From ʾAlfiyya to Berlitz
Modernising Arabic language pedagogy in protectorate-era Morocco
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5140357 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kristin Gee Hickman (0000-0003-3579-2493, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 839-859 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13629387.2022.2088523 |
| OpenAlex | W4283717197 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
It is often assumed that colonial administrators across North Africa were involved, explicitly or implicitly, in the suppression of fuṣḥā (classical Arabic). This paper adds nuance to such generalisations by examining debates over Arabic language pedagogy during the French protectorate in Morocco. Drawing on official correspondence and internal notes exchanged between the Direction de l’instruction publique (DIP) and local school administrators, this article shows that, far from disregarding Arabic as a school subject, French colonial administrators actively attempted to reform and modernise Arabic language pedagogy by drawing on European pedagogical methodologies and new trends in foreign language teaching. I argue that these overlooked pedagogical reforms radically, if unintentionally, reframed classical Arabic from a divinely privileged language offering unique access to knowledge about the world, to merely one language amongst others, a token of a type, in need of being taught according to the universal rules of language pedagogy. In doing so, I suggest that protectorate-era Arabic classes in DIP-run schools helped lay the foundation for postcolonial debates over Arabisation and the status of Arabic dialects
Arabic · Colonialism · Language education · Linguistics · Modern language · Pedagogy · Political science · Protectorate · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · Law · North African History and Literature · Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |