Two days of enlightening lectures and panel discussions with Moroccan college students at the Ecole de Gouvernance et d’Economie has sparked a series of questions in relation both to my research and to the culture I am surrounded in.
The most effective way I know how to concisely capture the extensiveness of topics that were covered by experts who have immersed themselves completely to sponge up this country is to do mini-graphs of each one. (Note: I could write entire research proposals with the information we received, but due to anyone’s attention span, I will attempt to narrow them to one point then list questions that I had)
These lectures were a key to unlock the Western filter I was seeing everything through. Each topic and discussion provided both confidence and awareness to better understand and analyze the paradigms of this cultural clash occurring in my mind.
Though it was an intense way to cure jet lag, the lecture series was the only way to effectively drop such young minds into a world so out of the realm of our own.
***
“US Efforts to Build Partnerships in the Muslim World in Science, Technology, and Innovation”
Dr. William Lawrence, Director, North Africa Project, International Crisis Group
The takeaways from Dr. Lawrence’s presentation cannot be pinned down to one label of topic. Due to his consistent career changes, Lawrence pulled from his experiences in a mosaic of positions and levels in society in which he studied and worked.
This was a refreshing way to start, since it reflected a theme of our 21st Century Studies, which is the constant flow of information and connections from various platforms that find link-nodes through this network of efforts and communication.
His concluding point was to solve global issues by identifying local problems then attacking them with a localized approach. The second aspect of his theory was in relation to the Arab Spring, a revolutionary generation of young educated people who need jobs but have no channel for their skills in North Africa and the Middle East.
This was a link, I thought, to what our generation in America should consider. So many graduating college students can’t obtain jobs, which leads to an influx of graduate school applications or a career beginning with nothing but a series of internships after internships.
A solution is to encourage them to focus their energy and skills toward issues in their locale then to start or join NGOs to troubleshoot the problems. There must be a determination to understand ones own community and a mindset that a specialized project is a progressive ripple on the global scale. Bottom line-mobilize the educated youth to solve developing problems and provide for them opportunities to experiment.
Questions
-How was the project to build a virtual library of scientific journals in Iraq in a time of crisis an effective way to solve the conflict?
-What is the significance of starting with an umbrella goal for research or activism then narrowing down to a magnified or focused project to reach that goal?
-What is the opinion in North Africa of the U.S.’s involvement in other countries’ development?
-How could the self-created career of aspiring young innovators in the U.S. aid the young people in Morocco trying to do the same thing?
“The Arab Spring”
Dr. Stuart Schaar, Professor Emeritus, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Dr. Schaar had such an extensive personal knowledge of the Arab Spring that he started off his lecture titled “The Arab Spring” with the statement that he does not accept or use that title for the movement. His presence was intimidating and instant hook.
The main point that I pulled from his lecture was one that was woven into following ones.
He said that change in any society could only happen if there is a transformation in consciousness. An entire society altering their way of thinking, especially a traditional one such as Morocco, cannot make a switch over-night. This observation triggered in my mind the desire to look for the channels in which this conscience change can begin.
Though this societal transformation seems impossible, I wonder how much journalists could play a role in making it happen faster.
In Morocco in particular, I believe the media is influential, because as I noticed and Schaar confirmed, the reason there is a grass-garden of cable satellites at the top of every building including shacks in the shanty neighborhoods, is because they are a population tapped into what is happening in other places as well as around them.
A fact to put into perspective of poverty of these network-oriented people is 40% of Moroccans live on less than $2 a day. Yet, they are wired into the messages.
Questions
-How influential are the local journalists and who has been the most influential one?
-With the increasing power and rapidly changing digital age, is online media the answer to reach the most people such as those even at the bottom of social society in Morocco?
“Civil Society in Morocco”
Rachid Touhtouh, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics
With my research focused on a peace journalist’s network within NGOs, Touhtouh’s typography of the associations of Morocco and their efforts to sustain the civil society was insightful.
One interesting point he said was that NGOs are able to receive international funding better than political parties.
The money mostly goes to their projects instead of into the pockets of the staff, so the outside investments are actually funneled into local projects with applause from the global standpoint.
