A night on the town

This afternoon around 5pm, I decide that I’ve read enough fascist newspapers for one day (¡Viva Franco! ¡Viva la nueva España!) and that what my Saturday really needs is a trip to the hammam.

Headed to Chauen; re-routed into politics

As part of my effort to meet Moroccan veterans of the Spanish Civil War, I set up an appointment a couple weeks ago with the representative of the Association Nationale des Anciens Combattants (ANAC) in the beautiful blue northern town of Chauen. Little did I know that my interaction with him would end up being a lesson on the Moroccan political environment.

Year in Review and a Word on Islamophobia

The new group of Fulbrighters arrived last week and with their coming, I marked my one-year anniversary in Morocco. It therefore seems an appropriate moment for self-reflection and evaluation, especially on my grant-related activities. In keeping with Fulbright’s dual objectives of cultural exchange and academic development, I’m dividing the list into two corresponding parts and also including a third one of goals for my remaining (less than!) three months. Finally, I want to throw all of the following activities into perspective by relaying some thoughts on the current controversy over the proposed Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan.

Ramadan Mabrook!

On the Roof of North Africa

Climbing Mt. Toubkal – the highest peak in North Africa at 4165 m, or 13665 ft – has been on Rod, Sam, Cath and my to-do list since we arrived nearly a year ago. We squeezed it in at Sam and Rod's last possible moment, making the trip south in the middle of August. As it turns out, access to the mountain is totally straightforward: several-hour train ride to Marrakesh, an hour-long wiiiinding grand taxi ride to the tiny town of Imlil and we were good to go.

More Middle East: The West Bank

I’d been hearing Rod talk about “Pali” (Palestine) for months, and so when he suggested I come visit during his time there this summer, it didn’t take much leg-pulling to get me to book tickets for a nine-day trip.

Ups and Downs of the Moroccan Foodscape

Last week I received an email from my beloved brother with the subject line, “I love America,” and a body that continued, “and our many food options. So sorry to do this to you, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I just had Salvadorean food for lunch and it was sooo good: plantain, black beans, pork, tamale, pupusa, potatoes... so yea, sorry again.”

Sorry indeed. Rub my nose in a plate of couscous, why don’t you.

A Date with History

I’d been checking her out for a while. Read some of her books. Googled her biography. Watched a documentary in which she made an appearance. In short, I was crushing pretty hard.

Grant extension awarded!

New official departure date: December 10, 2010

Moroccan State of Mind

Watch this first: "Empire State of Mind," featuring Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.

Then watch this: "Moroccan State of Mind," featuring Mary and Alaina (with appearances by your favorite blogger + Maria and Al "Cheeks" Saline).

Congratulations to Mary on an awesome first music video!

Next Stop: The Validation Station

One of the many great things that happened to me during my first several months in Tetouan was meeting Carolina Ceca, a young Spanish artist working in the city under the auspices of a Spanish government grant. (You can see a bit of her work here. It’s worth checking out.) Before her Morocco time came to a close a couple days ago, we were meeting up once a week, ostensibly to converse in (and practice her) English but really just for girl talk. We had also tinkered with various English texts that she’d written up for grant applications and her website.

The last day we spent together, though, I figured I’d turn the tables and request some feedback on a project abstract I’d translated to Spanish. It’s something I hand out to research-related people when I meet them, since I find they often focus better on what I’m saying when I’m not actually saying it, but rather when it’s written down in front of them. As expected, Carolina had some helpful suggestions to make; however, she also surprised me with some passionate – and personally validating – insights into the Spanish side of my work.

Request for Grant Extension

Current status: Four months into Fulbright grant
Request: One month of additional funding (Nov. 10 – Dec. 10)

Overview

Having focused much of my undergraduate studies on religious relations in al-Andalus, I applied for a Fulbright grant with the aim of expanding my knowledge to encompass modern dynamics between Catholics and Muslims in Spain and Morocco. Specifically, I proposed to examine the way in which both groups used religious rhetoric to frame their respective positions over Moroccan combat in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. It was to be a historical undertaking, grounded in archival research that I would primarily carry out in Tetouan, the old headquarters of the Spanish Protectorate.

Now in Morocco, my work has indeed taken me to Tetouan, where I have been living for the past four months since the end of my CLEA grant. The city has thrown several curveballs at me, however.

