Capitalizing on its comparative political and social stability in the region, in recent years the Moroccan regime has been attracting global and regional investors with the promise of new ... Show moreCapitalizing on its comparative political and social stability in the region, in recent years the Moroccan regime has been attracting global and regional investors with the promise of new ‘megaprojects’ that aim to radically transform local natural, economic and social landscapes. Inaugurated in 2018, Morocco’s (and Africa’s) first high-speed rail line (LGV) is considered a flagship project within this landscape. Part of a wider ‘development corridor’, this 2-billion-euro infrastructure has become invested with political, ideological, and strongly affective meanings related to ideas of mobility and future prosperity, even as it violently displaced informal housing communities and created disruptions along the existing rail network. Drawing on the recent theoretical apparatus of anthropologies of infrastructure, this paper traces the ways in which the introduction of high-speed railway has thrown into stark relief the scaling of geographical and temporal relationships of belonging in Morocco. From this exploration scale emerges as a political process of spatiotemporal re-arrangement that contributes to the consolidation of particular power relations while also providing a conduit for their critique. Show less
The first decade of the 21st century marked a change in the design and implementation of urban strategies in Morocco through the intro- duction of sectorial policies and reforms of various kinds... Show moreThe first decade of the 21st century marked a change in the design and implementation of urban strategies in Morocco through the intro- duction of sectorial policies and reforms of various kinds aimed at encouraging investment and stimulating economic growth. Megaprojects have emerged as the preferred implementation tool of these urban strategies. In this article, we examine this development through the case of large-scale projects in Casablanca, Morocco‘s economic capital. We argue that these changes are as much a result of structural reforms as they are indicative of global and transnational neoliberalisation logics. Together, these act as the main drivers for the city‘s ambitions to increase economic productivity and become a regional business and financial hub. We further argue that this is being effected through a pro- liferation of ‚supply‘ strategies that have led to a standardisation of urban development policies and planning forms at the expense of local needs. We follow these developments on three levels: megaproject governance, influence on regulatory frameworks, and the transformation of local socio-spatial fabrics. Show less
This article explores the role of infrastructure in the production of post-colonial political imaginaries linked to mobility and expectations of social justice. I focus on how the building of the... Show moreThis article explores the role of infrastructure in the production of post-colonial political imaginaries linked to mobility and expectations of social justice. I focus on how the building of the Casablanca tramway opened up new ways for engaging in political commentary and participation for a segment of the city that frequently lacks the direct means for accessing power. In the process, the aim is to contribute a brief account of the historical genealogies behind such projects and argue for an understanding of infrastructure as a site for the production of future aspirations and political engagement for marginalized communities. Show less
The Western Mediterranean is a key region to understand human dispersal events within and out of the African continent as well as for the eventual replacement of Neanderthals by anatomically... Show moreThe Western Mediterranean is a key region to understand human dispersal events within and out of the African continent as well as for the eventual replacement of Neanderthals by anatomically modern humans during the Pleistocene. Central to any conclusive interpretation of archaeological and palaeoclimatic datasets that can be found in Palaeolithc caves is the establishment of a reliable chronostratigraphic framework for the investigated site. In this thesis, Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating was applied to determine the burial age of sedimentary deposits at three Palaeolithic cave sites in the Western Mediterranean - the Thomas Quarries and Rhafas, both Morocco, and Vanguard Cave, Gibraltar. Dating results were coupled with archaeological, sedimentological and geological proxy data to allow conclusive statements regarding the timing of human occupation phases and the appearance of technological innovations at the sites, local site formation processes and palaeoenvironmental conditions in the region in the past. Reliable OSL chronologies were developed for stratigraphical sequences at Rhafas and Vanguard Cave, while the applied standard single-grain dating turned out to be an inadequate technique for age determination of the Thomas Quarries sediments. Show less
An earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German... Show moreAn earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German colonies/postal areas : V Morocco", written by Ton Dietz. Show less
An earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German... Show moreAn earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German colonies/postal areas : V Morocco", written by Ton Dietz. Show less
An earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German... Show moreAn earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German colonies/postal areas : V Morocco", written by Ton Dietz. Show less
An earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German... Show moreAn earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German colonies/postal areas : V Morocco", written by Ton Dietz. Show less
An earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German... Show moreAn earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German colonies/postal areas : V Morocco", written by Ton Dietz. Show less
An earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German... Show moreAn earlier version of (parts of) APH 5 was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 125 / 2016: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German colonies/postal areas : V Morocco", written by Ton Dietz. Show less
The presence of tens of thousands of Moroccan soldiers in Spain during its Civil War was an encounter between two culturally different people. This thesis researches the impact of the racial... Show moreThe presence of tens of thousands of Moroccan soldiers in Spain during its Civil War was an encounter between two culturally different people. This thesis researches the impact of the racial stereotypes the Spaniards had about the Moroccans on how the Moroccans were treated in the Spanish Army, how their interaction with the Spanish civilian society was regulated, and how far the agency of the Moroccan soldiers themselves determined their own position within the army and within their Spanish cultural surroundings. It appears that rather than passive players in the Spanish conflict, the Moroccans did exercise no little amount of control of their own affairs and on how they interacted with the Spaniards (both military and civilian) in a way that often went beyond what Spanish stereotypes and policies allowed for. The presence of tens of thousands of Moroccan soldiers in Spain during its Civil War was an encounter between two culturally different people. This thesis researches the impact of the racial stereotypes the Spaniards had about the Moroccans on how the Moroccans were treated in the Spanish Army, how their interaction with the Spanish civilian society was regulated, and how far the agency of the Moroccan soldiers themselves determined their own position within the army and within their Spanish cultural surroundings. It appears that rather than passive players in the Spanish conflict, the Moroccans did exercise no little amount of control of their own affairs and on how they interacted with the Spaniards (both military and civilian) in a way that often went beyond what Spanish stereotypes and policies allowed for. Show less
This is the fifth Working Paper of the African Studies Centre Leiden about African Postal History before, during and after the First World War, in areas where there have been German Post Offices in... Show moreThis is the fifth Working Paper of the African Studies Centre Leiden about African Postal History before, during and after the First World War, in areas where there have been German Post Offices in Africa, and where Germany lost those Postal Administrations during the 1914-1919 period. The other four WPs are about Togo, Cameroon, German East Africa (later Tanganyika/Tanzania) and German Southwest Africa (later Namibia). See 'http://www.ascleiden.nl/content/ascl-working-papers' and go to 2015. Show less
This study analyses the everyday practices and the multiplicious identification processes in Amazigh mineral and fossil artisan communities, focusing on the Ayt Khebbash group in Rissani and... Show moreThis study analyses the everyday practices and the multiplicious identification processes in Amazigh mineral and fossil artisan communities, focusing on the Ayt Khebbash group in Rissani and Tafraoute of southeastern Morocco. I address the following questions: how do the Ayt Khebbash artisans identify themselves and others through everyday work and participation in different communities? What is their relation to the space that surrounds them? How do they deal with the discourse power of the state and the penetrating influences of capitalism? I argue that in the context of the Tafilalet, the collective Amazigh ethnic identity promoted by the activists holds little importance compared to a tribal sense of belonging based on agnatic ties. Also, the local Ayt Khebbash artisans see themselves contextually through social interactions in everyday work and in relation to external power structures. This dissertation consists of an introduction, four main chapters, and a conclusion. The division of the main content of this study into four chapters is in accordance with the geography of the region: Tafilalet (Ar-Rachidia Province), the village Tafraoute, the town Rissani, and reḥla (‘open space’). I examine the development of fossil ex¬traction and sculpting work in Tafraoute and Rissani in the context of environmental factors and the local history of French colonial rule, so as to situate the practice of Ayt Khebbash men in the historical process of herding, agriculture and mining work. Then I analyse the apprenticeship of fossil artisans as a process of participation in social practice, by using the notion of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ within the ‘communities of practice’ developed by Lave and Wenger (Lave and Wenger 1991; Wenger 1998). This is to demonstrate that work is a social practice wherein acting agents acquire new knowledge, techniques, and lifestyles, in the multiple processes of confrontations and contradictions. Furthermore, through an analysis of the Ayt Kheb¬bash artisans’ work experiences in Nador and barite mining, I argue that their identifi¬cation processes also involve ‘marginality’, ‘dis-identification’, and ‘non-participation’ (Hodges 1998). Contrary to Lave and Wenger’s model (1991; 1998), ‘participation’ was an experience in constant conflict with their historically situated self within the new socio-economic frameworks, which in the case of the Ayt Khebbash artisans induced sympathy for their own tribal identities, rather than assimilation to the structural conditions of the capitalist labour market. I conclude that the Ayt Khebbash artisans counteract the effect of globalisation in their own terms with their own initiatives, by constantly imagining, reinventing and reconstructing their spatial and tribal senses of belonging. Show less