Posts Tagged ‘Moroccan writers’

Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan Feminist & Author Dies at Age 75

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015
Fatima Mernissi, Feminist Moroccan Author

Fatima Mernissi, Feminist Moroccan Author

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fatima Mernessi, Muslim Feminist Author and native of Morocco passed away in Rabat on November 30th, 2015. Mernissi was born in Fes, Morocco in 1940 and became known as one of the Arab world’s leading literary authors who challenged the Islamic establishment by focusing on feminist issues along with human rights and democracy. A graduate of the Sorbonne University in Paris, her education was grounded in political science. Later she obtained her doctorate at Brandeis University. Mernissi was a pioneer of her time. She researched and analyzed Islamic thought and the relation of succession to the Prophet Mohammed. As an Islamic feminist her goal was to facilitate ideas and an open discussion about women challenging their traditional roles along with its relation to the West.

Mernissi returned to her native country of Morocco after receiving her doctorate and taught at the Faculté des Lettres on the subjects of sociology and psycosociology. She also worked on sociological research for UNESCO and the ILO. Deep comparisons between the East and West was the topic Fatima Mernissi focused on most. Various interpretations of Islam, the Koran and the deconstruction of Islamic ideology on women permeated her written works.

By questioning Islamic thought she attracted a following of young Muslim women and also Westerners. In 2003 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award which was established by Felipe Prince of Asturias to encourage and promote scientific, cultural and humanistic values that form part of mankind’s universal heritage.

Mernissi’s best known works are Beyond the Veil, The Veil and the Male Elite, A Feminist Interpretation of Islam and Dreams of Tresspass.

“Feminists, women and men alike: we stand on the shoulders of giants like Fatema Mernissi.” – Laila Lalami, Moroccan American Author

Recommended Reading  – Books by Fatima Mernissi:

Beyond the Veil
The Veil and the Male Elite
Dreams of Tresspass
Tales of a Harem Girlhood
Women & Islam
Democracy & IslamSheherazade Goes West
The Forgotten Queens of Islam
Women’s Rebellion & Islamic Memory

 

For more information about Moroccan Books to Read, Authors and Fatima Mernissi 

Morocco’s Imperial CitiesSeaside Resorts,Sahara Desert,Berber villagesA Taste of MoroccoMagical Kasbahs, Ruins & WaterfallsAbsolute Morocco, The Best of MarrakechFes, and Ouarzazate

Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel. We offer Private Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.

Mohammed Choukri, A Post War Moroccan Author

Wednesday, May 6th, 2015
Mohamed Choukri, Tangier

Mohamed Choukri, Tangier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Few Moroccan authors have achieved international recognition beyond the Francophone world because of the lack of translations of their works. The international acclaim of writer Mohammed Choukri and the fact that not only his works, but his remarkable life story, are known beyond the Arabic and French-speaking worlds is largely due to the support he received from globally acclaimed authors Paul Bowles and Tahar Ben Jelloun along with his own, incredible determination.

The man who was to become one of Morocco’s most well-known and controversial writers had inauspicious beginnings. He was born in 1935, in Beni Chiker (also known as Aït Chiker), a small village in Nador province, in the Rif mountains of north east Morocco, near the Algerian border. Life in such remote northern villages at this time – under the Spanish Protectorate (the French governed the area further south) – was harsh. The young Mohammed’s family was desperately poor and his father was a tyrant. Several of his siblings died of hunger, negligence or – in the case of his brother Abdelkader – murder at their father’s hands. The family moved to the cities of Tetouan and Tangier (at that time an International Zone) in search of economic security. Mohammed fled the family aged 11 to make his own life and adopted the name Choukri, a derivation of his home village.

Mohamed Choukri, For Bread Alone

Mohamed Choukri, For Bread Alone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a child, Choukri survived on his wits. Homeless and starving, he took small jobs to get by, but resorted to theft and prostitution to survive. He used drugs and alcohol and mixed with prostitutes, beggars and street dwellers, the existence of whom most wealthy Tangerois preferred not to acknowledge. His meals often came from the garbage – he found the trash of the International Zone far more nourishing than those of his Moroccan neighbors. This grim and desperate period of his life was the inspiration for three autobiographical works, the most well-known of which is his novel, For Bread Alone. The title is a reference to the lengths he had to go to just to get dry, stale bread to eat.

At the age of 20, in an exceptional demonstration of determination and foresight, Choukri took himself off to school. In the year of Moroccan independence from France and Spain, 1956, he left Tangiers for the quieter fishing town of Larache and at 21 began primary school for the first time. He eventually finished his schooling able to write in classical Arabic (which was neither his mother tongue nor the Moroccan dialect used in daily life) and became a school teacher himself.

Back in Tangiers in the swinging 60s, he continued to document his early life, often writing in cafes and bars, where he found himself brushing shoulders with European and American literati and liberals. It was a friendship and collaboration with the US writer, Paul Bowles, which facilitated the publication of For Bread Alone in 1973 in England.
Choukri’s shocking story was out there. Although it drew explicitly on the reality of his life, it was controversial and was condemned by conservative and religious commentators in Morocco. The French translation by Tahar Ben Jelloun, a Moroccan author well-known in his own right, ensured a broader audience on its publication in 1981. Although printed in Arabic in 1982, For Bread Alone was banned in Morocco until 2000. It was as if the educated – those who could actually read his work in a country with high illiteracy – could not accept the reality of poverty in their own, newly, independent country.

Choukri published several full-length works and short stories, often printed in English before Arabic. He was still writing in the late 1990s. He died from cancer in 2003 and was buried in Tangier. In a final recognition of his contribution to Moroccan and Arabic literature, his funeral was attended by the Minister of Culture, numerous government officials, personalities and the spokesman of the King of Morocco.
During his life, Mohammed Choukri claimed that he could not put a false veneer on his work, his writing was “a protest, not a parade.” He wrote in an attempt to expose and to criticize those people and the circumstances that he felt had stolen his childhood and his teenage years. US playwright Tennessee Williams described For Bread Alone as “A true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact”.

Written by Lynn Sheppard 

Lynn Sheppard has lived in Essaouira, on Morocco’s Atlantic Coast for more than 2 years, supporting local non-profits, writing and becoming an expert on all things Swiri (ie. Essaouiran). She blogs at Maroc-phile.com and for other travel industry clients.

For more information about Mohammed Choukri and Tangier

Morocco’s Imperial CitiesSeaside Resorts,Sahara Desert,Berber villagesA Taste of MoroccoMagical Kasbahs, Ruins & WaterfallsAbsolute Morocco, The Best of MarrakechFes, and Ouarzazate

Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel.  We provide Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.