not forget it. The M’zabites are an Ibadite people, having preserved their traditions since the 8th century as the remnants of an historic Kharijite empire (the Rustomids) that spanned from Tunisia (Kairouan) through eastern Algeria. The Kharijites were one of the various off shoots from early Islamic history, and their descendants (the Ibadites) make up a majority of the population only in Oman. The M’zab region was not a part of Algeria formally until the 1880’s, whilst the rest of the country was conquered by the French, the M’zabite communities, from 1853, paid tribute to the French in exchange for independence. After independence, it obviously became a part of Algeria. The region is a World Heritage Site.

But anyway, my thoughts have been focused on those matters. While I could place my reaction to his lecture, I am charged with producing one for a class and thus will expend the extra time to do that here. However, I will say that I agreed with most of his substance, though I have small troubles with his style. So I will be posting my thoughts on his thoughts shortly.