MOROCCAN MODERN: RACE, AESTHETICS, AND IDENTITY IN A GLOBAL CULTURE MARKET

308 Pages·2009·1.22 MB·English

by  John Schaefer

Copyright
by
John Philip Rode Schaefer
2009
The Dissertation Committee for John Philip Rode Schaefer
certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation:

MOROCCAN MODERN:
RACE, AESTHETICS, AND IDENTITY IN A GLOBAL CULTURE MARKET

Committee:

________________________________________
Deborah Kapchan, Co-Supervisor

________________________________________
Kamran Ali, Co-Supervisor

________________________________________
Elizabeth Keating

________________________________________
Ward Keeler

________________________________________
Ted Swedenburg
MOROCCAN MODERN:
RACE, AESTHETICS, AND IDENTITY
IN A GLOBAL CULTURE MARKET

by
John Philip Rode Schaefer, B.A.; M.A.

Dissertation
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Texas at Austin
August 2009
Dedication

To Rachel
and Lyna, Elijah, and Noah
Acknowledgments
This project represents over a decade of coursework, research, and writing,
beginning in Arkansas, Lebanon, and Ghana, and ending in Texas, Morocco, Ohio, New
York, North Carolina, and Cairo. As a result, lots of people have had their hands on the
spoon—stirring, adding some ingredients, suggesting others, turning up the heat, letting
it simmer, and tasting and commenting on various sections and permutations. I have
missed many who passed through the kitchen at one time or another, but I mention a
few names here in the hopes that all will feel free to take their places around the table.
When I arrived in Tangier in February 2006 with the barest sketching of a
project, Abdellah El Gourd generously offered to let me learn from him, and for that I
am eternally grateful. I hope my work approaches the high standards of his
professionalism. I was received at Dar Gnawa and integrated into the community there
by its members. Abdelkader El Khlyfy, Khalid Rahhali, and Noureddine Touati
remembered me from previous visits and welcomed me, alongside Muhammad Lahya,
Jamel, Muhammad Khayyat, and Abdelila Ibn al-Sahafi. Abdelila also translated and
transcribed song lyrics and helped me out in many other areas. A whole host of others
who passed through or stayed behind at Dar Gnawa, some from Tangier and many more
from all over the world, were generous with their time and attention—Uwe, Sliman,
Crofton, and Nicholas come to mind. At the Cafe du Paris in Tangier, Kenneth
Lisenbee, Piers and Fatima Jessop, Tom, Clive, Rachid, Patrick, and Tony offered
entertaining, enlightening and challenging conversation. At Cafe Vienna, Ahmad
Hajjaoui served up coffee and advice. The staff at the Vienna Internet Cafe rescued my
USB drive numerous times when I left it behind, while Muhammad al-Bawwab
provided me his endless and fascinating wisdom in economics, philosophy, ethics, and
life. Ali and Yusuf kept my apartment safe and kept me apprised of neighborhood
events. I also benefited from getting to know, in Fez, Abdel Aziz Azuz, Idriss, Hamid,
Mustafa, Alan, Ben, Khaled Gaga, Patrick, Mansour al-Oujdi, Mohsin, Abd al-Malik al-
Mashhur, and especially Ali and his dear family; in Marrakech, Baska, Abdeljalil, Tim
Abdellah Fuson, Deborah, Jonathan, and Hammoud; and in Essaouira, Najib Sudani,
Sidi Muhammad, Ahmad, and Muhammad.
The project would not have been possible without generous funding from the
American Institute for Maghrib Studies (CAORC), and from the US Department of
Education’s Foreign Language and Area Studies program, administered through the
Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Also at UT-Austin,
the Department of Anthropology and Americo Paredes Center for Middle Eastern
Studies provided needed funding and support during my graduate career there. A grant
also supported my participation in the Princeton North African and North African
Diaspora Workshop at the Department of Near Eastern Studies in 2008, which was
organized, under the direction of Prof. Abdellah Hammoudi and Prof. Lawrence Rosen,
by Jessica Marglin and Claire Nicholas. During the workshop I met Rodney Collins,
Nell Quest, and Marouane Laouina, who were generous with their advice.

