The mosques-based literacy campaign in Morocco: A socio-cultural perspective

Abstract

The present article offers a discussion of the national literacy campaign in Morocco which has been in effect since 2000. I drew on New Literacy Studies (NLS) to offer insights into the large-scale state-endorsed mosque-based literacy programme as a major channel of adult literacy. The aim is to highlight the geopolitical climate, which has given impetus to state policy makers to undertake religious reformation and to the royal initiative to use mosques as sites for the eradication of adult illiteracy. More specifically, I argue that due to strong political will, mosques have overshadowed ‘literacy sponsors’ as evidenced by the sharp increase in the number of enrolees in mosque-based literacy classes and the number of mosques used for this purpose. Viewed in a socio-cultural perspective, the mosque is increasingly being used not simply as a ‘neutral’ site for the instruction of literacy and the teaching of ‘ideology-free’ adult literacy skills to the predominantly female participants but, rather more importantly, as a site for the promotion of a moderate view of Islam and the inculcation of ‘balanced’ ideological beliefs and values and a platform where every effort is invested to preserve the ‘spiritual security’ of the nation.