HI 595
Morocco: History on the Cusp of Three Continents
Tues. 9-12
ASC 505
Office Hours: M, Th 1:30-2:30 and by appointment
Prof. Wylie
ASC 517
[email protected]
Explores the range and limits of social mixture – cultural, political, economic – as three
civilizations met at the northwest corner of Africa and influenced one another from the
8th to the 21st centuries.
This reading seminar, open to both advanced undergraduate and graduate students,
explores the history of the northwest African kingdom of Morocco. Because it is located
on the cusp of three continents, the region has long been affected by developments
elsewhere. Through focusing on Morocco, we will learn about its people’s historical
interactions with Europe (especially colonization by and emigration to and from Spain
and France), the Middle East (from where Muslim invaders came in the 8th and 12th
centuries), and Africa (through trade across the Sahara).
Most of our reading will be in the form of monographs, but there are a few
comprehensive histories in English that students may wish to purchase or consult
because they provide useful background. One example is Jamil-Abun Nasr, A History of
the Maghrib in the Muslim Period. The Journal of North African Studies may be found
on the 6th floor of Mugar Library; its call number is DT 160 J68. I intend to give a minilecture at the end of each class to introduce you to the material of the following week.
Seven titles by the following authors may be purchased: Ibn Khaldun (The Muqaddimah),
Maria Menocal (Ornament of the World), Natalie Z. Davis (Trickster Travels), Aomar
Boum (Memories of Absence), S.G. Miller (A History of Modern Morocco), Mohamed
Choukri (By Bread Alone), Fatima Mernissi (Dreams of Trespass). The books by Miller
and el Hamel (Black Morocco) are available online at Mugar. All our required readings
are on 2-hour reserve in Mugar library (or on Blackboard if they are articles).
Supplementary readings are optional.
We have the good fortune to be seeing three Moroccan films on selected evenings. They
will be shown before we meet to discuss a book that is relevant to their subject matter. In
this way, I hope you’ll gain greater visceral familiarity with the Maghreb, its languages
and landscapes. One evening we will dine together on Moroccan cuisine.
Evaluation Criteria
The forms of evaluation in this seminar will emphasize writing in two forms. The first
will be weekly one-page précis statements that describe the central argument and
evidence in the week’s reading, as well as raise a provocative issue for discussion (30%).
The second writing exercise will be a 15 page bibliographic essay that surveys the
literature on a particular theme (40%), due 26 April. In addition, students will take part
in weekly seminars as active, dynamic participants in discussions. At least once over the
course of the semester students will serve as discussion leaders during The Third
Hour, framing questions, and helping to organize the seminar agenda for that week.
Seminar participation will constitute 30% of the grade for the course.
Academic Integrity
Students are expected to observe the procedures and guidelines regarding plagiarism and
academic integrity prescribed by the Arts and Sciences Academic Conduct Code. Those
guidelines are provided on the following websites:
http://www.bu.edu/cas/students/undergrad-resources/code/
http://www.bu.edu/grs/academics/resources/adp.html
1. Jan. 19 Introduction: The Historical Grid, a broad overview
THE MIDDLE AGES
2. Jan. 26 A Muslim Perspective
Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah, An Introduction to the History of the World, pp. vii-9,
35-43, 91-167, 232-57, 263-91.
Supplementary reading: Jamil Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib in the Muslim
Period, pp. 76-103; Diana Wylie, “Decadence? The Khaldunian Cycle in Algeria and
South Africa,” Journal of North African Studies 13, 3 (2008). pp. 387-99 in a special
issue of JNAS (“The Worlds of Ibn Khaldun”). Diana Davis, “A note on the geography
and ecology of the Maghreb,” in Resurrecting the Granary of Rome, pp. 177-85.
3. Feb. 2 A European Perspective
Maria Rosa Menocal, The Ornament of the World, How Muslims, Jews, and Christians
Created a Culture of Tolerance in Muslim Spain (omitting the five chapters on the
following pages: pp.101-29, 147-88, 216-28);
Supplementary reading: Richard Fletcher, Moorish Spain; Amira Bennison, “Liminal
States: Morocco and the Iberian Frontier between the 12th and 19th Centuries”, JNAS,
Spring 2001, pp. 11-28; special issue of JNAS devoted to Iberian-Moroccan relations,
vol. 19, 1 (Jan. 2014).
4. Feb. x An African Perspective
Chouki el Hamel, Black Morocco, a history of slavery, race, and Islam, chapters 3 to 6
(pp. 1-240)
Supplementary reading: E.M. Bovill, The Golden Trade of the Moors, pp. 98-206;
Ghislaine Lydon, On Trans-Saharan Trails, Islamic Law, Trade Networks, and CrossCultural Exchange …., chapter 2; Bernard Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East;
C. Becker on Ismkhan, JNAS, winter 2002; Wright (“Morocco: The last great slave
market?”) and El Hamel (“Race, Slavery and Islam in Maghribi Mediterranean Thought:
The question of the Harratin in Morocco”), JNAS, autumn 2002; Ross Dunn, Resistance
in the Desert, ch. 4; Ibn Battuta, Ibn Battuta in Black Africa; N. Levtzion and JFP
Hopkins, Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History; JR Willis, Slaves
and Slavery in Muslim Africa (Ahmad Baba document); Mohamed Ennaji, Serving the
Master, Slavery and Society in Nineteenth Century Morocco; John Hunwick and Eve
Troutt Powell, eds., The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam, selected
documents (pp. 38-48, 119-20, 125-7, 139-43, 204-19).
THE EARLY MODERN WORLD
5. Feb. 23
Leo Africanus
The Aftermath of the Expulsion from Spain: Through the eyes of
Natalie Zemon Davis, Trickster Travels: a Sixteenth Century Muslim between Worlds,
chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9.
Supplementary reading: Jamil Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic
Period, pp. 206-227.
6.
March 1 Piracy and its aftermath
Thomas Pellow, The Adventures of Thomas Pellow, selected chapters (online), and S.G.
Miller, A History of Modern Morocco, chapters 1 and 2.
Supplementary reading: Nabil Mattar, Britain and Barbary 1589-1689; Linda Colley,
Captives, the story of Britain’s pursuit of empire and how its soldiers and civilians were
held captive by the dream of global supremacy 1600-1850 , Part One (pp. 23-134);
Charles Hanford Adams, The Narrative of Robert Adams, A Barbary Captive; Paul
Baepler, White Slaves, African Masters.
THE COLONIAL ENCOUNTER
7. March 15 The Coming of the French and the Spanish
Susan G. Miller, The History of Modern Morocco, chapters 3, 4, 5; el Hamel, chapter 7
Supplementary reading: Susan Miller (trans. and ed.), Disorienting Encounters, Travels
of a Moroccan Scholar in France 1845-1846; Sebastian Balfour, Deadly Embrace,
Morocco and the Road to the Spanish Civil War; Edmund Burke III, Prelude to
Protectorate in Morocco, Precolonial Protest and Resistance 1860-1912; Jamil AbunNasr, pp. 369-404; D. Wylie, “Moroccan urbanism: a case study in colonial and postcolonial metissage,” Beiruter Texte und Studien, Band 102, 2007; Linda Nochlin, “The
Imaginary Orient,” Art in America, May, 1983; William Hoisington, Lyautey and the
French Conquest of Morocco; Jonathan Katz, Murder in Marrakech.
Film: “Where are you going, Moshe?” (Hassan Benjelloun, 2007)
8. March 22 The Jewish Presence
Aomar Boum, Memories of Absence, How Muslims remember Jews in Morocco
Supplementary reading: Daniel Schroeter, The Sultan’s Jew: Morocco and the Sephardi
World; Vivian Mann, ed., Morocco, Jews and Art in a Muslim Land; Benny Morris,
“The Darker Side,” The New Republic, 10 Sept. 2008, pp. 35-9. Norman Stillman, The
language and culture of the Jews of Sefrou, Morocco, an ethnolinguistic study (1988);
Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa, ed. E. Gottreich and D. Schroeter; Emily
Gottreich, The Mellah of Marrakesh: Jewish and Muslim Space in Morocco’s Red City.
Film: “Horses of God” (Nabil Ayouch, 2012, 115 mins.)
9.
March 29 Life in Modern Cities
Mohamed Choukri, For Bread Alone; Fatima Mernissi, Dreams of Trespass
Supplementary reading: Paul Rabinow, French Modern; Gwendolyn Wright, The Politics
of Design in French Colonial Urbanism, J-L Cohen and M. Eleb, Casablanca, Colonial
Myths and Architectural Ventures; Women Writing North Africa, The Northern Region,
ed. Fatima Sadiqi et al. (2009)
INDEPENDENCE
10.
April 5 A Powerful King and Domestic Dissent
Susan Miller, chapters 6 and 7; Susan Slyomovics, The Performance of Human Rights in
Morocco, chapters 4 and 6
Supplementary reading: R. Bourqia and S. Miller, In the Shadow of the Sultan, Culture,
Power and Politics in Morocco; Henry Munson, Religion and Power in Morocco;
Azzedine Layachi, Society, Society and Democracy in Morocco, The Limits of
Associative Life; Abdellah Hammoudi, Master and Disciple, The Cultural Foundations of
Moroccan Authoritarianism.
11. April 12 Berber Culture and Nationalism
Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, The Berber Identity Movement and the Challenge to North
African States, selected chapters (3,4,6)
Edmund Burke III, The Ethnographic State, France and the Invention of Moroccan Islam,
ch. 7; Nabil Boudraa and Joseph Krause, North African Mosaic, A Cultural Reappraisal
of Ethnic and Religious Minorities, chapter 12 (“Nationalist and Islamist Discourse and
the Socio-Political Implications of Recognizing Tamazight (Berber) in Morocco,” by M..
Errihani, pp. 238-57); Cynthia Becker, “Amazigh Textiles and Dress in Morocco”,
African Arts, Autumn 2006 pp. 42-55; Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, “Ethno-Political
Globalization in North Africa: the Berber Culture Movement” JNAS 11, 1 (2006), pp. 7183 [all xeroxes]. David Crawford, “How Berber matters in the middle of nowhere,”
Middle East Report 219 (summer 2001), available as a PDF on his webpage. El Hamel,
chapter 8.
Supplementary reading: Cynthia Becker, Amazigh Arts in Morocco, Women Shaping
Berber Identity; M. Brett and E. Fentress, The Berbers; David Crawford, “Morocco’s
Invisible Imazighen,” JNAS, Spring 2002, pp. 53-70; Ernest Gellner, Saints of the Atlas;
Ernest Gellner and Charles Michaud, Arabs and Berbers: From Tribe to Nation in North
Africa ; Abdellah Hammoudi, The Victim and its Masks.
Film : “Le Grand Voyage” (2004, 108 mins.)
12. April 19 Islams: Intégrisme/Political Islam and Sufism
Henry Munson, The House of Si Abd Allah, selections from; S.G. Miller, chapters 8 and
9. Excerpt from the Mudawanna (Xerox).
Supplementary reading: Emilio Spadola, The Calls of Islam, Sufis, Islamists, and Mass
Mediation in Urban Morocco; Edmund Burke III and Ira Lapidus, Islam, Politics, and
Social Movements; John Ruedy, ed., Islamism and Secularism in North Africa; Malika
Zeghal, Islamism in Morocco; Dale Eickelman, Knowledge and Power in Morocco;
Abdellah Hammoudi, Master and Disciple; Henry Munson, Religion and Power in
Morocco, Vincent Cornell, Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan
Sufism.
13 . April 26
Presentation and Submission of papers