what makes a life

By AUTUMN on March 20, 2008 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

In Islamic culture, it is believed that the future is in God's hands and ultimately out of our control. In any reference to the future, Muslim people always use the phrase insha' Allah. (إنشا الله). This is loosely translated as "if God wills." Used in the same context is the Spanish word ojala, residual of the Moorish occupation of southern Spain more than 500 years ago. In English we usually just say "hopefully."

It was a year ago at this time that I found a picture of what I would actually like to do with my future.* Now wrapping up my first field project, which has brought me back to Morocco where I have broken ground socially and academically, it seems natural that I would return here for future projects in graduate school. The realization of making a real life, dotted lines and all, not just a vacation, beyond southeastern PA is quite something to get my head around. No more coasting. It's both scary and exciting, but active choices have to be made to make a life that is more than just sustained.

Having talked so any times about when and if I will return to Morocco, the phrase insha' Allah has ingrained itself in my vocabulary. It might be misinterpreted to mean that we cannot influence or predict the future, but it acts more as an acknowledgment that the world is not fully in our control. An extended time at the mercy of IRB protocols, airplane pilots, cold epidemics, weather, new people, language barriers, even the food you eat, is enough to get a sense of this. I would be lying if I said I knew exactly what to expect in graduate school or in Morocco. The only thing I am certain about is my choice. In addition to being a country full of wonderful people, Morocco lends itself as an exciting stage for the cooperation and competition between Old World and New World, a dynamic that is challenging the entire globe. We saw a small piece of that in its souqs, and I am so much looking forward to seeing more.

*Maybe the best teachers don't necessarily tell you anything new, but show you what is already there.

5 Comments

youssef said:

(إنشاء الله).
we don't know what will be happent, but i know that u hope to return here, & waiting for that i want to add that Old World and New World arn't in competition but they live Together here.

March 20, 2008 8:03 PM

youssef said:

We dont know what will be happend, but i know that you hope to return here.
And waiting for that (إنشاء الله), i want to add that Old World and New World are not in competition , but they live together here in Morocco.

March 20, 2008 8:11 PM

Naima said:

I loved reading about your research in Morocco. I am an MBA student at Pennstate and I am originally from Morocco. Your page is just so great, I think you were able to capture so many cultural aspects of the daily life in Morocco.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Wish you the best of luck in your research.

March 25, 2008 10:04 AM

Ucf said:

I just want to say that in the holly Quran god said (the meaning of the verse): don’t say that you are going to do something tomorrow but if god wills.

I think that is something good when you said insha’ Allah. This word gives you peace and harmony; because when you believe in god you know that every thing including your live it's because of Allah,for the simple raison that He is our creator.So as you said "we cannot influence or predict the future, but it acts more as an acknowledgment that the world is not fully in our control"

Every one who said insha' Allah is some one who really know his place in this world :)
I wish you the best.

September 11, 2008 10:04 AM

Ahmed Chaouki said:

Nice work! I wonder what attracted you to Morocco in the first place?

January 22, 2009 10:41 AM

in the space of a canteloupe

By AUTUMN on March 20, 2008 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In research we are expected to observe and collect data from the real world, summarize, analyze, and churn it out to compact some aspect of reality into a portion that can fit inside the mind of a reader.

If the written word displaces the setting from the reader, how much more will summarized data deviate from that reality we are trying to explain? In the hard sciences, we try to work around this issue by creating an ideal, or artificial, environment to carry out experiments, and project those results into the real world, hoping that they will still apply. In anthropology we have to accept from the start that our lab setting is not ideal (which might be why we are drawn to it to begin with). However, because an investigation in any field must have some specific object, the data must be decontextualized to an extent. There can be many deviations from this objective and overlaps of categorization (will read Clifford Geertz for more on this). Their filtration quickly becomes subjective, and a matter of practicality if you actually want to produce a piece of written work. But these are all still part of reality, and I am sure that a million studies could not replace the real experience of a place and people.

Research does force you to look closer at something that you otherwise might not have, so in this way it can enhance this experience. It certainly enhanced mine. I don't know if I would have appreciated those exchanges that I saw in the Berber souq, which superficially looked less involved than the ones I saw in other markets, if I was not made to think about why they operated as they did. On top of immersing you in another culture, research also provokes you to think about why things are as they are in your own. Why is it, and do they really have to be that way?

Usually we talk about culture shock in reference to that alienation you feel when you are dropped in the middle of a country other than your own. Another form is the reverse, which you feel when returning home from a radically different place, that transition of reprogramming all the new behaviors you have learned. These experiences are more than can fit inside the space of a canteloupe, even too big for me to absorb as they are happening, but I am more than eager to share them.

wrapping up

By AUTUMN on March 14, 2008 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Back in Marrakech today. I am spending these last few days taking some last minute notes between goodbyes. There is only so much I can do in nine days, but I am very pleased with what I did manage to get done. Starting as an independent study that will give me a boost for grad school applications, I can say that this time has turned just as much into a scouting tour for future projects. I already know that this time has been indispensible for that reason and for the fact that now I have better ideas on how to approach and organize this kind of research. I can definitely spend more time here if it means working with people as fantastic as I have.

