Podcasts about tangier american legation institute

Episode 140: Modern Art and Architecture in Morocco in the Aftershock of the 1960 Agadir Earthquake On February 29, 1960, an earthquake leveled much of the southern Moroccan coastal city of Agadir. Over the next decade, a new Agadir would be built in an avant-garde brutalist architectural style, representing a concrete example of Morocco's newly independent future. And yet, this future is haunted by the trauma and violence of the past, by way of both the earthquake as well as colonialism. The literal and figurative aftershocks of the earthquake would go on to impact, in ways that are often obscured, various facets of life all around Morocco and beyond, especially with regards to visual and material culture. This raises the questions about the entanglements of human actors with non-human forces when it comes to histories of modernism, decolonization, and nation-building.   Riad Kherdeen studies global modern art and architecture, with a focus on the region of West Asia/Middle East and North Africa (MENA). He is working on a doctoral dissertation project on modernist art and architecture in Morocco related to the Agadir earthquake of 1960 titled “Spectral Modernisms: Decolonial Aesthetics and Haunting in the Aftershock of Morocco's Agadir Earthquake (1960)." His interests fall within three main clusters of study: the first is in comparative and planetary modernisms via postcolonial studies and critical theory; the second is in the study of perception, including aesthetics, phenomenology, psychoanalytic theory, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience; and the third is in materialisms, ranging from the micro scale with technical studies of visual and material cultural production, including techniques, processes, technologies, and materials/conservation science, to the macro scale including Marxist/historical materialism, new materialism, ecocriticism, and systems theory. Riad holds a B.A. in Art History and a minor in Chemistry from New York University (2013) and an M.A. in the History of Art and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts (2016). His M.A. thesis “Masdar City: Oriental City of the Twenty-First Century,” advised by Jean-Louis Cohen, looks at the urban design and architecture of Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates as a new iteration of the “Orientalized” city within a genealogy of recent urbanism in the Arab world, one that still succumbs to the imagined representations of the region created by European imperialism yet embraces those stereotypes to construct new narratives about its people and its nascent nation. Previously, Riad has held positions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Genome Project at Artsy.   This episode was recorded on November 19th, 2021 at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM).    Posted by Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).

Episode 131: Roots And Traces Of Contemporary Cultural Life In Tangier In this discussion at Youmein 2021: Roots and Traces, anthropologist George Bajalia and journalist Aida Alami explore the roots and traces of contemporary cultural life in Tangier, especially as they relate to northern Morocco's border regions.  From questions of diversity and difference to the roots of present debates around representation, responsibility, and justice, Youmein 2021: Roots and Traces was an open-ended artistic inquiry into how the structures of our past have shaped our current moment. The traces of this past appear in unexpected places, both institutionally and in the social milieu from which we develop artistic reflections. Uncomfortable inequities and realities sit adjacent to the rise of powerful populist and progressive movements worldwide. Since Youmein began in 2014, xenophobia, isolationism, and neo-imperialism have grown simultaneously with new forms of solidarities and ways of being in-common. How will these movements leave their traces in our shifting social orders, and how will they transform, sediment, and root themselves differently? So far, each edition of the Youmein Festival has taken on themes speaking to Tangier as a space of both border and bridge: al-barzakh, crisis, imitation, limit(s), and desire. This year, those themes became the fertile ground on which we will reconvene and dig deep into what has come before and make choices about where we want to go next. After a year of isolated reflections, and alongside the Bicentennial of the Tangier-American Legation, Youmein invited the artists, speakers, and the public to critically reflect on the view from Tangier, and the cultures, peoples, and conditions which compose it.  As a part of the 2021 Youmein Festival, Alami and Bajalia reflected on Tangier and its myths, past and present, and alternative cultural histories and present realities in this corner of the Strait of Gibraltar. From Maalem Abdellah Gourd and the renovation of his home in Tangier medina to the role of the Tangier American Legation Museum in the city, they share thoughts how different flows of people through the city, categorized differently as migrants, immigrants, “ex-pats,” and artists, intersect and overlap.   George Bajalia is an anthropologist (Ph.D., Columbia University), Assistant Professor at Wesleyan University, and theatre director based between Morocco and New York. He is the co-founder of the annual Youmein Creative Media Festival in Tangier, Morocco and the Northwestern University in Qatar Creative Media Festival. His work has been supported by the CAORC-Mellon Mediterranean Research Fellowship, the American Institute of Maghrib Studies Long-Term Fellowship, and the Fulbright Foundation, and he is a Fellow of the Tangier- American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies. Aida Alami is a Moroccan freelance journalist who's frequently on the road, reporting from North Africa, France, the Caribbean, and more recently, Senegal. She regularly contributes to the New York Times, and her work has also been published by the New York Review of Books, The Financial Times, and Foreign Policy. She earned her bachelor's degree in media studies at Hunter College and her master's degree in journalism at Columbia University. She mainly covers migration, human rights, religion, politics and racism. These days, Aida spends a lot of time in France, where she is directing a documentary feature on antiracism activists and police violence. This episode was recorded on July 28th, 2021 at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM).    Posted by Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).

