Fieldwork Of Morocco Summary

Reflections of Fieldwork of Morocco was an enlightening account of an American anthropologist experiences in late 1960s Morocco. While not directly related to the Jewish population and their practices in the country, the book it provided essential background information to better understand the basics as well as the subtleties of Moroccan culture. Understanding the majority culture will definitely be helpful in understand how Moroccan Jews fit into the overall Moroccan experience. Rabinow’s exploration of the north African nation exposed several interesting aspects of Moroccan life, like the legacy of French colonialism, the dual purpose of separation, and dominance and submission in Moroccan interactions.
It wasn’t just the cultural elements

that I found interesting from Reflections but, his reasons for heading to Morocco in the first place. Rabinow’s motivation to go to North Africa was his growing dissatisfaction with academia in the United States. He notes that he “was drawn to the simplistic view that Western culture was one among many, and not the most “interesting one at that.” I appreciate that he uses the word simplistic to describe this point-of-view. It disregards the complexities of non-Western cultures, and whether this feeling that the “West is the Worst” is something that only we experience. This idealization of non Western cultures is very common among westerners. It also raises the question of increasing globalization and whether the incorporation of western aspects into those cultures “poisons” them with our problems. Are they flawless as we would like to believe or are we just naïve to their own unique problems because we aren’t so deeply entrenched in them? As Rabinow encounters the Moroccan culture, he realizes that, as an outsider, he has a whole new set of problems to deal with. I would’ve have appreciated if he met someone around the same age as him to evaluate if the feelings of systemic issues were felt as acutely by the youth in Marrakesh or Sefrou as he felt them in Chicago.
Rabinow speaks of the insulated French communities that were during occupation. It is hard not to ignore the obvious parallels between the French communities and the Jewish mellahs. The stark contrast between the wealth of the French and the relatively impoverished Jews highlights the dual purpose of separating yourself from the rest of population. For the French, separation was to maintain a distance between the those that were considered inferior, and to create a Western, more specifically French, oasis in the literal desert of the North Africa as well from the “desert” of middle eastern culture. The Jews, on the other hand, were looking to be with like minded people; it didn’t come from a place of superiority, but rather was a more natural occurrence. On the surface, the isolation of the French and Jewish communities may seem to come from the same place, but the response of the native Moroccans to the members of each community is the most telling difference. The French who tried to go between the Moroccans and the countrymen were snubbed in a stereotypically “French” fashion. Ali, the barkeep who was one of noveaux vieux Marocains to arrive in the later waves of immigration were trapped into the insular French community and arrive in a country where there was an “active antagonism between the French and the Moroccan communities.” Unlike the French, Jews who incorporated themselves more deeply into the majority society, faced little to no social stigma, and consider their Moroccan-ness as a part of their identity. Another illustrative comparison is what happened after the decline of the French and the current decline of the Jewish population. In class, we are told of the many Muslim caretakers of Jewish community and religious centers, who take the responsibility after the last Jews in their town. While there are people willing to preserve the remnants of Jewish culture in their towns, there’s not really anyone leaping at the chance to preserve the French enclaves. This is further evidenced by the face after the French departure in 1956 from Morocco, many street names were changed to reflect their Middle Eastern origins.
This dislike of the French, I think, stems from the legacy of colonialism that still impacts the Moroccans. The best example from the text is the huge market for tea, which
can take as much of 40 percent of a poor person’s income. This foreign market didn’t exist before the French and now is a very taxing part of Moroccan culture. Another divisive part, is the fact that the French didn’t help all the towns, only the ones that were beneficial to themselves. And the villagers were left with the tough decision to either align themselves with the French or not. If the alliance proved beneficial than that was fine, but making the wrong choice would condemn the town to ruin. This was very divisive and still is a source of contention today, as Rabinow mentions in the brief history of Sidi Lachen. The legacy of French colonialism benefits some towns, condemns other villagers to feeling like they must go to Paris to escape the decline of their village.
While Rabinow was fairly comfortable with the French side of Morocco, due to his fluency in the language, he had a much harder time trying to understand the nuance of Arab Moroccan culture.

As an outsider, he had to deal with his informant preventing to get a “true” sense of the culture. This leads him to blindly trying to find the cultural limits, and unfortunately he didn’t have the luxury of being granted a faux-pas leniency card. When Mittleman went to Morocco, he was allowed to gradually get a feel for the borders of a nebulous cloud of what is appropriate and is not. Instead of being allowed to find the rules himself, the people who he interacted with decided to test his limits. They interpreted his status as Western foreigner as being easily taken advantage of. It’s actually kind of funny how many frustrating and annoying situations he landed in because of the Moroccan practice of testing the peers to find their limits and “ball busting” to establish a hierarchy. Rabinow, as an anthropologist, was caught between maintaining a friendly relationship or telling them that he’s had enough. During one of these incidents, his informant, Malik, asks Rabinow “Wash sekren?—are you drunk?” when Rabinow tells him he wants to be alone(114). This was absolutely baffling to me. As the anthropologist late finds out, Moroccan culture deeply values independence, and self sufficiency, but Malik was so deeply hurt by Rabinows desire for solitude. Not being seen as submissive and dependent is main goal of Moroccan interactions. Its so important that even accepting the generosity to the host is a threat to “their claim of independence.” (49.) Something as simple as giving a gift is loaded with the pressure of establishing dominance. How can a culture that prizes independence asks for so much from someone? And on the same hand how can Malik be hurt by someone asserting their need to be alone? Its interesting to see as foreigner, Rabinow’s actions are received so differently

even if he’s doing something in a vein of a traditional Moroccan.
Landing in the position of the outsider created many uncomfortable situations for Rabinow. While he believed that they were forestalling his progress of getting a complete picture of Moroccan culture and tradition, in reality, they heightened the stark differences between his own culture and theirs. This contrast also gave him insight of the subtler elements of Moroccan culture as well. Even as a stranger, he still was able to understand the dual purposes of French occupation, as well as the role of submission and dominance in Moroccan interactions. To him Morocco, isn’t just a third world country, but a place and a people that is more complex with regions having vastly different experiences. With Rabinow’s fieldwork. we can use his series of informative and uncomfortable situations, to better understand how Moroccan Jews, navigate the nebulous cultural space of between their Jewishness and their Moroccan-ness.