Historical Dictionary of Morocco


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive introduction, which focuses on Morocco's history, provides a helpful synopsis of the kingdom, and is supplemented with a useful chronology of major events. Hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on former rulers, current leaders, ancient capitals, significant locations, influential institutions, and crucial aspects of the economy, society, culture and religion form the core of the book. A bibliography of sources is included to promote further more specialized study.




Women's Movements and Countermovements


Book Description

The relationship between social movements and their countermovements is an underrepresented research topic, given the bulk of social movement studies that have been published to date. Moreover, empirical research on this topic primarily covers certain geographic areas of the world, specifically what is commonly called the “global North”. The mobilization of religious and women’s movements against social change, which strive for a preservation of the status quo and can be held responsible for a delayed expansion of reform-oriented interest articulation, is a rare topic of social movement literature, too. The authors of this volume address the issue of women’s movements and countermovements in countries of Southeast Asia and the North African part of the MENA region. They arrive at interesting constellations of coalition and competition between state and non-state actors, and religious and secular movements, as well as within women’s movements. Covering case studies from Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and Tunisia, the pattern of Islamist movements countering the goals of (Muslim) women’s movements emerges as dominant.




Historical Dictionary of Morocco


Book Description

A historical reference work on Morocco must take as its subject al-maghrib al-aqsa (the far west) as the Arabic scholars have generally referred to the approximate region of present-day Morocco, roughly the north-west corner of Africa but at times including much of the Iberian peninsula, because the modern nation-state is a relatively recent creation owing much to events in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. External influences on Morocco tend to come across the narrow straits of Gibraltar to the north, from the east along the Mediterranean litoral, or up from the Sahara. In each case, access is constrained by geography and continued control from outside the region has been difficult to manage over the long term. Although many of the dynasties that came to power in Morocco conquered much broader regions, history and topology have so conspired that there is still more coherence to an historical focus on al-maghrib al-aqsa than is the case for most modern nation-states. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Morocco contains a chronology, an introduction, a glossary, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 600 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Morocco.




Voices of Resistance


Book Description

Providing new information on women's participation in the Moroccan independence movement, Voices of Resistance offers a rare opportunity to hear Moroccan women speak freely about their personal lives. Each woman is introduced in terms of her family background and personal style, and the interviews are given texture and context by references to Moroccan history and popular culture, including contemporary songs and poems. These women are storytellers, and they lived through stirring times. Their active struggle against French colonialism also challenged and redefined traditional Moroccan ideas about women's roles in society. The narratives reconstruct the little-known history of Moroccan feminism and nationalism, and probe the lives of a remarkable group of Islamic women whose voices have never been heard until now.




Mouvements sociaux et logiques d'acteurs. Les ONG de développement face à la mondialisation et à l’Etat au Maroc.


Book Description

L'analyse de la thèse repose sur une enquête de terrain montrant comment l’altermondialisme marocain se constitue à partir de débats, d’échanges, de solidarités et de mobilisations d’acteurs sociaux tant au niveau local que global. Dans le cadre de l’altermondialisme international, ce mouvement a émergé pour contrer une certaine mondialisation qui réduit l’être humain à une marchandise. Bien qu’il soit influencé par l’altermondialisme mondial, du fait même de son approbation de la charte des principes de Porto Alegre, son origine se situe dans l’ancrage historique du militantisme des acteurs sociaux l’ayant impulsé. Initié à ses débuts par des ONG de développement, ce mouvement rassemble une diversité d’acteurs sociaux (organisations associatives et syndicales, mouvements sociaux...), d’objectifs variés et de relations sociales multiformes convergeant vers l’altermondialisme qui se mobilisent dans les forums sociaux. Ces derniers constituent un espace de production, de reproduction et d’appropriation de l’espace public. La diversité des acteurs, des objectifs et des relations constituant l’altermondialisme nous amène à définir son identité comme étant plurielle et fluide. Par une approche sociologique qui se base sur l’analyse de ces acteurs à travers leurs rapports sociaux, l’étude a cherché à comprendre et à analyser les particularités de l’altermondialisme marocain. Cette approche permet de déterminer les formes de solidarités, les enjeux des altermondialistes, les adversaires et les alternatives proposées. Elle a, à travers l’analyse, mis aussi en exergue la lutte des acteurs altermondialistes, les méthodes de la contestation, le renouveau de l’action collective au Maroc et l’évolution dans le répertoire d’actions.




Women, the State, and Political Liberalization


Book Description

Brand focuses on three countries--Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco--with special attention to issues such as access to contraception and abortion, labor, pension, criminal legislation, protection against harassment and violence, and the degree of women's participation in government.




Civil Society and Political Change in Morocco


Book Description

Taking Morocco as its focus, this book looks at the political change in the country since 1990. It places particular emphasis on key topics, such as civil society, human rights and reform, as vital issues for understanding the developments in the contemporary Middle East.




From Patriarchy to Empowerment


Book Description

This rich anthology offers twenty studies on instances of emerging social justice and women’s empowerment in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. These areas are home to huge populations where women’s rights have withered under patriarchal rule, and many are beset by civic unrest. The book shows how changes are occurring as flood tides of capital, people, and information erode entrenched gender regimes, giving birth to energetic and forward-thinking women’s movements. Highly original, conceptually sophisticated, and imminently readable, this book illustrates how local women are transforming their collective fates by questioning their status, forming alliances, demanding full participation in economic development and the political process, and mining opportunities afforded by globalization.




Femininity, Masculinity, and Sexuality in Morocco and Hollywood


Book Description

This book is the first to formulate an ideology of emancipation for women in Morocco. Beginning with constructs of the body, femininity and masculinity, it analyzes the central role played by the sociopolitical writing of sexuality in creating gender hierarchy. The author focuses on Morocco, while drawing parallels with Hollywood cinema, one of the great producers of femininity and masculinity, and conducts an exhaustive examination of constructs of femininity and masculinity in language, social practices, cultural productions and legal texts. The objectives of this project are tripartite: it exposes the dynamics that devalue women’s humanity; it charts the schemas of their sexual, economic and sociopolitical exploitation; and it advances concrete solutions for re-establishing women’s human dignity.




The State in North Africa


Book Description

Ever since independence, revolts and riots in North Africa have structured relations between society and the state. While the state has always managed to restore order, the unexpected outbreak of the Arab Spring revolts has presented a real challenge to state stability. Taking a long-term historical perspective, this book analyses how public authorities have implemented policies to manage the Maghreb's restive societies, viewed at first as 'retrograde' and then as 'radicalised'. National cohesion has been a major concern for post-colonial leaders who aim to build strong states capable of controlling the population. Historically, North African nations found colonial oppression to be the very bond that united them, but what continues to hold these communities and nation-states together after independence? If public interest is not at the heart of the state's actions, how can national loyalties be maintained? Luis Martinez analyses how states approach these questions, showing that the fight against jihadist groups both helps to reconstruct essential ties of state belonging and also promotes the development of a border control policy. He highlights the challenges posed by fragile political communities and weak state instruments, and the response of leaders striving to build peaceful pluralistic nations in North Africa.