In the past week I have learned more Darija (Moroccan Arabic) than I did in a month last year. This is the result of being in the same place for periods of time with very patient people (and maybe a translator around as a buffer) who speak not a word of my language. It is also how I learned Spanish, and I would think it is the only way to really learn a new language passably if it were not for the Moroccans that I met that can speak non Moroccan languages without really having been forced to. They are definitely not shy about what they know and it is something to learn from. Ma tahashumsh! they tell me. Don't be shy. This is how they learn, and once I am forced to get over my shyness in order to make it through a day, the effect is exponential in terms of progress. In the grander scheme, it is drops in the ocean of this language, but it has made a world of difference between myself and every single Moroccan person I talk to.

TWZ said:

Glad you got a lot of notes for your research! I've been following this blog. Told Superman Josh about it, don't know if he's read it or not.

I'll be at the airport between 12:30 and one tomorrow. See ya then.

-- TWZ

March 15, 2008 3:37 PM

Brian said:

I feel like I was there. I like the analysis on barganing. I would never think that they didn't stay with set pricing. Pretty cool

March 15, 2008 5:23 PM

who are the Berbers?

By AUTUMN on March 13, 2008 6:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The Berbers are the indigenous people of North Africa. They lived here long before the Arabs conquered the land some thirteen hundred years ago. Today Berber blood makes up about half of the population in Morocco, and thins out as you go further east across North Africa. The Berber culture has been resilient through centuries of conquests that have swept through Morocco. It has managed to live, work, and still distinguish itself among others in relative harmony. Traditionally they live in more rural areas. Just about all of the Berbers that I have talked to in the cities trace themselves or their parents back to some small town, which is where the majority of their population has lived. They have their own language which they speak among themselves, and can vary regionally. Berber was strictly spoken until recently they developed a writing system for it, but this has not caught on too much as the schools only teach in French and Arabic. I imagine, then, that the propagation of the language in the modern day will rely on recurrent meetings of Berber people in one place. After the Berber towns themselves, the other of these places is certainly the souq.

Yesterday I took the opportunity to visit a traditional souq outside Essaouira (choukrane jazilan!). It is called a Berber souq, but Arabic people may also conduct their business here. These markets meet only once a week, each one a different day of the week. They function as meeting places for exchange, dispute settlements, and discussion for other public concerns. Nearly all sellers and buyers are men. I might have been one of 5 (visible) women and of 10 foreigners in the whole souq, although Moroccan ¨city¨ people may also be seen somewhat as outsiders. A portion of the shops are in buildings, but most set up in tents or on rugs along the ground. A few sellers hawk their inventory and prices on loudspeakers, while others sit until someone comes by. Business is pretty active here, as I imagine some form of exchange must be on everyones mind for for having come to such a particular place at a particular time. Once lunch time comes around, sellers pack up their wares and their gains, and round up their animals to finish the business day.

This was by far one of the best experiences for my research, as it was unlike any of the other marketplaces I have seen so far. I would love to come back and do more work just in these souqs, as I feel this may give a better picture of Morocco from times before the cities depended on tourism for survival.

3 Comments

Marissa said:

Leaving a comment. Hopefully it'll show up?

Is that garlic in that picture?

March 14, 2008 6:42 AM

Autumn said:

Yes! My comments work! Yes, that is garlic and what looks like cumin in the picture.

March 14, 2008 7:08 AM

Jehanzeb said:

Finally, we get to comment :)

I learned so much from reading your wonderful blog. "Choukrane" instead of "Shukran"? Hmm, someone is definitely Moroccan-ized lol.

Hope everything is going well. Looking forward to more posts :) Khuda hafez.

March 14, 2008 8:05 PM

a breath of fresh air

By AUTUMN on March 11, 2008 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Essaouira is a small port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco with a very Rasta feel. While Marrakech chews you up, Essaouira breathes you in so that you could easily spend a day sitting on the ramparts watching the waves crash up on the rocks, or strolling through the wide streets. The medina, also a World Heritage site, is littered with shops selling shoes, scarves, wood boxes, and other trinkets along whitewashed walls of tall buildings. The weather here is much kinder than that of Marrakech in the summer months, and even cold early in the year, which I am finding out the hard way.

In a place like this it is easy to let your cares go with the breeze that winds through the medina. But we are here to work! Tomorrow, insha' Allah, we look forward to a great opportunity to see how it's really been done for hundreds of years at the weekly bazaar. More on that later.

wouldn't you like to know

By AUTUMN on March 9, 2008 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a castle. One day her cousin asked for her hand in marriage, but she refused. Angry and insulted by her refusal, he threatened to kill her, and so she fled, leaving behind her luxurious life as a kings daughter. Now she needed to find a way to feed herself, so she shaved her head and dressed herself in mens clothing, looking for a job. Her costume convinced everyone, but many people just didnt need anyone to work for them. She finally found a job with a man who sold doughnuts. For her payment, she only asked that she have three doughnuts a day for herself, and a place to sleep. Business soared for her and her boss. Some years later, her brother and her father, the king, came to the shop and recognized her.

