Ramadan
mubarak and warm greetings from our team here at Dar Si Hmad!
May and June have been very
busy months with the arrival of several groups of American university students
who came to Agadir to work with Dar Si Hmad's Ethnographic Field School. We have
hosted students, researchers and professors from University of Tampa,
Georgetown University, University of Southern Florida, University of Colorado
Boulder, and Seattle University. (Pictured below are students from the University of Tampa at the Madrasa Ben Youssef in Marrakech.)
While in Morocco, student groups studied
Tashelhit and significant regional topics, including cultural and linguistic
diversity in Morocco, the role of female cooperatives in the region, and –
looking at Dar Si Hmad's Fog Project nets – the impact of water scarcity in
Morocco. Georgetown Center for Contemporary Arab Studies Masters candidate
Fatim-Zohra El Malki, reflects on her experience at Dar Si Hmad:
"The intermingling of cultures has never been
so vivid in my mind than during this past week I spent in Agadir. As a Moroccan
myself, the program at Dar Si Hmad and experiencing life in this predominantly
Amazigh city has opened new horizons. It also brought new perspectives to my
attention, and pushed me to question issues deeply embedded in the social
fabric of Moroccan society. Most importantly, it made me reconsider what it
means to be Moroccan in this culturally and ethnically diverse country. From my
own perspective, being Moroccan has long been linked to being Arab—a heritage
of our nationalist rhetoric—that has marginalized the existence of other
peoples, forcing them to conform to an identity that is not theirs…
Talking to
people and sharing our experiences of the country really opened my eyes to the
very limited understanding I had of the country, one with a core—namely Rabat
and Casablanca—and marginalized peripheries that barely know each other. In
Agadir, I started wondering how people define themselves, and if being Moroccan
came before being Berber. As I delve deeper into Agadir and get to know people
more, these questions continue to grow in my mind and become something I would
like to explore further."
In other news, Dar Si
Hmad is happy to announce that we have been named as recipients of a US State
Department Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) grant for the 2015-2016
grant year! We have received these funds in order to start a new professional
development program for interested university students, technical school
students, and young people in Agadir. We will offer workshops on subjects like
computer literacy and resume building and featuring speaks from different
professional backgrounds to act as mentors. Please like us on Facebook or talk
to Dar Si Hmad staff at the next RISE event for more information!
This month, Dar Si Hmad
has also received significant international press attention for the Fog Project
in Aït Baamrane. France24 and Agence France Press’ articles, which discuss the logistics
and benefits of Dar Si Hmad's fog nets has been translated into numerous
languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, and English and picked up by over
40 media outlets around the world, including Le Monde, Yahoo News, and the Huffington Post! Click here for more information about the Fog Project!
We hope this post finds you thriving wherever you are in the world.
Meredith LaSalle-Taratin (Fulbright Scholar and Dar Si Hmad Volunteer) &
Jade Lansing (Ethnographic Field School Manager)
