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Author Archives: Hadeel Abdelhy
Ramadan in Morocco
Ramadan in Morocco has been a very fascinating experience up till now. Suddenly the country comes more to life and becomes much busier. Walking home to the Medina everyday from class, I see men praying in Mohammed V street in front of the mosque because it does not fit enough people, and I am […]
A Talk with Michael McMillan
Michael McMillan, the director of the American Language center in Rabat, recently came to talk to us in class. Michael first started out by asking us if any of us planned on working in the Arab World after graduation and what are our plans to do so. Before listening to his story I had imagined […]
From Duke to Sidi Muhammad Bin Abdullah University
In Fez, our group of students from Duke visited Sidi Muhammad Bin Abdullah University. We met up with the director of the English department and other Moroccan students studying in that department to start a cross-cultural dialogue between life in America and life in Morocco. The discussion started with the Moroccan students introducing themselves, listing […]
Between Sips of Coffee
Cafés dominate life in Morocco. Young men and old men, smoking shisha and taking tiny sips of coffee, all sit by the café and gaze around at passers by from day to night. They probably have been sitting there for hours already. During my time in Fez, it felt like it was impossible to […]
Citizenship and Democracy
Throughout our stay in Morocco, part of our assignments has been to interview Moroccan people about what it means for them to be Moroccan citizens. When interviewing them, I asked them questions to evaluate their level of participation in Moroccan society, and I would evaluate them based on four criteria: Political Life, Community Dimension, Civil […]
The Year of the Elephant
Last week, our class hosted a guest speaker, Leila Abouzeid, who is a Moroccan author who writes in Arabic and is also known as the first female Moroccan author whose works are translated to English. Leila has published many books including a novel called Year of the Elephant, an autobiography called Return to Childhood: […]
Citizenship and the State
I interviewed my host sister, Fatma Zohra, a 23-year-old woman currently studying Midwifery at a private institute in Rabat. I sat down with her one day after Iftar to discuss the issue of citizenship in Morocco and about her participation in the public sphere. Like many Moroccan citizens, she was very critical about […]
On Being a Woman in Morocco
Encountering unwanted attention from men is, unfortunately, a reality for female travelers. We have spent four weeks in Morocco up till now and moved from Fez to Rabat last week. It has been interesting for me to observe the different ways women were treated in public spaces in different places in Morocco. While we […]
Master and Disciple Book Review
In “Master and Disciple,” Abdellah Hammoudi focuses on his native Morocco to explore the ideological and cultural foundations of the persistent authoritarianism. He builds on the work of Foucault to show that at the heart of Moroccan culture lies a paradigm of authority that juxtaposes absolute authority against absolute submission. In his book, he argues that […]
“A House in Fez” Review
In A House In Fez, Suzanna Clarke explains how she and her husband fell in love with a country and purchased, then renovated, a centuries old house in Fez, Morocco. Their “new” home (riad) is over 300 years old and in dire need of renovation before it collapses. They are determined to restore it […]
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