Description
Book SynopsisEmily Benichou Gottreich is an Adjunct Professor in Global Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, U.S. She is also former President of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS). She holds a PhD from Harvard University, U.S.
Trade ReviewOffers a dynamic, accessible and thought-stimulating book that will be a useful teaching tool while giving more seasoned historians an opportunity to consider the changes in Moroccan historiography … Jewish Morocco appears as a therapeutic history and an ongoing reconciliation that is also taking place in Morocco, with ongoing efforts to restore synagogues and celebrate this Moroccan heritage. * The Journal of North African Studies *
How do you picture the history of Morocco through its Jewish lens? How do you sum up the complexities and contradictions of centuries of Jewish-Muslim encounters and relations and dynasties? Emily Gottreich’s book has not only taken on these challenging questions but has delivered on their promise. -- Aomar Boum, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles and Faculty Fellow at the Université Internationale de Rabat, Morocco
This book is an intriguing foray into major themes in Moroccan history and invites readers to reconsider any simple understanding of the relationship between Muslim majorities and religious minorities in the region. It has much to offer to undergraduate students, scholars of the region, and general readers interested in North African and Jewish history. -- Oren Kosansky, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Lewis & Clark College, USA
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Malikism Law and Religion. Malikism as law of the land today, Jews in pre-Islamic Morocco, Islamic conquests, conversion, Jews under Islamic rule, adoption of Malikism and the development of legal plurality, Maimonides in Fez. Chapter Two: The Berber Question Ethnicity. Amazigh rights movement in context of Arab spring, Rise of Berber dynasties (Almoravids, Almohads, Marinids), development of Berber Islam and Berber Judaism, language issues in Morocco, Goulmima carnival, Amazigh cultural movement, Berber Philo-Semitism and Pro-Israel stance today Chapter Three: Sharifism Power and Authority. Rise of the Moroccan State, Sa‘dis and ‘Alawis, Sharifism, Mystical movments (Sufism, zawiyas, and Sabbateanism), arrival and integration of the Sephardim, trade, diplomacy. Chapter Four: Colonialism Culture. Jews and the colonial project, mission civilisatrice, the Alliance Israélite Universelle, protégé system, migration and urbanization, the last mellahs, cultural dislocation Chapter Five: Independence Politics. Anti-colonial movement, communists, the istiqlal party, wifaq, independence, zionism, emigration, Chapter Six: Moroccan Jews and Moroccan Judaism in the Post-Modern Era Time and Space. Jews in the era of Hassan II and Mohammed VI, les années du plomb, Avraham Sarfaty and Sion Assidon, pilgrimage, Peace Movement, Moroccan Jews abroad, Israeli Black Panthers, returnees, representations in novels and films, nostalgia Conclusion
