Morocco - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

Culture Smart / Cultuur Bewust

by Jillian York

Morocco is a land of spectacular scenery, with a rich history, and heady with tantalizing scents and colorful sights. The call of the muezzin seems to draw people from every corner of the globe. In 1956 Morocco gained independence from French colonial rule and was jolted into the 20th century. Today it is a country in transition—a unique blend of Arab, African, and European ways of life. The teeming cities have an air of sophistication and joie de vivre, but life in rural areas has stayed much the same. And while the cities are highly westernized, tradition and religion still play a vital role in the everyday life of most people. With rapid change came problems. Lack of opportunity and high unemployment resulted in a “brain drain” as educated Moroccans made their way abroad, and a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam started gaining ground among the urban poor. Even so, as technology becomes widespread and the world shrinks further, Morocco today is coming into its own. Culture Smart! Morocco describes the way the country’s past has shaped its present, advising tourists and business travelers on what to expect and how to behave in different situations.

Genres: Travel, Morocco, Nonfiction, Africa, Cultural

168 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2006

About the author

Jillian C. York is a writer whose work has been published in a number of publications, including The New York Times, Motherboard, The Washington Post, Die Zeit, The Conversationalist, and Buzzfeed.

Reviews

[ann z. branchini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good overview. Helpful for first trip to Morocco. Very readable but amount of detail a bit shallow. Left me wanting more. Would be helpful to have a reference for commonly used phrases.

[Alistair · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really excellent little book. This helped us avoid most of the typical tourist blunders and understand a lot more of the daily routine we were seeing as we travelled. Highly recommend this to anyone heading out on the Moroccan roads.

[Jeff Everett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really helped me be prepared for my first trip to Morocco!

[Sheri Fresonke Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful knowledge for travellers visiting Morocco including what to wear, holidays, food types etc.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information is up to date, but it is fairly uninteresting, compared with other books about Morocco. It assumes all puerile are here for business.

[Kamma Wenthin · Rating 4 out of 5]

good overview guide for first time visitors

[William T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reasonably thorough, but more importantly, very readable.

[LaShana Claude]

Jillian C. York is a Berlin-based writer specializing in the intersection of technology and politics. After graduating from Binghamton University with a B.A. in Sociology, she studied and taught in Morocco. Her writing has been published by the New York Times, the Atlantic, Die Zeit, Al Jazeera English, and the Washington Post, among others, and she is the author of Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism, published in 20221. She is currently a project director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Al-Mamlakah
Rabat
Casablanca
37 Million
267,930 sq. miles
446,550 sq. km
Mountain Ranges, including the Atlas Mountains, run NE-SW
Desert-Mediterranean-Middle Atlas-High Mountain
Arabic and Tamazight
90% of Moroccans- Sunni Muslim
Constitutional Monarchy
Moroccan dirham
French and Arabic Newspapers
Electricity- power plugs and sockets are type C and E. The standard voltage is 220V and the standard frequency is 50 Hz
DVD/Video Morocco uses the SECAM system for TV/video, which is also used by France

[Rory Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was a good introduction into Moroccan culture. With that said, it covered the basics, and I wished it went a bit more in-depth into things. Some things in the book didn’t seem to be completely accurate, at least from my experience, but as the author describes Morocco, it’s ever-changing, so I suppose so are our experiences as travelers.

I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain an understanding of the country’s past and how Morocco’s history has affected different generations’ behaviors and norms.

[Steven De Landtsheer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this book preparing for our holliday stay in Marrakech and it has served it's purpose well. It's a small book but it is well structured in chapters and clearly witten. If you are looking for a first introduction to Marocco I can recommend this book.

[Mandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was like reading the "culture" part of a travel guide, if it was expanded by 100 pages. I learned a good overview of Moroccan life from this book, and picked up a couple of tidbits that were useful on our travels. But it wasn't the profound cultural exploration that I was looking for.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad as a basic guide to Moroccan culture. Not as detailed as Culture Shock Morocco, but easier to read.

[iTZKooPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and easy reference.

[Elease · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful introduction to Morocco prior to our vacation. It made me even more excited for our trip!

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide to customs and culture in Morocco!

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overall guide book.

[Mer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic starter book if you're wanting to know about Morocco and especially if you're traveling there for pleasure, retirement, business.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a helpful and informative book on Morocco - it was a good primer for me, having recently moved to Morocco for the time being. Not super in depth but covers a wide variety of topics.

[Linda Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good basic background: history, customs, etiquette--all the basics!