In this discussion at Youmein 2021: Roots and Traces, anthropologist George Bajalia and journalist Aida Alami explore the roots and traces of contemporary cultural life in Tangier, especially as they relate to northern Morocco's border regions. From questions of diversity and difference to the roots of present debates around representation, responsibility, and justice, Youmein 2021: Roots and Traces was an open-ended artistic inquiry into how the structures of our past have shaped our current moment. The traces of this past appear in unexpected places, both institutionally and in the social milieu from which we develop artistic reflections. Uncomfortable inequities and realities sit adjacent to the rise of powerful populist and progressive movements worldwide. Since Youmein began in 2014, xenophobia, isolationism, and neo-imperialism have grown simultaneously with new forms of solidarities and ways of being in-common. How will these movements leave their traces in our shifting social orders, and how will they transform, sediment, and root themselves differently? So far, each edition of the Youmein Festival has taken on themes speaking to Tangier as a space of both border and bridge: al-barzakh, crisis, imitation, limit(s), and desire. This year, those themes became the fertile ground on which we will reconvene and dig deep into what has come before and make choices about where we want to go next. After a year of isolated reflections, and alongside the Bicentennial of the Tangier-American Legation, Youmein invited the artists, speakers, and the public to critically reflect on the view from Tangier, and the cultures, peoples, and conditions which compose it. As a part of the 2021 Youmein Festival, Alami and Bajalia reflected on Tangier and its myths, past and present, and alternative cultural histories and present realities in this corner of the Strait of Gibraltar. From Maalem Abdellah Gourd and the renovation of his home in Tangier medina to the role of the Tangier American Legation Museum in the city, they share thoughts how different flows of people through the city, categorized differently as migrants, immigrants, "ex-pats," and artists, intersect and overlap. George Bajalia is an anthropologist (Ph.D., Columbia University), Assistant Professor at Wesleyan University, and theatre director based between Morocco and New York. He is the co-founder of the annual Youmein Creative Media Festival in Tangier, Morocco and the Northwestern University in Qatar Creative Media Festival. His work has been supported by the CAORC-Mellon Mediterranean Research Fellowship, the American Institute of Maghrib Studies Long-Term Fellowship, and the Fulbright Foundation, and he is a Fellow of the Tangier- American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies. Aida Alami is a Moroccan freelance journalist who's frequently on the road, reporting from North Africa, France, the Caribbean, and more recently, Senegal. She regularly contributes to the New York Times, and her work has also been published by the New York Review of Books, The Financial Times, and Foreign Policy. She earned her bachelor's degree in media studies at Hunter College and her master's degree in journalism at Columbia University. She mainly covers migration, human rights, religion, politics and racism. These days, Aida spends a lot of time in France, where she is directing a documentary feature on antiracism activists and police violence.

Episode 129: L'école de médecine de Kairouan dans l'histoire de la médecine arabe médiévale : repères historiographiques Dans ce podcast, qui prend la forme d'un retour historiographique, Dr. Meyssa Ben Saad présente l'école médicale de Kairouan, ses fondateurs, ses innovations et les traces qu'elle a laissé dans la longue histoire de la médecine. De la médecine arabe médiévale, l'histoire a surtout retenu des grands noms comme Rāzī (865-925) et Ibn Sīnā (980-1037), ou encore Abul Qāsim al-Zahrāwī (940-1013), représentant respectivement l'école dite de Bagdad, et celle de Cordoue (Al-Andalus). Mais un autre centre culturel avait prospéré au IX-Xe siècle dans une autre sphère de l'empire arabo-islamique, à Kairouan, alors capitale de l'Ifriqya et grand pôle de rayonnement scientifique et culturel du IXe siècle. Plusieurs médecins y ont exercé, notamment Isḥāq Ibn ‘Imrān (IX-Xe), et ses disciples Isḥāq Ibn Sulaymān (832-932), et Ibn al-Jazzār (898-980), dont les œuvres ont circulé et ont influencé autant le monde arabe que l'Europe latine, mais dont certaines se sont faites appropriées par leur traducteur latin, Constantin l'Africain (1020-1087). Meyssa BEN Saad est Docteur en Histoire des sciences spécialisée en Histoire de la zoologie arabe médiévale. Elle est chercheuse associé au Labo SPHère CNRS UMR 7219, Université Paris Diderot, et Coordinatrice du Pôle Recherche & Innovation à l'Université Mahmoud el Materi, Tunis. Cet épisode a été enregistré entre Oran et Tunis le 3 Juin 2021 et s'inscrit dans le cadre du cycle des conférences “Santé et humanités au Maghreb” de l'American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS), organisé par le Centre d'Études Maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA) et le Centre d'Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) en étroite collaboration avec Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). Professeur Marouane Ben Miled, Enseignant-chercheur à l'Ecole nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tunis (ENIT), a modéré la conférence et le débat.   Montage : Hayet Lansari, Bibliothécaire / Chargée de la diffusion des activités scientifiques (CEMA). 

