Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Research Paper

First Advisor

Charles Eastman

Second Advisor

El Maarouf Moulay Driss

Third Advisor

Taieb Belghazi; Andrea Rehn

Abstract

It is in the small village of Morocco, scattered across the North in the Rif, to the South in the Anti-Atlas Mountains, and in between, where the majority of Morocco’s beloved Amazigh carpets are made. Their power and popularity can be attributed to the indigenous female artists who have been crafting these physical tokens of indigenous memory, protection, and Amazigh identity, for millennia. In an attempt to connect the trade of carpet weaving in Morocco back to these women and their families, this research project will explore not only their narratives, and the social and spatial implications of their craft- a space so commonly marked by patriarchy- but in addition, the following questions: In what ways can/do we interpret the identity of the Amazigh through their carpets in the Western imagination? Is my attempt to understand and interpret this both physical and metaphysical expression of indigenous identity justified or ethical, when we consider the power dynamic that I bring to that space, as a student in the American university system, let alone as a Westerner? To answer these questions, I will examine traditional Islamic sources, specifically Surah 9 in the Qur’an, hadith (the sayings and teachings of Prophet Muhammad) on protection and symbols of evil in Islam, and previous scholarship on the topic of Amazigh art. In reflecting on the research I conducted in the Amazigh village of Tarmilat and the photos I took there and throughout Morocco, I will continue to challenge the hegemonic and (a)historical values embedded in the disciples of anthropology and cultural studies that are the basis of this project, and further decolonize my American study abroad experience.

Comments

WSP Major: Postcolonial Studies

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