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.