#el maghreb

[qsba]

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[5centsapound]

Malik Nejmi: El Maghreb, Morocco

[feliceintunis]

Fez

I wrote this from my mega train ride between fez and marrakech, but I'm uploading all of my posts late because the tmblr app has been spazzy. Fez was superb, both for my thesis and tourism. I stayed in a nice hostel, where I was lucky to meet awesome people to do things with...because that's always better than traveling alone, but particularly because fes is not the best for a female alone, at least at night. Most things would be day activities there anyway, but it would stop you from having nice evening cafe outings. Luckily, I got in early enough last Saturday after Rabat to have a full day around the city exploring the souks and medina sites before meeting people. Since it's one of the more popular tourist cities, I expected a marrakech-like addition of belly dancing and higher prices. There were some things that were added clearly for tourism, but it's a pretty calm city besides the harassment. The souks are extensive, and the city feels more austere than the others, with less color and more simplicity. It's a more traditionally religious city, so the aesthetics are probably rooted in that, though the central mosque is very beautiful and detailed from what I could see. Luckily my Arabic/faked darija was on the up after some time in rabat, because I was able to get some good deals -- especially from a Berber Jewish a antique dealer who was happy to meet someone with Egyptian Jewish blood. Unfortunately, in that case, a persistent marriage proposal was also part of the deal, so I downed my tea and got out of there pretty quickly instead of talking to him more. Site wise, I also visited the mellah and adjacent quarter with my hostel friends -- standard fare in Moroccan cities, where proximity to the palace meant protection. In the evenings, we mostly hung out in the new city's cafes for hours, (a la Marocaine), especially easy since nobody brings your check until you ask for it. Having moroccan friends in fes would have been nice, but I did get an interesting perspective from the different experiences of all of us in the hostel -- mostly based in gender, of course. I also learned more about Scotland than I ever thought I would, from a Scot pretty negative on his people. When the weekend was over, I got a lot done thesis-wise, but the organizations I went to were not as helpful as a lot of people I met outside of organizations, unlike has been the case in rabat. The time there also helped me narrow and refocus my ideas, though of course that process is far from over!

[5centsapound]

Malik Nejmi : El maghreb (selections from series 1, 2 & 3.)

Arist's Statement:

J’ai le sentiment d’avoir toujours été là, dans la maison familiale. Depuis la France, il aura bien fallu projeter mon amour – mon immigration à moi. J’ai sept ou huit ans, je prends la lumière en attendant le prochain passage pour Tanger. Mon exil est là, dans le cadre d’une fenêtre HLM. Les immeubles du quartier deviennent des bateaux traversant le détroit de Gibraltar. Je ne pense qu’à ça. Aux vacances au pays.

Chez ma tante Fatima, dès que la nuit tombe, je me poste derrière les fenêtres du salon des hommes au premier étage. J’observe les derniers étalages, la proportion symbolique des paraboles dans le ciel, les allées et venues devant le hammam. Les voisins savent que le fils de sîMohamed est revenu, et personne, ni eux ni moi, n’en connaît la raison. Les anciens du café de la rue 50 me lancent des salâm aleïkoum fraternels, “et ton père, que devient-il ?” – auxquels je réponds qu’il ne viendra plus ; je porte en moi son absence, ça ne se voit pas ?