From the Tangier American Legation

In this podcast, Dr. Hisham Aidi of Columbia University hosts T. K. Blue, renowned saxophonist and the late Randy Weston's musical director, for a fascinating chat about working with Randy, jazz in Tangier, Morocco and Blue's adventures participating in the U.S. State Department Jazz Tour Programs in Africa and across the world. Take a moment to listen to this deeply engaging and uplifting chat.

Abstract: Frustrated by the fragmented scene of modern Morocco poetry, Moroccan poet and critic Muḥammad Bennīs pens the Bayān al-Kitāba in 1981 (“Manifesto of Writing”). The manifesto, which was published in Al-Thaqafa al-Jadida, a journal Bennīs co-founded in 1974, set forth a new concept of writing steeped in Morocco’s visual culture. Throughout the Bayān, Bennīs calls for the renewal of poetry...

Climate change and migration have a complex relationship, and Morocco presents an interesting case of intertwining environmental change, national development policies, and human mobilities. For her dissertation research, Rachael looks at the influence of social remittances, intangible non-material transfers across migrant connections, on climate adaptation and sustainable development in Skoura M’D...

Abstract: Southeast Morocco is known for its oases, dates, and diverse linguistic and cultural landscape shaped by Amazigh, Arab, African, Jewish, nomadic and agrarian exchanges. Today, this landscape is also frequently colored by watermelons and water shortages. Small-scale farmers are at the center of the changes—navigating water scarcity and market fluctuations as the region orients towards glo...

This podcast presents work related to my first book project, The Suicide Archive: Reading Resistance in the Wake of French Empire—which concludes with a chapter on suicide bombing, focused on Moroccan writer and artist Mahi Binebine’s (b. 1959) novel Les Étoiles de Sidi Moumen (2010)—and a second book project, Narrative Subversions: Strange Voices in Francophone Fiction, which explores unconventio...

Abstract: Between the 1850s and 1950s, colonial schools called médersas combined elements of French and Islamic educational traditions. First created in Algeria in 1850, the schools spread to the West African colonies of Senegal, French Soudan (today Mali), and Mauritania. The place of Morocco in this history is the subject of this discussion. In the 1910s, early in the protectorate period, the Fr...

Abstract Why does Marrakesh look the way that it does? The Red City is the topic of the forthcoming book by Dr. Abbey Stockstill, in which she discusses the medieval city’s relationship with its founding dynasties, the local landscape, and Berber politics in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. As the notion of what it meant to be “Berber” was being defined, the city of Marrakesh emerged as a metro...

This podcast explores the Andalusian music tradition of Morocco, known as al-ala, through the written song collections, such as the famous Kunnash al-Ha'ik. By examining the literary record, embodied in around 40 handwritten manuscripts found in libraries across Europe and North Africa, we can come to understand the evolution of the repertoire over the past two and a half centuries. Of special int...

Abstract On February 29, 1960, an earthquake leveled much of the southern Moroccan coastal city of Agadir. Over the next decade, a new Agadir would be built in an avant-garde brutalist architectural style, representing a concrete example of Morocco’s newly independent future. And yet, this future is haunted by the trauma and violence of the past, by way of both the earthquake as well as colonialis...

Zajal, which flourished in 14th century Andalusia, is a genre of poetry composed in spoken Arabic—Moroccan Arabic/Darija in this case. The genre reemerged in postcolonial Morocco, when it was largely published in newspapers. The recent history of zajal may appear male dominated: the 1992 edition of Afaq, the Journal of the Moroccan Writer’s Union, highlighted modern zajal poetry but included only...

In this discussion at Youmein 2021: Roots and Traces, anthropologist George Bajalia and journalist Aida Alami explore the roots and traces of contemporary cultural life in Tangier, especially as they relate to northern Morocco's border regions. From questions of diversity and difference to the roots of present debates around representation, responsibility, and justice, Youmein 2021: Roots and Trac...

Soufiane’s focus is a comparative study on cultural practices and narratives related to art production and its entanglement with resistance and visual politics in North Africa and the Middle East. By working on Morocco and Jordan, I mainly focus on wall-writings, street art, and graffiti in order to understand what wall expressions do, the extent to which they have a particularly political place i...

In response to the February 20 movement, the Moroccan government passed electoral laws that institutionalized and expanded gender quotas at the national and local levels, enabling women to win an unprecedented number of seats in the 2015 and 2016 elections. My Fulbright research examines how reserved seats in the House of Representatives and communal councils have affected women's substantive repr...

The high mountains of Talassemtane National Park protect some of the rarest trees and animals in Morocco and North Africa. Forest fires can have negative as well as positive effects on conserving these unique ecosystems. Research ranging from satellite images to tree-ring analysis is being applied to help forest managers protect the forest and adapt to changing climate. Dr. Peter Fulé is a profess...

Ecotheology, a new academic discipline and social movement, focuses on the relationship between nature and religion. In a number of Muslim-majority countries, proponents of ecotheology have argued that the Quran, the Hadith, and other religious texts impose a unique obligation on humans: because God placed humans in charge of the environment, they must care for it. Morocco, for its part, has taken...

In this podcast, celebrated artists Soukaina Fahssi and Mehdi Qamoum talk about their art, experiences, backgrounds, personal and artistic lives, among other things.

In this podcast, Casablanca-based singer, Saad el Baraka, chats with Ayoub el Jamal about his artistic experience, background, motives, things that have affected his experience, projects and aspirations, among other things.

In this podcast, Chi Stage Project director, Ayoub el Jamal, hosts Casawi singer & song writer, Nada Azhari to speak about her rich artistic experience, beginnings, love for music and arts, motives, projects, and ambitions, among other things.

In this podcast, Casablanca-based artist, Marouane Sibari tells his stories in his hometown, things that affected his artistic experience, passions, projects, and other things.

In this podcast, famous Moroccan street performance couple, Hafid W Salma tell their audience about their respective lives, passions, plans, projects, arts, among other things. Let's learn more about them together!

In this podcast, the founder and director of the Chi Stage Project, Ayoub el Jamal, hosts the Tangier native and based singer and songwriter, Sarah Ariche, to speak about her life background, among other things. This podcast leads us through the alleys and walks of Sarah's life, background, influences, experiences, artistic career, among other things from her childhood to the present day. We hope...

The Tangier ALC is inviting Dr. Alex Kolker, Associate Professor at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium for a talk at the American Legation Museum. Dr. Kolker was in Morocco for one year on a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research on how sea-level dynamics influence coastal processes and resiliency along the Moroccan coast. "Coasts are naturally dynamic systems governed by many force...

Lawrence Peskin, a history professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, is in Tangier to research the life of James Simpson, America’s first consul to Morocco (1797-1820). He is doing so as part of a larger book project that traces the development of the Early National American community in the Mediterranean region by studying the lives and networks of three consuls. In addition to Simpson,...

Johanna Sluiter is a PhD Candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU where she is writing a dissertation on the Atelier des Bâtisseurs and the development of habitat in post-war architecture. She is currently an associate researcher at the École Normale Supérieure d’Architecture Belleville in Paris and a Chester Dale Fellow at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In 1949, the Atelier d...

On Monday, September 30 2019, James Miller spoke with TALIM Director John Davison about the joint Moroccan-American archaeological project at the site of ancient Sijilmasa and the publication of book, “The Last Civilized Place: Sijilmasa and Its Saharan Destiny” (University of Texas Press, 2015). “The Last Civilized Place,” written by Miller and Project Director Ronald Messier, recounts the story...