For Bread Alone: How Moroccan Literature Let the Subalterns Speak

Abstract

Morocco is often referred to as a country of paradoxes, as a country unlike the others of the Maghreb. Since the seventeenth century, it has been ruled by the Alaouite dynasty. It is the only country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that was not subjected to Ottoman rule, and it witnessed a shorter period of colonial rule than the rest of the Maghreb, the so-called French and Spanish “protectorate” (1912-56). The uniqueness of the country ranges from the reproduction of cultural authenticity to political stability. Deep social and economic contrasts have often found expression in the duality between baladu-l-makhzan (land of government) and baladu-s-sĭba (land of insolence) (Geertz 1973: 298), contrasts reproduced under French colonial rule in the distinction between “useful” and “useless” Morocco. Politically, the Moroccan nationalist movement was never able to gain control of the anti- and postcolonial struggle as a single political party. Under the hegemony of the monarchy and its network of supporters (the so-called makhzan), political parties could emerge and exist, but always on the premise of extensive pluralism. The Islamist current never became as strong as, for example, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, even if the country’s current prime minister is a member of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD).