The Ethnographic State: France and the Invention of Moroccan Islam

by Edmund Burke III

Alone among Muslim countries, Morocco is known for its own national form of Islam, "Moroccan Islam." However, this pathbreaking study reveals that Moroccan Islam was actually invented in the early twentieth century by French ethnographers and colonial officers who were influenced by British colonial practices in India. Between 1900 and 1920, these researchers compiled a social inventory of Morocco that in turn led to the emergence of a new object of study, Moroccan Islam, and a new field, Moroccan studies. In the process, they resurrected the monarchy and reinvented Morocco as a modern polity.

This is an important contribution for scholars and readers interested in questions of orientalism and empire, colonialism and modernity, and the invention of traditions.

Genres: Islam, History, Morocco

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Msimone · Rating 5 out of 5]

France's penetration of Algeria ,created chaos in Algeria, by dismantling tribal dominance of social and political order. When France then attempted to establish a protectorate in Morocco in 1912, it pursued a different strategy of recognizing the advantage of using existing ethnographic groups and their local governances to institute policies and reform. This book identifies the various ethnographic groups and their relationships to one another before the protectorate and illlustrates how France strategically used these groups to penetrate Morocco during the protectorate. Although initially, France attempted to follow its failed policies in Algeria, and rely on the political theories of the Ecole Algerienne, France eventually followed a different strategy to achieve penetration; it enacted policies and reforms through traditional channels of governance in Morocco, namely the makhzen, the sultan and Berbers of bled el-siba. Francenot only employed the apparatus of existing channels but also codified traditional symbols of power and authority to represent and solidify its new policies and reforms of Moroccan governance. This book provides an excellent overview of the complexity of Moroccan society, culture and politics.