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At various times between 2001 and 2006, I became indebted to Prof. Taieb
Belghazi and Prof. Abdelhai Diouri of Mohammad V University in Rabat, Prof.
Bertrand Hell of Université de Franche-Comté and EHESS-Paris, Dr. Kyra Landzelius
at the University of Gothenburg, and Dr. Ahmed Lemsyeh at the Ministry of Culture.
Prof. Khalid Amine of Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Tetouan was welcoming and
supportive in Tangier, both professionally and personally, along with his wife, Nadia,
who also tutored me in Moroccan Darija. Also in Tangier, Thor Kuniholm offered
advice and logistical support, as well as provided official status through the Tangier
American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). Ms. Yhtimad Bouziane at
the TALIM library gave me access and assistance.
Throughout my time at Texas I have received strong, enduring, and warm
support and friendship from my mentor and advisor Deborah Kapchan, who found me
wait-listed in April 2000 and took up my application, who kept advising me even after
she left UT and went on to NYU, and who, even as I write this, is advising me from her
sabbatical in France. Ted Swedenburg has stayed with me through three years at
Arkansas and nine years at Texas—a good advisor and friend. I have also received
unwavering support from the three other members of my committee—Kamran Ali,
Elizabeth Keating, and Ward Keeler.
My family members set me on the path to anthropology and kept me there—Bob
and Nancy Schaefer of Tamale, Ghana; Paul and Jennifer Schaefer of Bole, Ghana;
Susie and Donny Briscoe of Marionville, Missouri; Roger and Cindy Rode of Galion,
Ohio; Bryan and Alicia Rode of Columbus, Ohio; and Brad Rode of Washington, D.C.
My doctoral work grew out of my M.A. program, and I was fortunate to come to
Texas on the very accomplished heels of Jamie Brandon and James Davidson. Others
from Arkansas came to visit, and I also met up with them elsewhere—sometimes in odd
places, but always fondly: Ted Swedenburg, JoAnn D’Alisera, Joel Gordon; Rachael
Martin, Will Taggart, Teresa Iwaki, Bill Gardner, Kelley O’Callaghan, Melissa
Zabecki, and many others. At Texas I was fortunate to study with great professors like
Pauline Turner Strong, Richard Flores, Katie Stewart, Peter Abboud, Ward Keeler,
Jonathan Shannon, Mia Carter, Veit Erlmann, Deborah Kapchan, Keith Walters, Joel
Sherzer, and Jurgen Streeck. I was also privileged to work with Laura Lein and Henry
Selby, and to get to know Kamala Visweswaran, Elizabeth Keating, Jose Limon, John
Downing, and Barbara Harlow outside of class, among many others. Bob and BJ Fernea
had retired by the time I arrived, but they welcomed me into their home on more than
one occasion. In the anthropology department and folklore center, nothing would get
done were it not for the capable and resourceful administrative and technical
professionals. In folklore, for sure, I could not have made it without Frances Terry,
Elaine Hrissikopoulos, and Amy Hendrick. Thank you for going above and beyond.
One of UT’s strengths is the interdisciplinarity of the graduate programs. I
benefited from meeting students through the Ethnographic Film Forum and other
offerings through Radio-Television-Film, the regular parties of the Ethnic and Third-
World Literature Program in the English Department, the linguistics department’s

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Symposium on Language and Society—Austin, and numerous concerts and lectures in
the music department. As I recall the names of my friends, warm memories resurface of
long evenings spent at various establishments around Austin in quiet conversation and
sometimes heated, but always friendly, debates over politics, culture, film, literature,
music, language, identity, and other topics that had spilled over from classes, films, and
lectures. Close friendships grew out of our experiences as fellow graduate students (in
no order at all): Mark Westmoreland, Alisa Perkins, Galeet Dardashti, Afra al-
Mussawir, Shaka McGlotten, Dan Gilman, Scott Webel, Ben Chappell, Ben Hodges,
Guha Shankar, Mieke Curtis, Sandya Hewamanne, Whitney Battle, Peggy Brunache,
Nick Copland, Faedah Totah, Adam Gordon, David Raichlen, Rob Scott, Olivier
Tchouaffe, Nafiz Aksehirlioglu, Diya Mehra, Melissa Forbis, Halide Velioglu, Chantal
Tetreault, and many, many others. Scott Webel and Mathangi Krishnamurthy provided
excellent critiques of a portion of Section 2. I owe Leighton Peterson and Bennie Klain
more than I can repay.
Upon leaving Texas I found myself in a succession of academic and professional
contexts. I worked with Gary Levine and Sue Huff at Ashland University and with
Terry Prendergast in the Writing Center at the College of Wooster. Barb Hampton, Barb
Hustwit, Linda Bromund, and Jenny Derksen were terrific colleagues there. David
McConnell and Pamela Frese advised when I taught anthropology at Wooster. Felipe
Millan-Calhoun was a colleague, student, assistant, and friend. Faculty Dean Shila Garg
offered me several jobs and kindly provided advice and recommendation letters long
after I left Wooster. After I returned from the field, Mike Woost invited me to spend a
year in the vibrant anthropology department at Hartwick College with Connie
Anderson, Jason Antrosio, and David Anthony. In the history department, Mieko
Nishida was generous and welcoming, as was Jon Roberts. When I needed a second
one-year appointment, Margaret Bender and the anthropology department at Wake
Forest came through: Eric Bowne, Steve Folmar, Sandya Hewamanne, Ellen Miller,
Jeanne Simonelli, Paul Thacker, and Steven Whittington, all held together in the
capable hands of Rosemary McCarthy. Michaelle Browers in Wake Forest’s political
science department was also very welcoming. Overall, I have been fortunate to find
such warm and supportive colleagues. I look forward to my future position in the
anthropology program at the American University in Cairo with Soraya Altorki, Joseph
Hill, Marisa Ensor, Adrienne Pine, Hanan Sabea, and Mark Westmoreland.
While readers of various portions of this dissertation have tried, it would have
been impossible for them to spot all of the errors in typography and in fact, lapses of
judgment, injudicious emphases, misattributions, weaknesses in argument, and other
faults contained herein. They did their best and should in no way be held responsible for
any mistakes I have made. Instead, if anything here is found to be clearly stated or
useful, it’s no doubt due to the sharp eye and perceptive comment of one of my readers.
Finally, I could not have even attempted to complete any of this without the help
and encouragement, and at times the total emotional and material support, of my wife,
Rachel, who has kept our little family going through good times and bad. Thank you.

