Black Morocco

Black Morocco: A History of Slavery Raceand Islamchronicles theexperiences identity and agency of enslaved black people in Morocco from thesixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. It demonstrates the extent towhich religion orders society but also the extent to which the economic andpolitical conditions influence the religious discourse and the ideology ofenslavement. The interpretation and application of Islam did not guaranteethe freedom and integration of black Moroccan ex-slaves into society.Itstarts with the Islamic legal discourse and racial stereotypesthat existed in Moroccan society leading up to the era of Mawlay Isma''il (r.1672-1727) with a special emphasis on the black army during and after hisreign. The first part of the book provides a narrative relating the legaldiscourse on race concubinage and slavery as well as historical events anddevelopments that are not well known in printed scholarship and westerncontexts. The second part of the book is conceptually ambitious; itprovides the reader with a deeper sense of the historical and sociologicalimplications of the story being told across a long period of time from theseventeenth to the twentieth centuries. Though the strongest element oftheses chapters concerns the black army an important component of the discussion is the role of female slaves. One of the problems thehistorian faces with this kind of analysis is that it must rest on a limitedevidentiary base. This book has broadened this base and clarified theimportance of female slaves in relation to the army and Moroccan society atlarge. The emphasis on the political history of the black army is augmented by a close examination of the continuity of black Moroccan identity through the musical and cultural practices of the Gnawa.. Black Moroccoredefines the terms of the scholarly debateabout the historical nature of Moroccan slavery and proposes an originalanalysis of issues concerning race concubinage and gender with a specialfocus on their theoretical aspects. The Moroccan system of racialdefinition was clearly racialist and was in fact a curious inversion of theWestern racist model. Whereas in the western model one drop of blackblood identifies one as black in the Moroccan model one drop of white bloodidentifies one as Arab (i.e. privileged). This process helped create anationalist Moroccan Arab majority and at the same time subjugated blackancestry (i.e. those without the one drop of Arab blood) seen as havingmore bearing on the historical antecedents of slavery.Black Moroccooffers a newparadigm for the study of race in the region that will transform the way weapproach and understand ethnicity and racial identities in North Africa andmost crucially it helps eliminate the culture of silence -- the refusal toengage in discussions about slavery racial attitudes and gender issues.