Nass El Ghiwane’s Moroccan Folk, Radical Politics, Forged in Paris
Paris provided the grit and opportunity for Nass el Ghiwane to hone a new sound that would rock the Magreb and Europe, writes Benjamin Jones.
Amazigh
Reconciling Ouarzazate with Solar Energy in Our Desert Town
As a solar power plant overtakes a Moroccan desert town, reconfiguring its visual and territorial makeup, there are worries it might overshadow its rich cultural history.
The Tate Embraces Morocco with The Casablanca Art School
Sophie Kazan reviews a colorful exhibition that conveys Moroccan history and culture via paintings, ceramics, photographs, 1960s and 1970s film footage, woven textiles and posters.
Disaster and Language—the Disarticulation of Seismic Pain in Tamazight
Brahim El Guabli argues that Morocco's disaster survivors must be able to communicate in their mother tongue.
Translation and Indigeneity—Amazigh Culture from Treason to Revitalization
Brahim El-Guabli identifies how Amazigh activists have engaged with translation to revitalize their threatened language and culture.
Sudden Journeys: Morocco Encore
Jenine Abboushi in her latest travel essay, returns to Morocco for a long-overdue visit.
The Afro-Amazigh World Cup Debate Revisited
A Black and Amazigh Indigenous scholar from Morocco, Brahim El Guabli sees Amazigh identity as embracing "unity based on diversity."
Vocalist Samira Brahmia Bridges France and Algeria with Love
For her 11th TMR music column, Melissa Chemam interviews the Algerian-French diva Samira Brahmia.
Al-Koni’s Tuareg Perspective on Islam’s Conquest of North Africa
Iason Athanasiadis reviews the new Ibrahim al-Koni translation of a story that recounts Islam's conquest of North Africa.
Poetic Justice: 70+ Contemporary Poets of Morocco
Amazigh Moroccan poet El Habib Louai reviews a recent anthology that has warmed the hearts of English-reading Moroccans during the pandemic.
Arabic and Latin, Cosmopolitan Languages of the Premodern Mediterranean and its Hinterlands
Justin Stearns, a scholar of the pre-modern Muslim Middle East, reviews the new book by Karla Mallette on the fascinating history of two of the world's great languages.
My Amazigh Indigeneity (the Bifurcated Roots of a Native Moroccan)
Brahim El Guabli I am Amazigh, Black, and Sahrawi. Amazigh language is my mother tongue. My mother is Black, and my father is Sahrawi. The only picture I own… Continue reading My Amazigh Indigeneity (the Bifurcated Roots of a Native Moroccan)
“Tattoos,” an excerpt from Karima Ahdad’s Amazigh-Moroccan novel “Cactus Girls”
In this excerpt from the Amazigh-Moroccan novel "Cactus Girls" by Karima Ahdad, a fierce small-town girl from the Rif named Sonya remembers what it was like growing up under the spell of heroic women. Like the cactus of the title, Ahdad’s women are survivors in a barren landscape, one filled…