Spirits of displacement

Abstract

This article analyzes the interplay between religion and urban transformations by focusing on the Moroccan Gnawa, a spiritual network of working-class musicians and ritual operators based in the old centers (the medinas) of most Moroccan cities, and on the gentrification in the center of Casablanca, Morocco’s economic capital. Displacement and gentrification disrupt the relation with urban spaces, which is a crucial, though understudied, feature of the Gnawa brotherhood, and thus entails deep changes to their economic, social, and ritual life. Urban transformations in Casablanca mobilize religious discourses and symbols, while restricting access to spaces that allow vernacular ritual practice. Religion, however, may also provide a language to react, at least symbolically, to urban transformations.