The Moroccan associations do not have precedence or influence within the government, however, so their power relies in their ability to attract more volunteers to increase the possibility of their cause gaining recognition.
Since this lecture did not allow time for questions, I was left with many in regards to how much these organizations collaborate and how do they gain more attention for their events and missions.
Questions
-How can the societal group jemaia turn into a mother NGO in society?
-How do they organize, attract and manage their network? How do they gain attention for their cause?
-Do journalists tap into NGO events even though they are not considered important by the government?
-Do the associations ever collaborate?
“Feminism in Islam”
Dr. Johanna Buisson, Associate Professor, Center for Mediterranean and African Studies, EGE
**Includes discussion of film 475
This was an emotional and rousing amount of information that was unveiled in a personal and striking way with the film viewing. To be honest, it will just need to be covered in a separate post when I have a more organized way to approach the subject.
The gender dynamics of Morocco have been one of the most shocking cultural aspects that remain at the forefront of my thoughts when I walk through the city of Rabat. To be continued at some point…
“Reconciliation and Challenges of Democratization in Morocco”
Abdelhay Moudden, Consultative Council on Human Rights
“If you were the king of Morocco, how would you ensure that you do not become the end of the monarch’s line?”
This was a launch for the interactive lecture led by Moudden who explained the signs of a growing democratic culture in Morocco and the challenges in the country’s politics that prevent this political transformation to occur.
His overall argument was to consider how the monarch could share power with the pluralists party system in Morocco with an altered constitution and push toward a democratic system. Is it possible? If yes, how long would it take for a recently independent traditionalist country to learn how to engage in societal discourse to make democracy most effective?
With this in mind, Moudden provided a helpful political approach to alter the idea of right versus left. Instead, he proposed, it is a separation of conservatives versus progressives.
I attached to this theory most, because this is a key mindset with the emerging century challenging many populations to choose whether to fundamentalize and revive traditional values or to view the present as a negative inherited situation that must be harnessed with activism to change and improve for the future.
It’s an appropriate framework to work within when classifying mindsets of people in cultural and personal political identity.
Questions
-The media acts as the fourth estate of government in America. What is its role in Morocco in relation to the monarch and parliament?
-Does the Rabat population realize that the debate over the international festival is a democratic experimentation?
The most effective way I know how to concisely capture the extensiveness of topics that were covered by experts who have immersed themselves completely to sponge up this country is to do mini-graphs of each one. (Note: I could write entire research proposals with the information we received, but due to anyone’s attention span, I will attempt to narrow them to one point then list questions that I had)
These lectures were a key to unlock the Western filter I was seeing everything through. Each topic and discussion provided both confidence and awareness to better understand and analyze the paradigms of this cultural clash occurring in my mind.
Though it was an intense way to cure jet lag, the lecture series was the only way to effectively drop such young minds into a world so out of the realm of our own.
***
“US Efforts to Build Partnerships in the Muslim World in Science, Technology, and Innovation”
Dr. William Lawrence, Director, North Africa Project, International Crisis Group
The takeaways from Dr. Lawrence’s presentation cannot be pinned down to one label of topic. Due to his consistent career changes, Lawrence pulled from his experiences in a mosaic of positions and levels in society in which he studied and worked.
This was a refreshing way to start, since it reflected a theme of our 21st Century Studies, which is the constant flow of information and connections from various platforms that find link-nodes through this network of efforts and communication.
His concluding point was to solve global issues by identifying local problems then attacking them with a localized approach. The second aspect of his theory was in relation to the Arab Spring, a revolutionary generation of young educated people who need jobs but have no channel for their skills in North Africa and the Middle East.
This was a link, I thought, to what our generation in America should consider. So many graduating college students can’t obtain jobs, which leads to an influx of graduate school applications or a career beginning with nothing but a series of internships after internships.
A solution is to encourage them to focus their energy and skills toward issues in their locale then to start or join NGOs to troubleshoot the problems. There must be a determination to understand ones own community and a mindset that a specialized project is a progressive ripple on the global scale. Bottom line-mobilize the educated youth to solve developing problems and provide for them opportunities to experiment.
Questions
-How was the project to build a virtual library of scientific journals in Iraq in a time of crisis an effective way to solve the conflict?
