This paper explores the origins and evolution of contemporary Moroccan national identity, focusing on the legacy of the pre-colonial and colonial periods and the changes that have taken place as a result of social movements before and after the Arab Spring. In Morocco, Islam, Arabism and the Alawi monarchy have been the traditional pillars of the state’s image of a homogeneous and immutable national identity. However, in 2011 the current Constitution recognized Tamazight as a state language alongside Arabic, which was the first official acknowledgement of Timmuzgha (Berberity / Amazigh) identity, a significant step in reconfiguring the ideology of the state
Speaker: Rocio Velasco de Castro
Rocío Velasco de Castro is a lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Extremadura. She has also been a lecturer at the University Abdelmalek Essaadi University of Tetuan, Morocco (2006) and postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at the University of Seville (2001-2005). Rocío holds a PhD in Arabic Philology at the University of Seville in 2011. Her current research interests are historical Spanish-Moroccan relations, with a particular focus on Moroccan Nationalism under colonialism. She is is member of the research group Estudios Árabes Contemporáneos (Contemporary Arab Studies), affiliated with the University of Granada: http://eac.ugr.es/.