Of pork, paella and critical thinking

Last Sunday my friends Ahmed and Meriam invited me home for lunch with them and their two children, Atimad (age 12) and Hatim (age 9).* Highlights from the meal that nearly knocked my pants off for their sheer abnormality:

1. We didn't eat Moroccan food. Instead, Meriam made a tasty Spanish paella.

"Look at the peaks!"

I think I mentioned in a post back in the fall that the translation of the name of a beautiful northern town -- Chefchaouen -- means "look at the peaks." It's apt. The Rif Mountains are lovely; they most certainly ought to be admired. But mountains, as we know, require more than just ogling, and so imagine my excitement when my landlord mentioned two or three months that he belongs to a hiking group. "You can come too, if you can keep up," he offered.

Picturing the diversity of MENA

For the last several years, Fulbright has sponsored an annual enrichment seminar for the grantees based in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. In early May I was fortunate enough to travel to Amman for this year's seminar, as well as to extend my plane ticket on either end and do some tromping around Beirut, Damascus and the Petra ruins in Jordan.

Enrichment seminar? you may be asking yourself. Where is it that my hard-earned tax money is going now? A fair question.

Tracing the New Reconquista: Religious Rhetoric in Morocco During the Spanish Civil War (abstract)

One of the most powerful founding myths of the Spanish nation is that of the reconquista, typically represented as the sacred and patriotic struggle of medieval Christians to rout infidel Muslim forces from the Iberian Peninsula. Given the potency of this narrative in Spanish tradition, it appeared as an attractive discourse for a group of disgruntled military officers staging a coup d’etat in 1936: they saw themselves as messianic guardians of the “true” Spain, duty-bound to purge the country of the decadent Republic then in power. Their self-portrayal became complicated, however, by a heavy reliance on the Spanish protectorate in northern Morocco – more specifically, on some 80,000 Muslim Morocco recruits into the rebel army. To smooth over the irony of an alliance with precisely the Moorish enemy of the medieval reconquista, leaders of the Nationalist effort began promoting the notion of a religious brotherhood between Catholics and Muslims. Followers of the two monotheistic traditions were to unite in a holy crusade against the threat of the atheistic Spanish Republic.

Tracing the New Reconquista: Religious Rhetoric in Morocco During the Spanish Civil War (working paper)

Once upon a time, many years ago, the kingdom of Spain suffered a terrible invasion by hordes of barbaric adherents to the nascent Islamic religion. These infidels, swarming up from North Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar, managed to penetrate and subdue the land as far north as the Pyrenees, stopped only by the heroic efforts of a small group of brave-hearted Christians. With their courage, the reconquista was born, that sacred and patriotic struggle to wrest the Spanish realm back from the heathen Muslims, fully realized with the defeat of Granada in 1492 at the hands of the good Catholic rulers, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

Northward, ho!

Between Seattle and Vermont, the northern roots just wouldn’t leave me alone, so once my language grant ended in Fez at the end of February, I migrated to Tetouan – a smaller city about an hour east of Tangier, ten some kilometers from the Mediterranean and surrounded on all sides by the Rif Mountains.

A photographic explanation of my two-month absence from the blogosphere

Bob and Lynda Olson came to Morocco! Late February to early March.

Shnu parlez-vous?

One of the qualifications required of Fulbright applicants is proficiency in the language(s) spoken in the country in which they’re requesting to study. For Morocco, the Fulbright website specifies that this means Arabic and French.

“So, uh, what are you doing here?”

Yallah! Making efforts at the Marrakesh half-marathon

Given that none of the previous months’ blog posts have included accounts of hyperactive flip-outs, it’s an accurate assumption that I’ve been able to continue running here in Morocco.

Stuff that is different and makes us cold

The last posting opened with a side comment about the unusually warm winter we’ve had this year in Morocco. Why, then, as I sit around the apartment doing Arabic homework, am I wearing fleece pants, wool socks, leg warmers, a long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, fleece, hooded down jacket and a hat? It’s due to a little something we like to call lack of indoor heating.

Siiiingin' in (If)rane

It’s been such an unusually warm and dry winter here in Fes, and I managed to pick a rainy Saturday to visit Ifrane. Consider it, then, a testament to the company – Rod, Sam and our host, Kelly – that the trip was a great time anyway.