Episode 124: Berrechid 81. Retour sur une expérience collective à la lisière de l'art et de la psychiatrie   Dans ce podcast, Abdeslam Ziou Ziou revient sur la naissance et la disparition d’une expérience originale consistant à adopter une approche humaine de la psychiatrie en mobilisant d’autres acteurs dans le processus des soins mentaux.    Berrechid 1981. Au début de l'été chaud de 1981, une activité inhabituelle eut lieu à l'Hôpital psychiatrique de Berrechid. Peintres, écrivains, réalisateurs et intellectuels, dont Mohamed Melehi et Mohamed Chebâa, sont invités à partager le quotidien des patients pendant une semaine. Cette expérience ouvrira l'hôpital, ce « sanctuaire de la folie » comme on l'appelle au Maroc, à son environnement immédiat. Des peintures murales y sont réalisées, des concerts et des spectacles ont lieu dans son enceinte, la presse y est invitée et des débats y sont organisés. Les habitants de Berrechid auront l’opportunité de visiter l'hôpital. Au-delà de son aspect anecdotique, cet événement s'inscrit dans une démarche globale initiée en 1975 par Dr. Abdellah Ziou Ziou, consistant à jumeler un intérêt pour les pratiques populaires de traitement des maladies mentales au Maroc et l'approche anti-psychiatrique ayant émergé à Trieste en Italie.    Abdeslam Ziou Ziou est diplômé en anthropologie sociale de l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales de Paris. Il est chercheur indépendant et consultant dans le domaine des arts et de la culture au Maroc, et a été coordinateur de projet et de recherche à l’Atelier de l’Observatoire de Casablanca. Il a été lauréat du Projet de recherche transdisciplinaire « Houdoud » dirigé par la Chaire de Fatéma Mernissi (Université Mohammed V et HEM) – UNESCO. Sa recherche est soutenue par le projet School of Casablanca, initié par le KW Institute for Contemporary Art et Sharjah Art Foundation, en collaboration avec le Goethe-Institut Marokko, ThinkArt et Zamân Books & Curating. Depuis 2020, il est boursier du CAORC / Andrew W. Mellon en histoire de l'art moderne au CEMAT.   Cet épisode s'inscrit dans le cadre du cycle des conférences “Santé et humanités au Maghreb” de l'American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS), organisé par le Centre d'Études Maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA) et le Centre d'Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) en étroite collaboration avec Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). Ce podcast a été enregistré via Zoom le 25 mars 2021 entre Oran et Tunis. Dr. Samia Henni, historienne et théoricienne de l'architecture au département d’architecture de l’université de Cornell aux États-Unis, a modéré le débat.   Posté par: Hayet Lansari, Bibliothécaire / Chargée de la diffusion des activités scientifiques (CEMA). 

