In this paper, I consider the Berbers in the “banlieue” (the immigrant suburb), where in the late 1960s and early 1970s new generations of Berbers worked on “Amazigh” identity. “Amazigh” means “free men” and is the term with which Berber people refer to themselves, underlining their independence and rejection of the imposed term, Berber. Through research and interpretation of texts and poetry, they recovered and recognized a distinct history and culture as well as an oral tradition. I retrace the steps taken by these Berber research groups to show the connection with the situation today. This effort (to recover a distinct history and culture) co-exists, overlaps and is sometimes replaced by the “Beur” movement, which is comprised of the descendants of Berber and North African immigrants. Through an analysis of the creative texts of “Beur” writers such as Tassadit Imache, Nacer Kettane, and Mounsi, I look at the way they synthesize the “Beur” experience in their autobiographically-oriented texts and claim an “inbetween” space in France today.