2008 Projects
The Kabyl Folktale Theater Project
This project was started in 2007 and is ongoing. The following is the latest on the progress of this project.
ACAA pulled it off by closing the gap in the funding and Taous is gearing up to travel to Algeria to start work on her project. ACAA is helping Taous find lodging in Bgayet which seems to be difficult during the summer. The Theater of Bgayet is ready to welcome Taous.
2007 Projects
The Kabyl Folktale Theater Project
The Kabyl Folktale Theater Project is a project that celebrates the rich oral tradition of Kabylia by combining theatrical performance with Kabyl folktales (timucuha). Young Kabyl women from the region of Bgayet will create a theatre rooted in Kabyl folktales and become Kabylia’s leaders of tomorrow. Read the entire article
Support to Amazigh Language Media
ACAA awarded $1000 grant for the newspaper IZURAN, the only Tamazight newspaper in Algeria to provide 100 Amazigh associations with one full year of subscriptions to Izuran. The associations that benefited of a subscription are associations that promote the Amazigh heritage. They are from Morocco, Algeria and Niger.
Turart Amekti, and Educational Card Game for Children in Tamazight by Dr. Akli Kebaili
Turart Amekti (inn English Memory Game) is card game for children. It is designed to teach children the Amazigh alphabet through pictures and of course by using their memory. It is very similar to other card matching games sold in stores throughout the United States.
Turart Amekti is made of 2 sets of 37 cards (total of 72) and is accompanied by a 15-page color booklet that explains how to play the game, lists the Amazigh alphabet and the names of days and months in Tamazight.
The game has been designed by Dr. Akli Kebaili, a political scientist by profession, but a well seasoned Amazigh author. Dr Kebaili has written Imetti n Bab Idurar (The cries of Bab Idurar) and Lkuraj n Tyazit (The Courageous hen) and numerous articles for the press and other cultural magazines.
When ACAA learned about this game, it jumped with joy at the idea of sponsoring perhaps the very first game in Tamazight. More importantly, this is an educational game that both children and adults will surely enjoy. The pictures were taken by Dr. Kebaili. Graphic design is by A. Messaoudene.
Currently ACAA is looking for the best printshop to produce the game. In the meantime, if you would like to reserve your copy or several perhaps to offer them as gifts, please contact us.
Imetti n Bab Idurar
Imetti n Bab Idurar (Literally "The cries of Bab Idurar") is a story of two young people, a brother and a sister that were forced out of their parents home and went to search for a better life, a life of respect and equality (among women and men alike), in a village whose people are open and positive as opposed to the village they left where people did not know how to laugh or celebrate... life.
Told in a very simple and free-flowing Tamazight (taqbaylit), this is a book for children and adults alike. This story is written by Dr. Akli Kebaili and illustrated by Nordine Louaifi. It was first published by l'Harmattan (Paris) in 1998. The book was sold mainly in France and at its release ACAA purchased many copies which it sold to its members (Check our catalog to see if there are any copies available). The book received a lot of praise and many people in Algeria, particularly Tamazight teachers who requested this book to be used in their courses. Unfortunately, the first edition ran out.
ACAA is now joining Dr. Akli Kebaili to publish a second edition of this book. Dr. Kebaili has gone through the story thoroughly to reedit some passages and Nordine Louaifi produced new illustrations in color, because we would like to produce this book in color. Best of all, this book will be published in Algeria to make it more accessible to a larger population. ACAA will guarantee the sale of a certain number of copies (the number has not yet been determined) to make sure the book actually gets published. ACAA will also bring copies of this book to sell to the Amazigh community in North America.