Read more
The history of Morocco cannot effectively be told without the history of its Jewish inhabitants. Their presence in Northwest Africa pre-dates the rise of Islam and continues to the present day, combining elements of Berber (Amazigh), Arab, Sephardi and European culture. Emily Gottreich examines the history of Jews in Morocco from the pre-Islamic period to post-colonial times, drawing on newly acquired evidence from archival materials in Rabat. Providing an important reassessment of the impact of the French protectorate over Morocco, the author overturns widely accepted views on Jews' participation in Moroccan nationalism - an issue often marginalized by both Zionist and Arab nationalist narratives - and breaks new ground in her analysis of Jewish involvement in the
istiqlal and its aftermath. Fitting into a growing body of scholarship that consciously strives to integrate Jewish and Middle Eastern studies, Emily Gottreich here provides an original perspective by placing pressing issues in contemporary Moroccan society into their historical, and in their Jewish, contexts.
List of contents
Introduction
Chapter One: Malikism
Law and Religion.
Malikism as law of the land today, Jews in pre-Islamic Morocco, Islamic conquests, conversion, Jews under Islamic rule, adoption of Malikism and the development of legal plurality, Maimonides in Fez.
Chapter Two: The Berber Question
Ethnicity.
Amazigh rights movement in context of Arab spring, Rise of Berber dynasties (Almoravids, Almohads, Marinids), development of Berber Islam and Berber Judaism, language issues in Morocco, Goulmima carnival, Amazigh cultural movement, Berber Philo-Semitism and Pro-Israel stance today
Chapter Three: Sharifism
Power and Authority.
Rise of the Moroccan State, Sa'dis and 'Alawis, Sharifism, Mystical movments (Sufism, zawiyas, and Sabbateanism), arrival and integration of the Sephardim, trade, diplomacy.
Chapter Four: Colonialism
Culture.
Jews and the colonial project, mission civilisatrice, the Alliance Israélite Universelle, protégé system, migration and urbanization, the last mellahs, cultural dislocation
Chapter Five: Independence
Politics.
Anti-colonial movement, communists, the istiqlal party, wifaq, independence, zionism, emigration,
Chapter Six: Moroccan Jews and Moroccan Judaism in the Post-Modern Era
Time and Space.
Jews in the era of Hassan II and Mohammed VI, les années du plomb, Avraham Sarfaty and Sion Assidon, pilgrimage, Peace Movement, Moroccan Jews abroad, Israeli Black Panthers, returnees, representations in novels and films, nostalgia
Conclusion
About the author
Emily Benichou Gottreich is an Adjunct Professor in Global Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also former President of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS). She holds a PhD from Harvard University.
