Jewish Morocco

Emily 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.

Introduction

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