Amazigh, Chenoua

The Chenoua (Icenwiyen) are the Berbers of Mount Chenoua, the 905 m coastal massif between Tipaza and Cherchell, about 70 km west of Algiers. Their language, Shenwa or Chenoui (they call it haqbaylith or hachelhith), is a Zenati Berber language close to Chaoui and Riffian, spoken across the Dahra mountains from Fouka to Ténès. It has three main varieties: Chenoui of Mount Chenoua, the speech of Beni Haoua, Beni Ferah and Djebel Bissa further west, and that of the Beni Menacer, the large tribe south and west of the mountain, who are listed as a people group of their own. The region was Juba II's Mauretanian capital and a Roman city, and its Berber tribes fought the French conquest in the 1840s.

Mountain villages of stone houses stand among olive and fig orchards, with fishing along the coast. Women still make hand-coiled painted pottery and baskets. Fig harvests are marked at saints' shrines. Couscous, bourek and chakhchoukha are everyday dishes, and tisiway dances are performed at feasts. Assia Djebar's 1977 film La Nouba des femmes du Mont Chenoua recorded the women's songs and memories of the war of independence. The outline of Mount Chenoua is told as a woman lying down.

Sunni Islam of the Maliki school with a strong saint tradition: domed shrines on the hills, local zawiyas, visits for blessing, protective amulets and fear of the evil eye. Near Algiers mosque Islam follows the national pattern, and reformist preaching has grown since the 1990s, while the shrine life survives in the villages.

No scripture, Jesus Film or audio recording exists in Shenwa; Kabyle and Chaoui materials are the nearest Berber resources. A few Shenwa speakers are reported to follow Christ, worshipping in churches outside the region or abroad.