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MOROCCAN MODERN:
RACE, AESTHETICS, AND IDENTITY
IN A GLOBAL CULTURE MARKET

Publication No. ________

John Philip Rode Schaefer, Ph.D.
The University of Texas at Austin, 2009

Supervisors: Deborah Kapchan and Kamran Ali

This dissertation asks how conceptions of race have informed popular cultural
expressions in post-independence Morocco. Further, how have these expressions helped
shape Moroccan modernity? What does an analysis of the history of the Gnawa in
Morocco tell us about changes in Moroccan society, including the religious landscape,
and the relation of these changes to globalization? This dissertation tracks the often
contradictory paths that modernity has taken in Morocco through a focus on one
racialized subculture, the Gnawa, ritual musicians originally from sub-Saharan Africa
who have lived in Morocco for centuries without losing a certain African identity. The
first part of the dissertation assesses Blackness in Morocco, considering Moroccan
history in light of its relations across the Sahara desert. I examine cultural patterns of

viii
the Niger River region to which the Gnawa trace their origins, as well as crucial
elements in the Moroccan past that involve racial formation. The second part of the
dissertation considers how newcomers come to take on these new spiritual and musical
identities, whether through a kind of musical transposition or an economic conversion. I
argue that mass media have been central in Gnawa conversion narratives in the past,
while more recent Gnawa identities have revolved around the consumption of
commodities. The third section details my own conversion through a series of
engagements with the Essaouira Festival of world music and Gnawa music in Morocco.
I attended the festival as an informed tourist and also behind the scenes as an interested
participant, and I found that the festival serves multiple purposes in Morocco’s cultural
economy. I conclude that Morocco’s aesthetic history is deeply influenced by
conceptions of race. These conceptions have in turn influenced commercial media
expressions of post-independence Moroccan identities. Finally, since the opening of
Moroccan society in the 1990s, the clearest expression of the future of Moroccan
expressive and popular culture has been the rise of music festivals.

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1
2001: A GNAWA ODYSSEY.....................................................................................1
GNAWA TRADITIONAL..........................................................................................9
GNAWA MODERN.................................................................................................19
SECTION I: HISTORY AND ETHNOGRAPHY ACROSS THE SAHARA..........24
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................24
Chapter 1: History of Blackness and Slavery in Morocco.....................................26
ORIGINS AND ETYMOLOGIES............................................................................28
MOROCCO ACROSS THE ALMORAVID SAHARA.............................................33
MEDIATING BLACKNESS IN ALMORAVID AND ALMOHAD MOROCCO.....36
MEDIEVAL ETHNOLOGY.....................................................................................43
MERENID AND SA’ADIAN EXPANSION............................................................. 57
MILITARY SLAVERY UNDER ISMA’IL............................................................... 60
WEST AFRICAN ORIGINS.....................................................................................63
VOLUNTARY ASSIMILATION AND FORCED MIGRATION............................. 66
CULTURAL MIXING ALONG THE SOUTHWESTERN FRONTIER................... 68
HARATIN: NON-GNAWA BLACK MOROCCANS...............................................70
BLACK RESISTANCE TO CONSCRIPTION......................................................... 74
SLAVERY AND RACE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY..................................75

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