Moulay Driss El Maarouf
Biographic Data
| ID | 183566 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Moulay Driss El Maarouf |
| GIVEN NAMES | Moulay Driss |
| FAMILY NAME | El Maarouf |
| SIGNATURE | EL MAAROUF M D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7956-8218 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Spectacular and Spectral Monstrosity: Morocco’s Political Field from the Years of Lead to the Present
This article examines how monstrosity operates as a cultural and political logic in Morocco from the Years of Lead to the present. It reads vernacular figures and media practices, including Boukhansha, Mama Lghoula, abduction rumours, meme ecologies and hip-hop, as an archive of everyday knowledge that encodes threat, authority and the limits of speakability before these limits are encountered in formal institutions. The article then situates the…
Platformized Prophecies of the End: Eschatological Circulation in Postdigital Media
Ecologies of tafaha: Platform attention, state steering, and public quality in Morocco
This article maps Morocco’s passage from early networked mobilizations to a platformized attention regime in which tafaha – mediocrity as high-arousal, low-verification participation – becomes normalized by metric incentives and opportunistic state steering. To bring this idea home, we (1) conceptualize tafaha as an ecology rather than a taste judgment, (2) introduce the internetary as a praxis for understanding publics routed through platforms r…
Geographies of Despair and Possibility in Rural Cinema: Sacred Space in Jamaa (2010) Between Representation, Rural Sovereignty, Religious Decay, and the Politics of Legal Exception
This article discusses spatial configuration as a domain where legal exception is enacted in a Moroccan rural locality governed by the transformative influence of sacred representation. It examines the film Jamaa by Daoud Aoulad-Syad employing the concept of simulacrum sacrum (sacred representation) and drawing from theoretical frameworks of sovereignty and necropolitics. Sacred representation of space causes a state of exception and subjugation …
Routini Al Yawmi: Exploring taboo, risk, and the erotic gaze across Moroccan (non)digital landscapes
This paper dwells into the sensitive topic of eroticism and sexuality within Islam, with a specific focus on contemporary Morocco. It explores the challenges faced by Muslims in openly discussing these subjects due to cultural sensitivity. The study investigates the impact of eroticism on Moroccan society, considering encounters with the West, media influence, cinematic and technological interactions, and responses to global risks. The analysis i…
Al-kamahiyatiya (Asitism): The politics of waiting and not waiting for change
Torn between desire and hope, patience and impatience, those waiting for change in Morocco have, since independence, been articulating their rejection of the way the queues of dignity and social justice are getting intolerably static and crowded. This articleFootnote1 reasons with cultural and socio-political gradations of waiting in the Muslim and Moroccan tradition to discuss how the dynamics of waiting and not waiting reflect the poor people's…
Shikhat, Nashat and (Un)serious Theory
In nashat -loaded circles, the shikha , claiming the center of her pedestal, asks the question: ‘ al-hlawa fin kayna? ’ (sweetness, where is it?). She pauses tantalizingly and looks around, but no one offers an answer. She inquires again with a smile. As she proceeds, what seems like mere initiation into eroticism and sensuality becomes a deeply philosophical pursuit of the rather far-flung meanings of the female and her body. While the shikha is…
Treasure Hunting in Morocco and the Rise of the Echonomy
This paper exposes extant but obscured treasure-hunting activities in Morocco which consist of unlawful, risky, and unproductive digging operations. The paper focuses on a community of kanaza (treasure hunters) which shies away from the normal practices of money-making to capitalize on an “echo economy” (echonomy) that relies on orality and hearing (success stories/information about hidden treasure from past civilizations). It is a community of s…
‘Go! You are Free!’: Rentier politics and the gift logic of the royal pardon in Morocco
This paper discusses royal pardons and other patronal graces in Morocco as forms of gifting that borrow their logic from Islamic teachings, and protocols binding ar-rā’I (ruler) and ar-ri’āya (subjects). The moment they begin to engage mixed feelings and analyses from politicians, activists, academics, and the general public they give rise to stormy debates, with as of yet unsettled disputes in the thick of social and political tensions in Morocc…
Covid – 19: A Critical Ontology of the present 1
COVID-19 has crowned1 a number of other disasters (wildfires in Australia, Desert Locusts in Kenya, an imminent WWIII merging Iran and the US), causing panic to click into place and horror to become our global predicament, making us realize that we live in the illusion of the permanence of things, of mastery, and of immortality. People's turning to social media for trans-local news on COVID-19 has stirred great ire in the world. This led to the p…
City as Canvas: Street Art(ists), Walls and the City between State Patronage and Artistic Transformation
The city reflects a politics of possession, upon which pieces of land ultimately get encircled by walls for exploitation. Walls—the entities that frame up the city—are territory ma(r)kers, yet this architectural gesture, far from being innocent, symbolizes a lurking desire at owning territories in the ma(r)king. This paper brings this idea home by examining the other meanings of the wall in contemporary Morocco, by closely studying the poetics an…
The urban and virtual rhetoric of tcharmil: Display, Violence and Resistance
Three years after the “Arab Springs”, “operation tcharmil” resembles a postrevolutionary suspense, a police enigma where the culprits are known and the crime has yet to be discovered’ (Florence Aubenas, Le Monde, 4 August, 2014) This paper revolves around Tcharmil, whose spatial and structural manifestations (i.e. in urban and internet spaces) signal a paradigmatic shift in the existing simple and straightforward meanings of youth violence. It re…
Waste's dominion: The Gymnastics of Value in Informal Markets
This paper examines sites of informal trade in Morocco, what the locals call joutiat (sing. joutia). It departs from the semantic and real-world politics of disposability (of objects and people), to unravel the underlying meanings of the joutia as a contested space. The joutia is a place where not only objects of value wait to be rediscovered, but also where invisible and socially underprivileged beings perpetually ransack heaps of trade articles…
Po(o)pular culture: Measuring the 'shit' in Moroccan music festivals
Marginalized groups and individuals in Morocco are subject to modes of representation, in which the images and symbols of dirt used to describe/treat them as bouzebal (Bouzebal is derived from the Standard Arabic word ‘Azbal’ (trash) and the darija term ‘zbal’ (also trash). Azbal is a plural word for zibala. It is usually used to refer to literal waste and things that are no longer needed. Zbal is polysemic in that it can also be employed to indi…
The aesthetic and practical fields of excrementality ofL'boulevardfestival
The revolutionary aspect of performance is given ample room in this article. “Conflict” deserves a renewed importance, because it places the term “transgression” in relation to festivals as sites for the embodiment of social struggles. We will hone in on L’boulevard festival, which not only participates in a dialogue with social conflicts, but also epitomises them through an ambivalent theatricality that merges the real with the unreal. As festiv…
Nomadictates: Staging Roots and Routes in The Essaouira Gnawa Festival
The aim of this paper is to study Moroccan music festivals, especially the Essaouira Gnawa festival, against the existing theories on globalization, while contributing new concepts (nomadictates, recurrents and exclusives, wes-turn/eas-turn modernity) aimed at overcoming the reductionism and totalitarianism of the cultural imperialism thesis with regard to artefacts and cultural texts. The grotesque circulation of western cultural artefacts is ju…
Chapter Two. The Buffi Representation Of The World Of Jinn
The Buffis seem to hold semi-institutionalized beliefs about jnun. The Buffis' beliefs play a practical role in providing a means of ordering and coordinating the healing practice at the shrine. The Buffis think that jinns are fiendish and dangerous creatures. Jinns are also thought to be powerful creatures that may travel long distances in the twinkling of an eye. Still, the popular conception, as it is observed at Ben Yeffu, represents jinns as…
Covid – 19: A Critical Ontology of the present 1
COVID-19 has crowned1 a number of other disasters (wildfires in Australia, Desert Locusts in Kenya, an imminent WWIII merging Iran and the US), causing panic to click into place and horror to become our global predicament, making us realize that we live in the illusion of the permanence of things, of mastery, and of immortality. People's turning to social media for trans-local news on COVID-19 has stirred great ire in the world. This led to the p…
Po(o)pular culture: Measuring the 'shit' in Moroccan music festivals
Marginalized groups and individuals in Morocco are subject to modes of representation, in which the images and symbols of dirt used to describe/treat them as bouzebal (Bouzebal is derived from the Standard Arabic word ‘Azbal’ (trash) and the darija term ‘zbal’ (also trash). Azbal is a plural word for zibala. It is usually used to refer to literal waste and things that are no longer needed. Zbal is polysemic in that it can also be employed to indi…
The urban and virtual rhetoric of tcharmil: Display, Violence and Resistance
Three years after the “Arab Springs”, “operation tcharmil” resembles a postrevolutionary suspense, a police enigma where the culprits are known and the crime has yet to be discovered’ (Florence Aubenas, Le Monde, 4 August, 2014) This paper revolves around Tcharmil, whose spatial and structural manifestations (i.e. in urban and internet spaces) signal a paradigmatic shift in the existing simple and straightforward meanings of youth violence. It re…
The aesthetic and practical fields of excrementality ofL'boulevardfestival
The revolutionary aspect of performance is given ample room in this article. “Conflict” deserves a renewed importance, because it places the term “transgression” in relation to festivals as sites for the embodiment of social struggles. We will hone in on L’boulevard festival, which not only participates in a dialogue with social conflicts, but also epitomises them through an ambivalent theatricality that merges the real with the unreal. As festiv…
Nomadictates: Staging Roots and Routes in The Essaouira Gnawa Festival