If I knew Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, I could tell you what happens next and some more detail, but this is a work in progress. In the meantime we must rely on someone telling me what he can about whats going on (choukrane to my wonderful translator!).

This is the kind of story that you can hear in the Djemma el Fna. An older man tells the story in front of a small crowd, made up entirely of men. There are no women, I am told, because the language can fall hard on the ears. Just before he finishes, he solicits his audience for some coins.

I think I came across some chatter that in the old days, some anthropologists believed that the market and culture were separate things (I will have to brush up on this debate). However, when you see that culture in the form of say, Moroccan storytelling, becomes marketable, even to itself as in Moroccan people, the fusion is undeniable. You cant help but ask how this comes to be, and how, and if, you can distinguish the culture that is marketed from that which is not. In a place like Marrakech, culture is top commodity. Some things are modified especially for foreign tourists, like the hammams, or public baths, while the typical un-glorified ones continue as they were (as far as I know) to be a facet of Moroccan daily life. On the other hand, Marrakchis learn language on top of language to cater to foreign tourists. Language is an asset in the market, for both tourist buyers and Moroccan sellers, but it also becomes a feature of Moroccan culture, indeed one of the fastest means of cultural assimilation.

Obviously the causes and effects of this fusion demand a long, involved, but fascinating, study. For now, we do what we can with 9 days.

how not to burst

By AUTUMN on March 8, 2008 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Bargaining is ubiquitous in Arabic speaking Islamic cultures, reads one of my lit research articles.* Even the Prophet, as the article notes and so I have been told, bargained with God on how many times a day Muslims must pray. God began with 50 times (<---not 5000. Choukrane Youssef & Jehanzeb!). When the Prophet asked that he acknowledge human needs and imperfections, God settled on 5.

I experience bargaining in the market, and today I realize I experience it at the Moroccan table. Kulli, kulli! my matronly hostess demands after I put down my piece of bread, full. Eat! she says. I dont know how much more I can eat before I burst at the seams, but I dont know what will happen if I outright refuse. When I say that I am full, she says I must not like her food, which I promise is not the case. So we are faced with opposing interests. She wants me to eat more, and I dont want any at all. Damage can be done on either side. We must compromise. I break off a piece of bread and give it to another friend at the table, and I say I will eat if someone else eats with me. I know he is also full, so the spotlight eases off me. I eat a little bit more, and I hope that she believes that I do in fact enjoy her food. Finally the table is cleared with both of us satisfied and neither offended.

Moroccan people, especially one as gracious as my friends mother, dont let you out of their houses easily, or even a crumb short of full. I still did get in some time at the market today, and I even got one good sample, but as my recruit explained, business was quiet in his part of town. Right now I can hear the drums of the Djemma el Fna from this internet cafe. These will continue after the shops close, which is usually about ten o clock, and beat along with the rest of the spectacles, well into the night. Tomorrow, insha Allah, we go on soaking it in.

*Alon, Ilai, etc. Perceptions of Time and their Impact on Negotiations in Arabic Speaking Islamic Cultures... the rest of the citation TBA once I get my hands on it again.

2 Comments

youssef said:

God began with something like 50 times. not 5000.
ok

March 14, 2008 7:16 PM

Jehanzeb said:

This from the Hadith (Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him)

Volume: 1 Book: 8 (The Book of Prayer) Number: 345

As narrated by Ibn Hazm and Anas bin Malik:

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said "Then Allah enjoined fifty prayers on my followers. When I returned with this order of Allah, I passed by Moses who asked me, 'What has Allah enjoined on your followers?'

I replied, 'He has enjoined fifty prayers on them.'

Moses said, 'Go back to your Lord (and appeal for reduction) for your followers will not be able to bear it.'

So I went back to Allah and requested for reduction and He reduced it to half. When I passed by Moses again and informed him about it, he said, 'Go back to your Lord as your followers will not be able to bear it.'

So I returned to Allah and requested for further reduction and half of it was reduced. I again passed by Moses and he said to me: 'Return to your Lord, for your followers will not be able to bear it.'

So I returned to Allah and He said, 'These are five prayers and they are all (equal to) fifty (in reward) for My Word does not change.'

I returned to Moses and he told me to go back once again. I replied, 'Now I feel shy of asking my Lord again.'

Then Gabriel took me till we reached Sidrat Muntaha (lote tree of the utmost boundary) which was shrouded in colors, indescribable.

Then I was admitted into Paradise where I found small (tents or) walls (made) of pearls and its earth was of musk."

March 14, 2008 8:15 PM