SO - Sociology
Morocco: Changes and Cultural Identity The course examines the major social, cultural, intellectual, and human rights transformations in Morocco over the last four decades, stressing the undergoing tensions between the secular liberals and conservatives (especially Islamists) across gender, religion, language, and sexual politics all within a context of democratization. It also explores changing identities and the complexity of Moroccan cultural politics. It is based on a balanced combination of the exploration of major academic scholarship from a comparative new academic outlooks and multi-disciplinary perspectives, along with an insight into the lives and experiences of Moroccans. Above all, it traces the blended trajectories and trends in Moroccan society and culture, stressing the pressuring challenges to Moroccan national identities posed by globalization, attempts at democratization, secularism, conservatism, and fundamentalism. This course is also designed to understand male-female dynamics, sexual politics, youth culture, and ethnicities in literature, philosophy, anthropology, popular culture, politics, religion, human rights, and sociology.
This course explores different issues related to migration in the Moroccan context and enable students to develop a critical perspective of contemporary mobility. In order to engage intellectually with the topic, students will first be introduced to the context of migration in Morocco (including the legal framework of Moroccan migration policy) in addition to the main concepts of the course: mobility, transnationalism, identity, integration, and human rights. Based on contemporary research conducted in Morocco and abroad, the second part of the course will initially address Moroccan migration (by focusing on internal and circular migration and on gender issues); subsequently « Westerners' » migration (with a particular focus on lifestyle and family migration); and lastly Sub-Saharan migration (by raising issues related to social perceptions, borders and humans rights). In addition to a conceptual and ethnographical understanding, the course will offer students the possibility to relate to the subjects on a more personal level through practical activities: group discussions, meetings with migrants and activists, documentaries, and a visit to an association that works with immigrants among other activities. Finally, students will have the opportunity to work on, and to present a research project related to migration to/from Morocco.