« Tamazight » : façonner la langue, construire des nations et fabriquer leur histoire au nord de l’Afrique

International audience This paper reconsiders the question of the unity and diversity of Berber as a socially constructed language in a contemporary context marked by the construction of nations. It outlines the interactions that have existed since the mid-19th century between identifications with Berberity/Amazighness, reconstructed within dynamic imagined communities, on the one hand, and, on the other, the representations and uses of Berber, and more generally of languages, in a Maghreb sociolinguistic landscape that is both multilingual and multilingual. It shows how the category of "Tamazight" has emerged and spread in its contemporary uses, and identifies the object(s) it designates and shapes in relation to dynamic socio-political and cultural issues.