Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco

241 Pages·2013·11.726 MB·English

by  Aomar Boum

Memories of Absence

Memories of Absence
HOW MUSLIMS REMEMBER JEWS IN MOROCCO
Aomar Boum
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
©2013 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University
Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Boum, Aomar, author.
Memories of absence : how Muslims remember Jews in Morocco / Aomar Boum.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-8699-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Jews--Morocco--Public opinion. 2. Muslims--Morocco--Attitudes. 3. Collective
memory--Morocco. 4. Public opinion--Morocco. 5. Morocco--Ethnic relations--History.
I. Title.
DS135.M8B69 2013
964.00492'4--dc23 2013025713
ISBN 978-0-8047-8851-9 (electronic)
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 9/15 Palatino
This book is dedicated to
Faraji, son of Lahcen; Mahira, daughter of Mohammed;
Norma Mendoza-Denton; and Majdouline Boum-Mendoza,
for their lifelong, unlimited support
and their unconditional love

Contents
Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgments xv
Prologue: “Ariel Sharon” in the Sahara ix
Introduction 1
1 Writing the Periphery:
Colonial Narratives of Moroccan Jewish Hinterlands 11
2 Outside the Mellah:
Market, Law, and Muslim-Jewish Encounters 29
3 Inside the Mellah:
Education and the Creation of a Saharan Jewish Center 57
4 “Little Jerusalems” Without Jews:
Muslim Memories of Jewish Anxieties and Emigration 87
5 Shadow Citizens: Jews in Independent Morocco 109
6 Between Hearsay, Jokes, and the Internet:
Youth Debate Jewish Morocco 131
Conclusion 157
Epilogue: Performing Interfaith Dialogue 161
Methodological Appendix: Generations, Cohorts,
Schemas, and Longitudinal Memories 169
Notes 173
References 191
Index 211
Photographs follow page 76

Abbreviations
AIU Alliance Israélite Universelle
CAM Comité d’Action Marocaine
CCIM Conseil des Communautés Israélites du Maroc
COM Chaykh Omar Museum
ENH École Normale Hebraïque
ENIO École Normale Israélite Oriental
FJMCH Foundation of Jewish Moroccan Cultural Heritage
FZF French Zionist Federation
JDC American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
JMC Jewish Museum of Casablanca
MN Mouvement National
OSE Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants
PCM Parti Communiste Morocain
PDA Parti Démocratique Amazigh
PDI Parti Démocratique de l’Indépendance
PNRR Parti National pour la Réalisation des Réformes
PRN Parti des Réformes Nationales
PUM Parti de l’Unité Marocaine
SGP Société de Géographie de Paris
UGSCM Union Générale des Syndicats Confédérés du Maroc
UMT Union Marocaine du Travail
UNEM Union Nationale des Étudiants Marocains
UNFP Union Nationale des Forces Populaires
USFP Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires