{"id":10002,"date":"2020-02-18T09:25:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T09:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highatlasfoundation.org\/?p=10002"},"modified":"2021-02-08T13:59:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T13:59:39","slug":"a-conference-on-race-gender-and-migration-in-the-maghrib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/a-conference-on-race-gender-and-migration-in-the-maghrib\/","title":{"rendered":"A Conference on Race, Gender, and Migration in the Maghrib"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fes, Morocco<\/em><\/p>\n

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The introductory panel consisted of Drs. Myriam Cottias, Catherine Coquery-Vidrovich, Salah Trabelsi, Klara Boyer-Rossol, Suzanne Schwarz and Chouki El Hamel.<\/p>\n

The Center for Maghrib Studies at Arizona State University (CMS)<\/a><\/span> organized a conference on Race, Gender, and Migration in the Maghrib on December 15-17, 2019. The conference was sponsored by L\u2019Unite\u0301 de Recherche Migrations et Socie\u0301te\u0301 (URMIS) and Centre International de Recherches sur les Esclavages et Post-Esclavages (CIRESC, CNRS) and hosted at the Institute for Languages and Cultures (INLAC)<\/a><\/span> in Fez. It welcomed twenty-seven presenting scholars from around Africa, Europe, and North America and honored leading Africanist scholar, Catherine Coquery-Vidrovich.<\/p>\n

According to CMS Founding Director and lead conference organizer, Dr. Chouki El Hamel, the conference \u201cinvite[d] scholars to focus attention on the ways migrations based on race and gender have hybridized the Maghrib from the distant past to the present, including issues related to recent trans-Saharan migration bound for Morocco and the European Union.\u201d It \u201cintende[d]\u00a0 to foster debate on race, gender, and migration to raise awareness about inclusion and historical injustices.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Keynote speaker and honored guest Catherine Coquery-Vidrovich<\/p>\n

Welcoming addresses were given by Dr. El Hamel as well as Dr. Moha Ennaji and Dr. Fatima Sadiqi, co-founders of INLAC. Dr. Ennaji welcomed participants to the INLAC space, a Center for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Fez which has served nearly 600 study abroad students since its inception. Dr. El Hamel, a history professor in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University focused on West and Northwest Africa, thanked all in attendance for joining the inaugural conference organized by CMS. He celebrated the fact that over 80 paper abstracts had been submitted for consideration, of which an impressive gender-equitable participant pool had been selected to present their research in Fez.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Chouki El Hamel, Founding Director of the Center for Maghreb Studies at Arizona State University and conference organizer<\/p>\n

The introductory panel focused on the history and implications of slavery. Spotlight was on a unique four-part documentary series titled Les Routes de l\u2019Esclavage (Slavery Routes<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/a><\/span> which was \u201cmade by Fanny Glissant, Juan G\u00e9las and Daniel Cattier and produced by the French company \u201cCompagnie des Phares et Balises\u201d for the European channel ARTE and broadcasted in May 2018.\u201d Dr. El Hamel, who contributed to the making of the series, describes the films as \u201chistorical documentaries on the slave trades (from Africa) and the slaveries (of Africans),\u201d emphasizing that such film projects are \u201crare.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the series aired on Al Jazeera English in August 2018, the first part of Slavery Routes<\/em>, \u201c476-1375: Beyond the Desert,\u201d which \u201cdescribes the role of the Arab-Islamic empire in the African slave trade,\u201d according to Dr. El Hamel, was skipped altogether. It\u2019s since been deduced that Al Jazeera likely \u201cintentionally excluded it\u201d because of its specific focus on slavery in Islamic societies. For this reason, it was no small feat that a French-language version of the same episode was screened and discussed on the first day of the CMS conference which took place in Morocco, itself an Islamic society.<\/p>\n

Other works discussed by the initial panel are \u00catre Esclave<\/em><\/a> (<\/a>To Be a Slave<\/em><\/a>)<\/a><\/span> and an accompanying book to the documentary series Les Routes de l\u2019Esclavage <\/em><\/a>(<\/a>Slavery Routes<\/em><\/a>)<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Stanlie James chairs a panel on Gender & Sexuality consisting of presentations by Drs. Shadee Abdi, Fatima Sadiqi, and Zaynab El Bernoussi, and Ph.D. candidate Malika Azaoum<\/p>\n

The conference, of intimate size and scope, presented eight other panels composed of a diversity of research over the course of the following two days. Panels focused broadly on Race and Immigration Policy in the Maghrib<\/em>, Maghribi-European History<\/em>, Trans-Saharan Migrations<\/em>, Film and Literature: Immigration in 21st Century Pop Culture<\/em>, Gender and Sexuality<\/em>, and Identities<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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A panel on Race and Immigration Policy in the Maghrib chaired by Dr. Marie-Pierre Ballarin consisted of Dr. Nora El Qadim, Ph.D. Candidate Hassan Ould Moctar, and HAF Project Manager Katie Bercegeay<\/p>\n

High Atlas Foundation Program Manager Katie Bercegeay presented on the start-up legal aid program currently being implemented in partnership with the law faculty at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Fez and with partial focus on migration. Several papers presented by other panelists, such as the following, formed a basis for as to why HAF and USMBA are pursuing such a legal clinic:<\/p>\n