History, Oral Culture, and Ethnography in the Central Atlas: A contribution to Regional Socio-cultural History
Thanks to its ethnic and cultural diversity, Tadla Azilal region is a rich and varied one. It is situated at the center of Morocco, which has given birth along the past centuries to a certain symbiosis between the various populations, Arabs, Amazigh tribes, and Jewish community. On its turn, this symbiosis has given birth to two distinguished forms of culture and two different ways of life, which are: sedentary life in plains and transhumance in Central Atlas.
These rich traditions and patrimony have given birth to a number of works that stressed on the importance of the historical processes that fashioned the past and present of Tadla-Azilal region, and the way of life of its inhabitants. Nevertheless, some shortcomings are still found in the studies concerning the mountain region. Such shortcomings can only be overcome through combining the ethnographic method (distance management and social morphology inventory) to the historical critical method, and through the yoking of the different types of historical sources to oral witnesses and direct inquiries, in order to enhance the value of the region's cultural diversity and rich traditions handed down through generations.
The preliminary enquiries undertaken by the members of the GEHE (Group of Historical and ethnographical Studies) in Central Atlas have permitted to unveil an invaluable laboratory, where different studies can be made on economic, social, and cultural structures of the cities and the countryside. Results were very encouraging. On the one hand, students, not having a good knowledge of regional history, have discovered for the first time a treasure of events, customs, and traditions which have been forgotten so far. Such treasure triggered in them a fascination and developed a feeling or belonging that helped in a better integration in their regional milieu. On the other hand, the results of such enquiries have shown the importance of socioeconomic and cultural research and its contribution in durable development at the regional and national levels. Finally, if published works have permitted so far to know the great events regional and national history, theories, methods, and objectives have known some inferior results, hence the idea of organizing this colloquium on regional history. The aims of this event can be summarized in the following points:
- To determine the major issues of regional history and to elaborate an adequate plan
- To initiate academicians and young researchers to methods of regional history
- To improve regional approaches by contacts and by national and international scientific relations
- To maintain interdisciplinary relations with researchers in other social sciences (geography, sociology, linguistics, ethnography) who work on similar issues
In order to initiate the debate over all issues, we suggest the following axes:
I- Methodologies of social sciences and their contribution in regional history.
II- The present state of monographic research: regional, nation and international.
III- “Central Atlas” Cases Studies: geographical space – historical space – religious
space – social space – economic space – linguistic and cultural space.
Titles and abstracts (not more than 500 words) can be sent, before 30 April 2009, to:
Pr. Mohammed Lamli, Coordinator