Episode 112: Terra Incognita: Mapping the Afterlives of French Nuclear Imperialism in the Sahara   How can aesthetic works and humanities training help us to apprehend the danger that nuclear toxicity poses to ecological health and human life?   Taking off from the premise that French maps of the Sahara Desert have long served to enable military occupation and violent erasure, this podcasts explores how aesthetic works such as film and photography can act as countercartographies that push back against the dangerous idea of the desert as empty space.   Beginning in 1960, the French military carries out seventeen nuclear bomb detonations at two secret bases they built for this purpose in the Algerian Sahara. The desert sites near Reggane and In Ekker were selected for their supposed remoteness and emptiness – according to the French state, for purposes of safety, cleanliness, and containment. Of course, the Sahara is anything but empty, and these deadly bombs were anything but safe, clean, or contained. The term 'afterlife' recognizes that nuclear imperialism is not a past problem, but a present and future one.   In this talk, Dr. Jill Jarvis, Assistant Professor in the Department of French at Yale University, discusses maps and images taken in and around the village of Mertoutek, whose residents were in the direct path of radioactive cloud released during the underground detonation of the bomb named 'Béryl' at nearby In Ekker in 1962. A striking document of this disaster and its enduring impact is the short documentary film At(h)ome, by Elisabeth Leuvrey, inspired by landscape photographs taken of the site by Bruno Hadjih. Leuvrey's and Hadjih's works combine image and sound to chart an archival blank zone where old taboos on naming French colonial violence intersect with present state secrets. As it stands, aesthetic works – photography, film, poetry, narrative, song – might be among the forms best attuned to register this toxic afterlife, and to train us to recognize and reckon with nuclear imperialism much differently than do our governments and legal systems.   This episode is part of “Health and Humanities in the Maghrib” a lecture series by the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS), organized by the Centre d'Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) and the Centre d'Études Maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA), in close collaboration with the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). It was recorded on the 19th of November 2020 between Oran, New Haven (CT), Ithaca (NY) and Tunis. Dr. Samia Henni, Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at Cornell University, moderated the lecture and debate. Posted by: Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).

Episode 105: Jedba, Jinns, and Hāl: Bodily Modalities of Mental-Emotional Health and 'Musico-thérapie' in Algeria In this podcast, Dr. Tamara Turner illustrates the inextricable relationship between mental-emotional health, sound, and consciousness through a spectrum of 'psychological' states that are locally mapped in Algeria as bodily modalities: jedba, hāl, and bori. These three bodily modalities constitute a wide and fluctuating spectrum of musically-cultivated, ritual trance dancing seen in various contexts from weddings and festivals to 'Sufi' hadrat, particularly among the Dīwān of Sīdī Bilāl tarīqa. Drawing from in-depth ethnographic fieldwork on Morocco and Algeria, Dr. Turner shows how notions of 'music' exceed social, symbolic, and aesthetic valence because sound and music are thought about medicinally as vibrating agents in ongoing health maintenance. A cultural anthropologist, Dr. Tamara Turner is a researcher at the Center for the History of Emotions at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. Her research is at the intersection of psychological anthropology, musical and performance practice, and affect studies. She specializes in North African Sufism, anthropology of religion and medicine, and the links between cultural notions of affect, consciousness, and mental-emotional health. Her doctoral thesis was the first research to thoroughly document the musical repertoire, practice, and history of Algerian dīwān, a nocturnal trance ritual of the Bilaliyya Sufi Order that emerged out of the trans-Saharan slave trade. As a musician as well as a scholar, she studied with ritual musicians and experts, attending and documenting dīwān rituals across Algeria from the Mediterranean coast to the Saharan Desert. Analytically, Dr. Turner's work investigates the critical role of emotions and affects in rituals in general, particularly as they pertain to varieties of altered states of 'consciousness,' social and trans-personal pain and suffering, and memory. In 2017, her doctoral thesis won an Elsevier Outstanding Thesis prize. Her research in Algeria and Morocco has previously been funded by various grants from King's College London, the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, the Centre d'Études Maghrébines en Algérie, and the West African Research Association. This episode is part of “Health and Humanities in the Maghrib” a lecture series by the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS), organized by the Centre d'Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) and the Centre d'Études Maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA), in close collaboration with the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). It was recorded on the 1st of October 2020 between Berlin, Oran, and Tunis. Dr. Robert P. Parks, CEMA Director, moderated the lecture and debate. To see related slides please visit our web site: www.themaghribpodcast.com We thank Dr. Tamara Turner, Ethnomusicologist and Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for the History of Emotions, for her interpretation of Sidna Ali, from the  diwan repertoir.   Realization and editing:  Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).

