Ethnicity in Algeria from a Sociological Perspective

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Ethnicity in Algeria From A Sociological Perspective Ethnicity refers to shared cultural practices, perspectives, and distinctions that set apart one group of people from another. That is, ethnicity is a shared cultural heritage. The most common characteristics distinguishing various ethnic groups are ancestry, a sense of history, language, religion, and forms of dress. Ethnic differences are not inherited; they are learned. Most countries today consist of different ethnic groups. Ideally, countries strive for pluralism, where people of all ethnicities and races remain distinct but have social equality. As an example, Algeria is very diverse; with people representing groups from different ethnic back ground history. (1) Algeria is a country of approximately thirty-seven million people located on the northern coast of Africa With a total area of 2,381,741 square kilometers (919,595 sq. mi), Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world and the largest in Africa, and in the Mediterranean.(2) The country is bordered in the northeast by Tunisia, in the east by Libya, in the west by Morocco, in the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, in the southeast by Niger, and in the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Regarding ethnicity in Algeria, the Berbers are the indigenous ethnic group of Algeria and are believed to be the ancestral stock on which elements from the Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks as well as other ethnic groups have contributed to the ethnic makeup of Algeria. (3) Descendants of Andalusian refugees are also present in the population of Algiers and other cities. (4) The overwhelming majority of Algerians are Berbers in origins, but a majority identifies with an Arabic-based culture. (6, 7) Berbers are divided into many groups with varying languages. The largest of these are the Kabyle, who live in the Kabylie region east of

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