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Kenyon College

Publication Date

Spring 2016

Program Name

Morocco: Migration and Transnational Identity

Abstract

Small-scale family farms in the Eastern Rif have undergone challenge after challenge throughout the 20th century, including war, poverty, restrictions of natural resources, overpopulation, and extensive labor migration. This paper aims to examine the ways in which narratives of migration manifest in the daily lives of a family living in the plain of Al-Hoceima. I hold the belief that the ways in which large-scale processes manifest in our daily lives is indicative of how these processes affect our identity. This research comprises a case-study with the Khalid family of SidiBouafif, and aims to examine the ways in which media, ideologies, and materials from abroad are contextualized within everyday life on this small-scale family run farm. In addition, the research will look at the ways in which larger agricultural operations are privileged by the Moroccan government, and how institutionalized policies of the state contribute to the marginalization of famers living in SidiBouafif. The paper concludes that narratives of migration are extremely prevalent within the Khalid family, and moreover, these narratives are in large part positive. Europe and America are conceived as places of greater opportunity and wealth, and are often used as the standard to which their own lives are compared to. Despite a gravitation toward Europe and America, the Khalid family remains extremely proud of both their Amazigh identity, and their ability to provide for themselves regardless of pressures imposed upon them by the Moroccan State.

Disciplines

Family, Life Course, and Society | Inequality and Stratification | Near and Middle Eastern Studies | Other Anthropology | Place and Environment | Politics and Social Change | Social and Cultural Anthropology

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