Enter Task

Faculty:

Study area:

Subject:

Section:

Type:

Curriculum:

Sequence:

Title:

Wording:

Time:

hours

Introduction:

Morocco is situated in the periphery of Europe and its history has since the time of 
the Roman Empire been strongly linked to the history of Europe. Into this context 
we have the Arabian, Islamic take over from the 8 th century. For several hundreds of 
years the Islamic Moors from Morocco reigned the southern Spain, until they were 
defeated by Spanish kings. The European influence had again a decisive influence 
when France in the 19 th century made Morocco a French colony until the 
independency in the 1950ies. 
 
This has placed Morocco on a cross road for nations, cultures and ethnic and lingual 
differences. Today the population mainly consists of the original Berbers, the 
successors of the Arabic invading tribes and successors of the Moors from Spain. 
The used languages are Moroccan Arabic, Berber, French and maybe a little 
Spanish. This shows the diversity. 
 
The capitalistic, industrial world has developed in Europe and has created the 
fundament for our concept of the modern world. Being a part of first a vast and 
politically weak Islamic Caliphate and then a European colonial rule, Morocco was 
not part of shaping this modernity, but was placed in a struggle of survival and 
preserving the culture as it was, not to give in to the different foreigners. A struggle 
for political survival is often fuelled by mobilizing the cultural heritage and the 
traditional identity as a weapon against influences and invasive attempts from 
outside. Maybe traditional habits and ways of thinking have a tendency to have more 
importance in a situation like this. It can only be a guess to imagine what the 
development would have been if the fundament for this would be more national 
based. 
 
Morocco has been political independent for almost 50 years, and there has been 
some political and economical development. In the recent years Islam, which is the 
religious and cultural fundament in Morocco, has been under pressure from the 
modern world in the shape of the western countries and cultures. 
This investigation is about finding out how the Moroccans act and react in this 
situation of an increasing pressure from what we call modernity towards their 
traditional culture and reference point. 
 
What impact does the political, social and economical reality originating from the 
western countries have on a poor, former colony with an Islamic based culture? 
To get a relevant picture it is important to meet the different realities and groups of 
people in Morocco. There is a big cultural and socio-economic diversity in the 
country, and the different groups have probably different opinions. The future and 
the outcome of this balance between the modern reality and the traditional culture 
will be decided from the discussions and conflicts, between the different groups. 
We come from a western reality. How do we look upon this? What development 
would we prefer? Can/shall we as westerns do something in this respect? Or is it up 
to the modern and traditional Moroccans to decide?

Directive:

Your investigation will consist of different elements: 
You will search for background data about the traditional culture in Morocco and the 
main foreign influences in general. 
You will interview people from different groups in the society. 
You will interview the authorities on the local and/or national level, and relevant 
NGO`s about the developments in and the future of Morocco. 
Use the elements from the introduction as an inspiration or a guide line for your 
interviews. 
 
Remember that the qualities and relevance of the answers are depending of the 
quality of the questions and the attitude of the ones who are asking. 
 
1. Setting the stage
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">- Make a short survey of what are the main areas of conflict in Morocco regarding 
modern (western) influences and the traditional cultures.</div>
 
2. Planning
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">- Make a plan and a script for your investigation and for your interviews according to 
your preliminary survey.</div>
 
3. Background data: The importance of the question
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">- What are the main influences from the colonial time under French rule? 
- What recent developments/movements have been within the Islamic world in the 
country? 
- Are there specific active movements based on traditional, Islamic culture? 
- Is there a specific official strategy for the future of Morocco concerning the 
question?</div>
 
4. Interviews: What do people have of opinions, doubts and discussions about the 
future.
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">- Make at least five interviews with people in different societal positions to identify 
the discussion going on about the direction for Morocco balancing between 
modernity and traditional culture. 
- Interview representatives from NGO&acute;s working with political and social questions 
regarding development and education of people. 
- What impact do they have, and how do they imagine the future of Morocco and the 
Moroccans. 
- Among the topics could be gender equality, the importance of education, democracy 
- Establish your own opinion upon the impact of the different opinions.</div>
 
5. Interviews: The opinions of the authorities
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">- What is the official governmental strategy and policy for the future of Morocco and 
to question of changes in the traditional culture and especially in the rural areas? 
- What are the attitudes and opinions seen from an Islamic perspective? 
- How does the 
local Imam look upon what happens, and what will likely be the future?</div>
 
6. Make a report on 8 pages about the questions, the results and your conclusions 
about your investigation in migration. 
 
7. Prepare and have a presentation for your team

Preview:

Files:

Requirement:

No.

Title

Type

Edit

Delete

Examination:

Language:

Search words:

Status:

Vouching: