Home Institution
Bates College
Publication Date
Fall 2021
Abstract
The Moroccan national museum as an institution has a long and complicated history. A product of colonialism, the state has historically used the museum, and the art housed within it, to construct narratives of progress and images of modernization. Doing so is largely at the expense of contemporary artists who have long been neglected by the state and failed by the museum. This paper will communicate how museums, art, and the state intersect in postcolonial Morocco. The paper will examine the inner workings of the Mohammed VI National Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat, attempting to contextualize the space into this larger narrative of state power structures in relation to the arts. The paper, grounded in anthropological theory and ethnographic fieldwork, will convey the lived experiences of people with whom this topic is central to their lives.
Disciplines
African Languages and Societies | African Studies | Fine Arts | Museum Studies | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies | Social and Cultural Anthropology | Sociology of Culture
Recommended Citation
Antonakes, Evan, "Constructed Memories: A Study of how the Arts and the National Museum Operate Within Power Structures and State Interests in Postcolonial Morocco" (2021). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 3420.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/3420
Included in
African Languages and Societies Commons, African Studies Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Museum Studies Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons
Program Name
Morocco: Multiculturalism and Human Rights