National Narratives and the Invention of Ethnic Identities: Revisiting Cultural Memory and the Decolonized State in Morocco

Abstract

In this chapter, Karrouche focuses on the construction of a national narrative and identity in Morocco from independence onwards until the present day by investigating history textbooks. She explores, in particular, the tension between regional and local identities of Berber populations on the one hand and the Arab and Islamic identity of the Moroccan nation-state on the other. After scrutinizing the effects of French colonialism on the representation of Berber, Arab and Islamic identity, Karrouche analyzes the degree to which the Berbers have been incorporated in national history textbooks, and hence, national identity. In the final part of this chapter, she argues that the Moroccan national narrative has not been fully decolonized.