The aim of this paper is to study Moroccan music festivals, especially the Essaouira Gnawa festival, against the existing theories on globalization, while contributing new concepts (nomadictates, recurrents and exclusives, wes-turn/eas-turn modernity) aimed at overcoming the reductionism and totalitarianism of the cultural imperialism thesis with regard to artefacts and cultural texts. The grotesque circulation of western cultural artefacts is ju…
Routini Al Yawmi: Exploring taboo, risk, and the erotic gaze across Moroccan (non)digital landscapes
This paper dwells into the sensitive topic of eroticism and sexuality within Islam, with a specific focus on contemporary Morocco. It explores the challenges faced by Muslims in openly discussing these subjects due to cultural sensitivity. The study investigates the impact of eroticism on Moroccan society, considering encounters with the West, media influence, cinematic and technological interactions, and responses to global risks. The analysis i…
Al-kamahiyatiya (Asitism): The politics of waiting and not waiting for change
Torn between desire and hope, patience and impatience, those waiting for change in Morocco have, since independence, been articulating their rejection of the way the queues of dignity and social justice are getting intolerably static and crowded. This articleFootnote1 reasons with cultural and socio-political gradations of waiting in the Muslim and Moroccan tradition to discuss how the dynamics of waiting and not waiting reflect the poor people's…
Shikhat, Nashat and (Un)serious Theory
In nashat -loaded circles, the shikha , claiming the center of her pedestal, asks the question: ‘ al-hlawa fin kayna? ’ (sweetness, where is it?). She pauses tantalizingly and looks around, but no one offers an answer. She inquires again with a smile. As she proceeds, what seems like mere initiation into eroticism and sensuality becomes a deeply philosophical pursuit of the rather far-flung meanings of the female and her body. While the shikha is…
Waste's dominion: The Gymnastics of Value in Informal Markets
This paper examines sites of informal trade in Morocco, what the locals call joutiat (sing. joutia). It departs from the semantic and real-world politics of disposability (of objects and people), to unravel the underlying meanings of the joutia as a contested space. The joutia is a place where not only objects of value wait to be rediscovered, but also where invisible and socially underprivileged beings perpetually ransack heaps of trade articles…
Chapter Two. The Buffi Representation Of The World Of Jinn
The Buffis seem to hold semi-institutionalized beliefs about jnun. The Buffis' beliefs play a practical role in providing a means of ordering and coordinating the healing practice at the shrine. The Buffis think that jinns are fiendish and dangerous creatures. Jinns are also thought to be powerful creatures that may travel long distances in the twinkling of an eye. Still, the popular conception, as it is observed at Ben Yeffu, represents jinns as…
Nomadictates: Staging Roots and Routes in The Essaouira Gnawa Festival
The aim of this paper is to study Moroccan music festivals, especially the Essaouira Gnawa festival, against the existing theories on globalization, while contributing new concepts (nomadictates, recurrents and exclusives, wes-turn/eas-turn modernity) aimed at overcoming the reductionism and totalitarianism of the cultural imperialism thesis with regard to artefacts and cultural texts. The grotesque circulation of western cultural artefacts is ju…
The aesthetic and practical fields of excrementality ofL'boulevardfestival
The revolutionary aspect of performance is given ample room in this article. “Conflict” deserves a renewed importance, because it places the term “transgression” in relation to festivals as sites for the embodiment of social struggles. We will hone in on L’boulevard festival, which not only participates in a dialogue with social conflicts, but also epitomises them through an ambivalent theatricality that merges the real with the unreal. As festiv…
Po(o)pular culture: Measuring the 'shit' in Moroccan music festivals
Marginalized groups and individuals in Morocco are subject to modes of representation, in which the images and symbols of dirt used to describe/treat them as bouzebal (Bouzebal is derived from the Standard Arabic word ‘Azbal’ (trash) and the darija term ‘zbal’ (also trash). Azbal is a plural word for zibala. It is usually used to refer to literal waste and things that are no longer needed. Zbal is polysemic in that it can also be employed to indi…
The urban and virtual rhetoric of tcharmil: Display, Violence and Resistance
Three years after the “Arab Springs”, “operation tcharmil” resembles a postrevolutionary suspense, a police enigma where the culprits are known and the crime has yet to be discovered’ (Florence Aubenas, Le Monde, 4 August, 2014) This paper revolves around Tcharmil, whose spatial and structural manifestations (i.e. in urban and internet spaces) signal a paradigmatic shift in the existing simple and straightforward meanings of youth violence. It re…
Waste's dominion: The Gymnastics of Value in Informal Markets
This paper examines sites of informal trade in Morocco, what the locals call joutiat (sing. joutia). It departs from the semantic and real-world politics of disposability (of objects and people), to unravel the underlying meanings of the joutia as a contested space. The joutia is a place where not only objects of value wait to be rediscovered, but also where invisible and socially underprivileged beings perpetually ransack heaps of trade articles…
Covid – 19: A Critical Ontology of the present 1
COVID-19 has crowned1 a number of other disasters (wildfires in Australia, Desert Locusts in Kenya, an imminent WWIII merging Iran and the US), causing panic to click into place and horror to become our global predicament, making us realize that we live in the illusion of the permanence of things, of mastery, and of immortality. People's turning to social media for trans-local news on COVID-19 has stirred great ire in the world. This led to the p…
City as Canvas: Street Art(ists), Walls and the City between State Patronage and Artistic Transformation
The city reflects a politics of possession, upon which pieces of land ultimately get encircled by walls for exploitation. Walls—the entities that frame up the city—are territory ma(r)kers, yet this architectural gesture, far from being innocent, symbolizes a lurking desire at owning territories in the ma(r)king. This paper brings this idea home by examining the other meanings of the wall in contemporary Morocco, by closely studying the poetics an…
‘Go! You are Free!’: Rentier politics and the gift logic of the royal pardon in Morocco
This paper discusses royal pardons and other patronal graces in Morocco as forms of gifting that borrow their logic from Islamic teachings, and protocols binding ar-rā’I (ruler) and ar-ri’āya (subjects). The moment they begin to engage mixed feelings and analyses from politicians, activists, academics, and the general public they give rise to stormy debates, with as of yet unsettled disputes in the thick of social and political tensions in Morocc…
Shikhat, Nashat and (Un)serious Theory
In nashat -loaded circles, the shikha , claiming the center of her pedestal, asks the question: ‘ al-hlawa fin kayna? ’ (sweetness, where is it?). She pauses tantalizingly and looks around, but no one offers an answer. She inquires again with a smile. As she proceeds, what seems like mere initiation into eroticism and sensuality becomes a deeply philosophical pursuit of the rather far-flung meanings of the female and her body. While the shikha is…
Treasure Hunting in Morocco and the Rise of the Echonomy
This paper exposes extant but obscured treasure-hunting activities in Morocco which consist of unlawful, risky, and unproductive digging operations. The paper focuses on a community of kanaza (treasure hunters) which shies away from the normal practices of money-making to capitalize on an “echo economy” (echonomy) that relies on orality and hearing (success stories/information about hidden treasure from past civilizations). It is a community of s…
Al-kamahiyatiya (Asitism): The politics of waiting and not waiting for change
Torn between desire and hope, patience and impatience, those waiting for change in Morocco have, since independence, been articulating their rejection of the way the queues of dignity and social justice are getting intolerably static and crowded. This articleFootnote1 reasons with cultural and socio-political gradations of waiting in the Muslim and Moroccan tradition to discuss how the dynamics of waiting and not waiting reflect the poor people's…
Geographies of Despair and Possibility in Rural Cinema: Sacred Space in Jamaa (2010) Between Representation, Rural Sovereignty, Religious Decay, and the Politics of Legal Exception
This article discusses spatial configuration as a domain where legal exception is enacted in a Moroccan rural locality governed by the transformative influence of sacred representation. It examines the film Jamaa by Daoud Aoulad-Syad employing the concept of simulacrum sacrum (sacred representation) and drawing from theoretical frameworks of sovereignty and necropolitics. Sacred representation of space causes a state of exception and subjugation …
Routini Al Yawmi: Exploring taboo, risk, and the erotic gaze across Moroccan (non)digital landscapes
This paper dwells into the sensitive topic of eroticism and sexuality within Islam, with a specific focus on contemporary Morocco. It explores the challenges faced by Muslims in openly discussing these subjects due to cultural sensitivity. The study investigates the impact of eroticism on Moroccan society, considering encounters with the West, media influence, cinematic and technological interactions, and responses to global risks. The analysis i…
Spectacular and Spectral Monstrosity: Morocco’s Political Field from the Years of Lead to the Present
This article examines how monstrosity operates as a cultural and political logic in Morocco from the Years of Lead to the present. It reads vernacular figures and media practices, including Boukhansha, Mama Lghoula, abduction rumours, meme ecologies and hip-hop, as an archive of everyday knowledge that encodes threat, authority and the limits of speakability before these limits are encountered in formal institutions. The article then situates the…
Platformized Prophecies of the End: Eschatological Circulation in Postdigital Media
Ecologies of tafaha: Platform attention, state steering, and public quality in Morocco
This article maps Morocco’s passage from early networked mobilizations to a platformized attention regime in which tafaha – mediocrity as high-arousal, low-verification participation – becomes normalized by metric incentives and opportunistic state steering. To bring this idea home, we (1) conceptualize tafaha as an ecology rather than a taste judgment, (2) introduce the internetary as a praxis for understanding publics routed through platforms r…
Sociology (12 works) · Aesthetics (9 works) · History (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · Art (5 works) · History (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works)