-What is the significance of starting with an umbrella goal for research or activism then narrowing down to a magnified or focused project to reach that goal?
-What is the opinion in North Africa of the U.S.’s involvement in other countries’ development?
-How could the self-created career of aspiring young innovators in the U.S. aid the young people in Morocco trying to do the same thing?
“The Arab Spring”
Dr. Stuart Schaar, Professor Emeritus, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Dr. Schaar had such an extensive personal knowledge of the Arab Spring that he started off his lecture titled “The Arab Spring” with the statement that he does not accept or use that title for the movement. His presence was intimidating and instant hook.
The main point that I pulled from his lecture was one that was woven into following ones.
He said that change in any society could only happen if there is a transformation in consciousness. An entire society altering their way of thinking, especially a traditional one such as Morocco, cannot make a switch over-night. This observation triggered in my mind the desire to look for the channels in which this conscience change can begin.
Though this societal transformation seems impossible, I wonder how much journalists could play a role in making it happen faster.
In Morocco in particular, I believe the media is influential, because as I noticed and Schaar confirmed, the reason there is a grass-garden of cable satellites at the top of every building including shacks in the shanty neighborhoods, is because they are a population tapped into what is happening in other places as well as around them.
A fact to put into perspective of poverty of these network-oriented people is 40% of Moroccans live on less than $2 a day. Yet, they are wired into the messages.
Questions
-How influential are the local journalists and who has been the most influential one?
-With the increasing power and rapidly changing digital age, is online media the answer to reach the most people such as those even at the bottom of social society in Morocco?
“Civil Society in Morocco”
Rachid Touhtouh, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics
With my research focused on a peace journalist’s network within NGOs, Touhtouh’s typography of the associations of Morocco and their efforts to sustain the civil society was insightful.
One interesting point he said was that NGOs are able to receive international funding better than political parties.
The money mostly goes to their projects instead of into the pockets of the staff, so the outside investments are actually funneled into local projects with applause from the global standpoint.
The Moroccan associations do not have precedence or influence within the government, however, so their power relies in their ability to attract more volunteers to increase the possibility of their cause gaining recognition.
Since this lecture did not allow time for questions, I was left with many in regards to how much these organizations collaborate and how do they gain more attention for their events and missions.
Questions
-How can the societal group jemaia turn into a mother NGO in society?
-How do they organize, attract and manage their network? How do they gain attention for their cause?
-Do journalists tap into NGO events even though they are not considered important by the government?
-Do the associations ever collaborate?
“Feminism in Islam”
Dr. Johanna Buisson, Associate Professor, Center for Mediterranean and African Studies, EGE
**Includes discussion of film 475
This was an emotional and rousing amount of information that was unveiled in a personal and striking way with the film viewing. To be honest, it will just need to be covered in a separate post when I have a more organized way to approach the subject.
The gender dynamics of Morocco have been one of the most shocking cultural aspects that remain at the forefront of my thoughts when I walk through the city of Rabat. To be continued at some point…
“Reconciliation and Challenges of Democratization in Morocco”
Abdelhay Moudden, Consultative Council on Human Rights
“If you were the king of Morocco, how would you ensure that you do not become the end of the monarch’s line?”
This was a launch for the interactive lecture led by Moudden who explained the signs of a growing democratic culture in Morocco and the challenges in the country’s politics that prevent this political transformation to occur.
His overall argument was to consider how the monarch could share power with the pluralists party system in Morocco with an altered constitution and push toward a democratic system. Is it possible? If yes, how long would it take for a recently independent traditionalist country to learn how to engage in societal discourse to make democracy most effective?
With this in mind, Moudden provided a helpful political approach to alter the idea of right versus left. Instead, he proposed, it is a separation of conservatives versus progressives.
I attached to this theory most, because this is a key mindset with the emerging century challenging many populations to choose whether to fundamentalize and revive traditional values or to view the present as a negative inherited situation that must be harnessed with activism to change and improve for the future.
It’s an appropriate framework to work within when classifying mindsets of people in cultural and personal political identity.
Questions
-The media acts as the fourth estate of government in America. What is its role in Morocco in relation to the monarch and parliament?
-Does the Rabat population realize that the debate over the international festival is a democratic experimentation?
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