Episode 104: Of Jinn Theory and Germ Theory: Translating Bacteriological Medicine and Islamic Law in Algeria In this podcast, focusing on colonial Algeria c. 1890 to 1940, Dr. Hannah-Louise Clark explores how Muslim intellectuals and ordinary people learned about microbes and responded to bacteriological medicine. Many Algerians feared invisible spirits (jinn) and sought the healing powers of saints and exorcists. Was it then permitted to use French treatments and follow rules of Pasteurian hygiene? Specialists in Islamic law, other intellectuals, and unlettered villagers showed a persistent concern with these and other questions in the wake of colonial conquest and violence, as novel techniques, therapeutics, and forms of epistemic authority were introduced, and new visions of religious orthodoxy and national revival were formulated. Examining material culture and writings across a range of genres and formats, Dr. Clark argues that Islamic tradition and law were integral to the emerging science and culture of microbes in 20th-century Algeria. While Islamic reformists sought to displace jinn theories, other Algerian intellectuals and colonial officials found it convenient to explain germs in terms of jinn. Both French and Muslim elites combined religious principles and hygiene to advance their competing projects of political and social control targeted at the Muslim family, thereby attempting to displace women’s jinn-based practices. Dr Hannah-Louise Clark is lecturer in global economic and social history at the University of Glasgow. Her work investigates cross-cultural translations of knowledge and professional hierarchies, technology transfer, state governance, and epidemics in North Africa, c. 1800-present, with a current focus on Algeria. Clark pays particular attention to neglected archives and Arabic-language sources to document and analyse long-term local, regional, and trans-regional trends in health and social welfare. Her research has informed teaching on history of medicine within Algeria’s medical curriculum, and has been recognized and supported by awards and grants from the National Endowment of the Humanities “Constructing African Medical Heritage: Legacies of Empire and the Geopolitics of Culture, 1890–1990,” with Helen Tilley [PI] and Michael Afolayan, 2020-2023), The Leverhulme Trust, Princeton University Committee on Academic Programmes for Alumni, and the US Department of Education DDRA Fellowship and others. Clark also collaborated with cultural heritage professionals and students at the University of Glasgow to develop “global history hackathons” as a format for research incubation and teaching with archives and museum collections. She is currently working on a book manuscript on race, religion, and the Pasteurian public health worldview in early 20th-century Algeria. This episode is part of “Health and Humanities in the Maghrib,” a lecture series by the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS), organized by the Centre d'Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) and the Centre d'Études Maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA), in close collaboration with the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). It was recorded on the 26th of October 2020 between Glasgow, Oran, Oxford, and Tunis. James McDougall, Professor of History at St. Anthony's College, University of Oxford, moderated the lecture and debate. To see related slides, visit our web site: www.themaghribpodcast.org  We thank our friend Ignacio Villalón for his guitar performance for the introduction and conclusion of this podcast.  Realization and editing:  Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).

This episode was recorded on August 23rd 2019, at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies. In this podcast, we welcome David Balgley, Masters candidate in Arab Studies at Georgetown University, discussing his research project entitled: Land, Labor, and Youth Aspirations in the Gharb, Morocco. In this podcast episode, David discusses some of the factors impacting the labor decisions of young people in the Gharb, including the ways in which gender, class, and access to productive capital create and constrain the opportunities for youth in the Moroccan countryside. In addition, he breaks down how young rural people negotiate the tension between maintaining social ties to their ancestral land with economic pressures to migrate. In this context, David explores how the privatization of collective land in the Gharb could stimulate new labor possibilities, livelihood shifts, and youth aspirations. Further reading Akesbi, Najib. 2012. “A new strategy for agriculture in Morocco: The Green Morocco Plan”. New Medit 11 (2): 12-23. Balgley, David. 2019. “Assembling Land Access and Legibility.” In The Politics of Land, edited by Tim Bartley (117-142). Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited. Bidwell, R. 1973. Morocco Under Colonial Rule: French Administration of Tribal Areas 1912-1956. London: Frank Cass and Co. Bossenbroek, Lisa, Jan D. van der Ploeg, and Margreet Zwarteveen. 2015. “Broken dreams? Youth experiences of agrarian change in Morocco’s Saiss region”. Cah Agric 24(6): 342-348 Bouzidi, Zhour, Nicolas Faysse, Marcel Kuper, and Jean-Paul Billaud. 2015. “Les Projets Des Jeunes Ruraux : Des Stratégies Diversifiées Pour Accéder Au Foncier et Obtenir l’appui de l’État.” Alternatives Rurales, Hors Série Jeunes Ruraux: 13–24. Faysse, Nicolas, Zhour Bouzidi, Zakaria Zadiri, Elhassane Abdellaoui, and Zoubir Chattou. 2015. “Les Jeunes Ruraux Aujourd’hui.” Alternatives Rurales, Hors Série Jeunes Ruraux: 4–12. Giuliani, Alessandra, Sebastian Mengel, Courtney Paisley, Nicole Perkins, Ingrid Flink, Oliver Oliveros, and Mariana Wongtschowski. 2017. “Realities, Perceptions, Challenges and Aspirations of Rural Youth in Dryland Agriculture in the Midelt Province, Morocco”. Sustainability 9: 871-894. Ghanem, Hafez. 2016. “Targeting Excluded Groups: Youth, Smallholder Farmers, and Women”. In The Arab Spring Five Years Later: Toward Greater Inclusiveness (107-135). Washington: Brookings Institution Press. Mahdi, M. 2014. “The Future of Land Tenure in Morocco: A Land Grabbing Case.” New Medit 13 (4): 2-10. Petit, Olivier, Marcel Kuper, and Fatah Ameur. 2018. “From worker to peasant and then to entrepreneur? Land reform and agrarian change in the Saiss (Morocco)”. World Development 105: 119-131. Swearingen, Will D. 1987. Moroccan Mirages: Agrarian Dreams and Deceptions, 1912-1986. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This episode was recorded on July 25th 2019, at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies. In this podcast, we welcome Ari Schriber, PhD Candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, discussing his research project entitled: Moroccan Shari’a In The Age Of Colonialism Ari Schriber is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC) at Harvard University. He performed his dissertation fieldwork as a grantee of the American Institute of Maghrib Studies from 2018-2019. Likewise, he is a former Fulbright research grantee (2013-2014) and FLAS grantee (2012) in Morocco. He holds an AM (masters) in NELC from Harvard and a BA from the University of Virginia. Further Reading (in English):  Leon Buskens, “Islamic Commentaries and French Codes: The Confrontation and Accommodation of Two Forms of Textualization of Family Law in Morocco” in The Politics of ethnographic writing” ed. Henk Driessen, 65-100 (1993).  Dale Eickelman, Knowledge and power in Morocco: the education of a twentieth-century notable (1985).  Jessica Marglin, Across legal lines: Jews and Muslims in modern Morocco (2016).  Wael B. Hallaq, “Can the Shari’a Be Restored?,” in Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity, ed.s Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Barbara Freyer Stowasser (2004).  Katherine Hoffman, “Berber Law by French Means: Customary Courts in the Moroccan Hinterlands, 1930-1956” in Comparative Studies in Society and History 52.4, 851-880 (2010).  Geoffrey Porter, At the Pillar’s Base: Islam, Morocco, and Education in the Qarawiyin Mosque, 1912-2000, PhD dissertation (2002).  David Powers, Law, Society, and Culture in the Maghrib, 1300-1500 (2002).  Etty Terem, Old Texts, New Practices: Islamic reform in modern Morocco (2014).  Jonathan Wyrtzen, Making Morocco: colonial intervention and the politics of identity (2015).

