Prof. dr. Léon Buskens

1

Minor Culture and Society in M0rocco starting from September 2016

Minor Culture and Society in Morocco; in brief

• A challenging semester in Rabat

• A course on social-scientific research of and in Morocco

• A series of on-site visits

• A course ‘Methods of Qualitative Research’

• A course ‘Research Design’

• Intensive language instruction in Moroccan Arabic, including conversation classes

• An independent field research project during the last part of the term

• The courses are taught by NIMAR faculty and by guest lecturers from Moroccan institutions.

2

Social-scientific research in Morocco

• A series of lectures by scholars based in Morocco

• On various aspects of Moroccan culture and society

• Such as social movements, gender, migration, urbanisation, relations between town and countryside, media

• From different disciplinary angles: sociology, anthropology, history, etc.

• Readings offering a good overview of the current state of knowledge

• Anchored in the tradition of about a century of modern research on Moroccan culture and society

• 5 ec.

3

A series of on-site visits

• Excursions to various sites of cultural interest and to social organisations in the surroundings of Rabat and Casablanca

• The lay-out of modern Moroccan cities

• Finding your way in the inner ‘Islamic’ city

• Casablanca and colonial and post-colonial modernity

• Fellow students and Moroccan universities

• Exploring libraries

• Out into the countryside

• Museums and the culture of memory

• Contemporary art and conspicuous consumption

• Social movements and NGOs

• Practicing fieldwork in Skoura.

4

5

A course ‘Methods of Qualitative Research’

• An initiation into doing independent ethnographic fieldwork

• (Participant) observation

• Conversations and interviews

• Life histories

• Focus groups

• Writing ethnographic reports

• Weekly assignments

• Literature on doing fieldwork in Morocco

• 5 ec.

6

A course ‘Research Design’

• Planning your own research project

• Formulating a research question

• Designing your research: questions and time schedule

• The uses of theories and concepts

• Paper outline

• Fine tuning your project

• Relating to existing knowledge

• Identifying experts.

7

Intensive language instruction in Moroccan Arabic

• Learning to understand and speak Moroccan Arabic

• Handbooks available in English/ Dutch/ German/ French

• Phonetic transcription

• Other languages/ alternatives: Tamazight, Standard Arabic, French, Spanish, English

• 5 ec.

8

Your own fieldwork project

• Individually or in small groups of two to three persons

• Specific well-defined projects

• Under supervision of a lecturer

• Weekly intervision

• Six weeks

• An ethnographic report as term paper

• A combination of original empirical research, study of existing literature, and theoretical framework

• 15 ec.

9

Program overview (provisional)

10

Weeks 1 - 7:

• Social scientific research in Morocco

• Excursions

• Methods and Techniques

• Research Design

• Moroccan Arabic (or an alternative).

Weeks 8- 13:

• Fieldwork

• Weekly reporting and intervison.

December - February

• Writing your term paper.

EC’s:

• Social-scientific research in Morocco, and excursions:

5 EC

• Moroccan Arabic: 5 EC

• Methods and Techniques, and Research design: 5 EC

• Research project and term paper: 15 EC.

Studying and living in Rabat

• Safe studying and living environment

• A pleasant and easy going city with good facilities

• Living with Moroccan families or in your own apartment

• Contacts with Moroccan and international students

• Excellent international connections (airport)

• Excellent national connections.

11

Practical information

• ‘Culture and Society in Morocco’ will start on 5 September

• How to apply: nimar@hum.leidenuniv.nl

• Admission: students with a basic knowledge of the Humanities

or Social Sciences

• What are the costs: participation is free, except for a 100 euro

contribution for cultural activities and excursions

• Living/housing costs: housing approximately 400 euro/month,

living costs approximately 300 euro/month, depending on your

spending habits

12

New housing from September 2016!

• Excellent classrooms

• Facilities for research

• Library

• Access to Leiden digital collections

• Students’ lounge

• Easy to reach.

13

Summarizing

• Challenging program at NIMAR, the national expertise centre for Moroccan Studies

• Learning new skills and languages

• A window on North Africa

• Initiation into ethnographic fieldwork

• Finding your way in a new society

• Studying in a safe, pleasant and relaxed environment.

14

15

See you in Rabat!

• Further information: nimar@hum.leidenuniv.nl

*) pictures Mike Spaans & Jan Hoogland