Amazigh, Tougourt

The Berbers of Tougourt are the people of the Oued Righ oases in the northeastern Algerian Sahara who still speak the valley's Zenati Berber language, Tugurt (also Oued Righ Berber, Temacine Tamazight or Tahshanit; speakers say chelha, and the Blidet Amor variety is called righie). It belongs to the Mzab-Wargla group with Mozabite and Ouargli. The valley's old population, the Righa (Rouagha, R'hira), were Zenata Berbers, often dark-skinned; most of the valley has since shifted to Arabic. About 8,400 people speak the language (2022). Joshua Project lists two groups for it: this one holds the speakers of Blidet Amor and the Megarine villages, and 'Tamazight, Temacine' those of Temacine and Tamellaht.

Village life follows the oasis pattern of the Oued Righ: palm gardens irrigated from artesian wells, mud-brick and stone houses along narrow lanes, and extended families with strong ties between neighbouring villages. Grandparents and parents speak Berber at home, while parents now speak Arabic to small children so they manage at school. Weddings, the date harvest and the Tijaniyya gatherings at nearby Tamellaht mark the year; weaving, clay products and blacksmithing are local crafts.

They are Maliki Sunnis, and the Tijaniyya Sufi order shapes their religious life: its zawiya at Tamellaht near Temacine, founded by Sidi al-Hajj Ali al-Tamasini, great khalifa of the order's founder in the early 19th century, is one of the order's two Algerian centres. Visits to saints' tombs, seeking blessing (baraka), Qur'anic amulets and fear of the evil eye and jinn are part of daily faith.

Nothing has been translated into Tugurt; the New Testament in Algerian Arabic, which all speakers also use, is the nearest Scripture. Global Recordings Network lists Oued Righ varieties among Algeria's languages, but no recording was confirmed. There is no Jesus Film in Tugurt, and no Christians are known in these villages.