This episode was recorded on March 8th, 2019, at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies. In this podcast, Carole Blankenship, Soprano, and Irene Herrmann on the piano, performed a lecture as well as a musical performance entitled; Paul Bowles: A Musical Portrait.

Episode 66: Tuning in to Morocco’s “Recitational Revival” According to some religious leaders and other intellectuals, Morocco is in the midst of a 'recitational revival' (sahwa tajwidiyya). Though its scope and effectiveness are not yet clear, the intention is a re-emphasis on two core Islamic disciplines that relate to recitation of the Qur’an: first, tajwid, a system of rules that govern pronunciation and rhythm of the Qur’anic text in recitation performance; and the variance of those rules across seven, coherent, recitals or 'readings' (qira’at) that are equally sound. Within this revival, Moroccan’s historical preference for riwayat warsh, a lesser-practiced variant of one of the seven qira’at has become almost a point of national pride, and thus the Moroccan state has devoted many resources not only to specialist study of the qira’at, but also popularization of tajwid through mass media. Engaging fieldwork at a variety of institutions, including new and pre-existing schools and state radio, in this Podcast, Ian VanderMeulen, doctoral candidate in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University, maps an institutional framework of this revival and describes some of its core elements. In particular, he compares and contrasts the work going on at two institutions of qira’at study, the state-funded Ma‘had Muhammad Assadiss lil-dirasat wal-qira’at al-Qur’aniyya in Rabat, and the private Madrasat Ibn al-Qadi lil-qira’at in Sale. Taking inspiration from the growing field of 'sound studies,' and grounding his fieldwork in historical research on tajwid, the qira’at, and the history of sound recording, Ian suggests that the sahwa tajwidiiyya is less a 'revival' of previous practices of recitation per se, but a refashioning of such practices and their pedagogies through the application of new technologies, from modern classroom whiteboards to digital studio recording. A performing musician, Ian holds bachelor’s degrees in music and religious studies from Oberlin College and an M.A. from The Graduate Center, City University of New York. His research in France and Morocco has been funded by NYU’s Graduate Research Initiative and the American Institute for Maghrib Studies. This podcast was recorded at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) on February 7, 2019. Posted by Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).

Episode 58: Moroccan and Ottoman Contributions to 18th c. Diplomatic Developments   Throughout the eighteenth century, the Ottoman and Russian Empires were at war. However, a decisive victory by the Russian Empire helped them assert their influence over both Crimea and the Mediterranean. The Ottomans, wanting to counteract this assumption of power fought to prevent Russian ships from entering through the Straits of Gibraltar, seeking assistance from the Moroccan king Sidi Muhammed Ben Abdallah. In this episode, Peter Kitlas, Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, discusses the vibrant developments in diplomatic activity between Morocco and the Ottoman Empire throughout the eighteenth century. The increased exchange of diplomats between these two non-European powers demonstrates how Morocco and the Ottoman Empire responded to changes in international relations during this time period while still maintaining a particular diplomatic ethos. Focusing on some entertaining anecdotes about diplomats and their adventures, Peter takes us through the travelogues (riḥla and sefaretname) of several Moroccan and Ottoman diplomats to demonstrate how they navigated the changing field of international relations. Here, Peter highlights that diplomatic history should deal just as much with developments in bureaucracy and statecraft as it does with its foundational standards and practices governed by a particular diplomatic mentality. Focusing on both actions and the governing influences behind those actions will help bring Morocco and the Ottoman Empire into broader conversations about diplomacy during this time period and might even help to uncover outlying developments in the European theater that have not fit into the particular ethos of a state-craft focused, bureaucratic teleology. Peter Kitlas is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University  He is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Morocco and holds an M.A. from the University of Michigan. He research in Morocco, Turkey, Gibraltar, and Dubrovnik has been funded by the Social Science Research Council and the Department of Education through the Fulbright-Hays Commission. This Podcast was recorded on 10 January at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM), in Tangier, Morocco. TALIM Resident Director John Davison moderated the discussion. Posted by Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).

Ce podcast a été enregistré le samedi 2 Février au TALIM, le Tangier American Legation Institute for Maghreb Studies, dans le cadre d'une conférence animée par Dr Hassan Aourid, éminent politilogue, chercheur, écrivain ayant pour thème : les fondements institutionnels du Maroc traditionnel : Makhzen,Zaouias, Tribus. Dr Hassan Aourid a souligné le rôle de ces 3 composantes et leur pouvoir temporel ou spirituel. Le politologue est l'auteur d'essais, de nouvelles, de romans et de poèmes . Parmi ses ouvrages, on peut citer: Occident : est ce le crépuscule ? Bouregreg 2011 Le Morisque, Bouregreg 2011 Biographie d'un âne 2014 L'impasse de l'Islamisme 2015 Aux origines du marasme arabe, Tusna 2017 200 personnes ont assisté à cette rencontre .

This episode was recorded on August 3 at a roundtable held at the Old American Legation as part of the 4th edition of Tangier's annual Youmein Festival. In a conversation moderated by Youmein Festival Artistic Director and anthropologist A. George Bajalia, curators Myriam Amroun (coordinator of DJART '14, Algiers, and founder of RHIZOME) and Laila Hida (founding director of Le 18, Marrakech), discussed how limits are expressed in art, and how limits define the boundaries of an artistic community or the public. The roundtable discussion questioned how limits, either self-imposed or externally enforced, can both restrict and encourage progress in the arts as well as in social, cultural, and urban communities. It also addressed topics such as boundaries in art and creative practices, and the relationships that emerge among stakeholders in different artistic communities. Presented by Borderline Theatre Project and the American Language Center in Tangier, the 2018 Youmein Creative Media Festival was a co-production with DABATEATR, in partnership with the Tangier-American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM), the Tangier American Language Center, and Association Tanger Région Action Culturelle (ATRAC). Links to le 18 and DJART can be found at: https://le18marrakech.com/en/?v=7516fd43adaa https://www.facebook.com/DJART14/ Also, the link to the "Anarquech" exhibition referred to in the round table can be found at: http://arnakechproject.com/

Episode 45: Gunpowder Women: A Generation Galloping Past the Mudawana In this podcast, Gwyneth Talley, Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at the University of California at Los Angeles, presents Morocco's little known tradition of women troupes who perform the famous tbourida (Fantasia) equestrian ceremony. A Fulbright scholar in Morocco (2017-2018), Gwyneth Talley shared insights into how the revival in women's equestrian sports, in particular the tbourida, coincided with the 2004 Moroccan personal status code, the Mudawana. This podcast was recorded on 23 April 2018 at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM).   

This series was recorded on April 12, 2018 at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies, as part of TALIM’s annual April Seminar, organized annually in partnership with the Office Chérifien des Phosphates. This year’s seminar program was organized in collaboration with the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT). In the first podcast, we welcome Dr. Mhammad Benaboud, Vice President of the Tetouan Asmir and the General Secretary of the Tetouan Asmir Club of Friends of UNESCO, presenting a lecture entitled "Documenting the Cultural Heritage of the North Moroccan Medinas : the Case of the Medina of Tetouan". In the second podcast, we welcome researcher and doctoral candidat Jordi Mas Garriga from the University Rovira i Virgili, presenting a lecture entitled "Towards valuing Tangier's Alawite heritage"

Episode 28: Sub-Saharan Migrant Networks in Tangier In this episode, Fulbright scholar Sam Metz (University of California Berkeley), speaks with John Davison, Director of the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) to share some of the findings of his current research, "Spreading Awareness or Stealing Stories? How sub-Saharan Migrant Networks in Tangier Perceive and Act Toward Outsiders." Having spent the final months of his fellowship in the peripheral Tangier neighborhood of Masnana, living with migrant communities, Sam offers unique insights into this timely and important theme.  Sam Metz is a reporter currently based in California who spent a year and a half in Morocco as a Fulbright Scholar, researching sub-Saharan migrant communities living on the outskirts of Tangier. He has reported freelance for outlets like Jadaliyya, Quartz, and VICE News, and worked as a consultant for International Organization for Migration, the UN's migration agency. This Podcast was recorded at the Tangier American Legation for Moroccan Studies on the 15th of December 2017.

Episode 17: Poetry Slam Evening Rencontre avec Noussayba Lahlou Figure connue de la scène Slam au Maroc, Noussayba Lahlou, née à Ksar el Kebir, est une artiste et poète urbaine. Elle s'est notamment produite à la Fédération des oeuvres laïques de Casablanca, au Festival Youmein à Tanger, au Théâtre Mohamed V de Oujda, au Live Room à Tanger, au théâtre Afifi d'El Jadida, à Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM), ainsi qu’aux Soirées Slam du Cinéma Renaissance à Rabat avec Dkhla b’ktab. Tout en poursuivant des études de littérature à l’Université Ben M’sik, elle intervient régulièrement dans des ateliers slam organisés dans des lycées et écoles au Maroc.  Elle présente dans ce podcast quelques-uns de ses célèbres slams. Cet épisode a été enregistré le 30 Septembre 2017 à Tanger au Maroc, dans le cadre de l’événement « Poetry Slam Evening » organisé par Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM).

Episode 6: Les événements d’Avril 1947 Une perspective espagnole Pr. Bernabé Lopez Garcia, Professeur émérite d’études islamiques à l’Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, présente une communication sur la crise provoquée par les discours prononcés par le Sultan Mohammed Ben Youssef (Roi Mohammed V) et la princesse Lalla Aicha Alaoui, les 10-11 avril 1947 à la zone internationale de Tanger. Prononcés dans une cité gérée par un consortium international, et revendiquée par les nationalistes espagnols et ceux de l’Istiqlal, ces discours, plaidant pour un Maroc indépendant et unifié, ont encouragé le mouvement national et envoyé des ondes de choc à travers la communauté internationale, conduisant ainsi au rappel du Général français Eirik Labonne et son remplacement par Alphonse Juin en mai de la même année. La conférence du Pr. Lopez Garcia s’appuie essentiellement sur les archives consulaires espagnoles de la zone internationale de Tanger. Cette conférence est enregistrée à Tangier American Legation Institute for MoroccanStudies (TALIM), le 6 avril 2017, Tanger, Maroc.

Presented by Borderline Theatre Project and the American Language Center in Tangier, the 2017 Youmein Creative Media Festival was a co-production with DABATEATR, in partnership with the Tangier-American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM), TechnoPark Tanger, Association Tanger Région Action Culturelle (ATRAC), and Think Tanger. In its third edition, the Youmein Creative Media Festival took up the theme "imitation" or, in Arabic, "taqlid". Reflecting on the question, "how do cultures and society change, if not by imitation?" and [laying on the Arabic "taqlid" (imitation) and its plural form "taqalid," (traditions) many pieces in the festival explored the relationships between imitation and tradition, cultural borrowing and modernity, and mechanical reproduction. TALIM sponsored the annual Festival Round Table, this year with Moroccan-Algerian (and Tangier's own) curator Nouha ben Yebdri (Mahal Art Space; Madrassa Collective) and Ceutí architect, curator, and artist Carlos Pérez Marin (Caravane Tighmert, Marsad Drâa) moderated by festival Artistic Director and anthropologist A. George Bajalia. Artists: Nina Cholet & Boris Carré Ahmed Benattia; Carlos Alcántar; Nadia El Kastawi Loutfi Souidi Adam Raougui M'hammed Kilito Oussama Tabti Nassim Azarzar Mehdi Djelil Maya Benchikh El Fegoun Ramia Beladel & Lena Krause (invited Youmein alumnae artists)