Moroccan Literature

This presentation highlights the distinctive features of Arab comparative practice and its manifestations in the third millennium, particularly in relation to comparative practices worldwide. It focuses on what constitutes the specificity of the Arabic Comparative Literature Standing Research Committee.Although comparatists worldwide share common interests, comparative literature does not have consistent practices from one country to another due to differing starting points and paths.

This article investigates the interplay between land speculation and heritage preservation in Casablanca, Morocco's economic capital, where urbanisation has long been driven by speculative logics. From the colonial period to the present, rising land values, regulatory loopholes, and real estate-led redevelopment have profoundly reshaped the city's central districts, notably Sidi Belyout and Anfa. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach-ethnographic observation, semistructured interviews, spatial and archival analysis, and land price data from 2015-2024-the study reveals how speculative practices exert increasing pressure on built heritage. Anchored in critical urban theory (Harvey, Lefebvre, Smith), the research highlights that patrimonial mechanisms (Davallon, 2023), while formally acknowledged, are often fragmented, selectively applied, and subordinated to short-term market interests. As a result, heritage is less a safeguard of architectural memory than a vehicle for capital accumulation and symbolic revalorisation. The findings underscore a structural tension between urban development and preservation, questioning the capacity of regulatory frameworks to mediate between economic imperatives and cultural values. The article calls for stronger institutional coordination and renewed reflection on the political economy of heritage in rapidly transforming cities of the Global South.

Contemporary Moroccan migration literature has so far been subject to
many readings focusing mainly on the aftermath of the migration event.
However, the narratives of Laila Lalami reveal that certain issues are not
exclusive to life abroad and do permeate the migrant’s life even before
leaving the fatherland. The present article contributes to the ongoing debate on migration studies by invoking Lalami’s fiction to demonstrate how shared histories and adjacent geographies shape modern-day migration experience. It also seeks to examine how feelings of human desperation are not only consequences of crossing borders, but also a constant occurring before and during the Mediterranean traverse to Europe. The process ofcrossing borders proves to be more than mere physical mobility from one place to another. It is a socially and psychologically motivated voyage deeply embedded in Moroccan historical consciousness.

Through a feminist postcolonial theoretical lens, this article puts forth a new reading of Mohamed Mrabet's novella The Big Mirror. Written by a male Moroccan writer in 1977, a short while after Morocco's emergence from colonial rule, The Big Mirror has yet to be read and scrutinized from a gendercritical perspective. Given that post-independence is a period so critical for the development of gender relations in Morocco, literary works featuring female characters as central figures to the plot and the themes present an opportunity to extract knowledge about female representation and agency in that particular context. This article argues that The Big Mirror, like many other narrative texts written in this period, fails to represent the female character in an unideological and gender-neutral way. Through the use of the Spivakian theory of the subaltern and the impossibility of her representation, this article argues that by claiming to speak for the female character, this narrative effectively silences her and effaces her agency. As a result, the female character becomes strongly inscribed in a masculinist discourse that capitalizes on the literary trope of the madwoman as a means to further occlude female agency rather than promoting it.

This article reads Malika Moustadraf's recently translated collection of short stories as an instance of a new generation of Moroccan female writing that subverts conventional expectations of female fiction and understanding of gender identities in Morocco. Following a narrative criticism approach, the article investigates how Moustadraf uses fiction to communicate an identity crisis when the experiences of the body toggle between desire and disgust, rot and purity, and ultimately, life and delusion. In Moroccan fiction, identity, the body, and sexuality have often been considered a male territory, mostly explored through male lenses. By tackling issues of gender fluidity, cybersex, and body relations in the Moroccan context as early as the beginning of the twenty-first century, Moustadraf's short stories contribute to an avant-garde female literary tradition that would only gain ground about two decades later. While female writing has long been conditioned by social expectations for language and themes to be feminine, Moustadraf stands out by breaking through the boundaries of taboo identities and excessively polished writing. A close reading of Moustadraf's long-lost works provides a fresh perspective on the development of Moroccan fiction and gender consciousness in contemporary Morocco.

Moroccan prison narratives have been credited with major political and social changes, yet their existential value is equally worth acknowledging. The prison narratives of Aziz Binebine, Mohamed Raiss, Malika Oufkir, and Fatna El Bouih, to mention but a few, are fraught with existentialist patterns that are uncovered upon reading them comparatively. One pattern that persists through these narratives is the absurdity of liberation. Borrowing Camus’ concept of the absurd, this article highlights the absurdity of the post-prison chapter for being nothing more than an extension of the prison episode that makes the impossibility of freedom acutely felt. The absurdity of liberation is especially manifested in the clash between the prisoner’s post-prison expectations and the world’s bitter indifference. This article paints the post-prison prisoner as an authentic being who emerges existentially conscious from the unbearable darkness of the prison ordeal. It also shows how such authenticity, although intensifying the sense of alienation, offers the prisoner two diametrically opposed antidotes to alienation; “integrative” and “antagonistic” authenticity. By borrowing and applying existentialist concepts in its reading of the abovementioned narratives, this article gives prison narratives a new reading to foreground the existentialism of the post-prison experience.

Discover The Woes of Meryama : A Tale of Courage in the Algerian War of Independence
Thanks to the enthusiasm of our English-speaking readers, my niece Lina Ahlem Benmesbah has beautifully translated my novel Les Malheurs de Meryama from French into English, bringing Meryama’s story to a wider audience. Dive into the gripping tale of Meryama, a young girl navigating the turmoil of colonial history during Algeria’s fight for freedom. As the daughter of Mujahid Martyr El Madani Mesbah and a Mussabila mother, Meryama’s journey is one of resilience and bravery amidst treachery and betrayal.
From the rugged mountains of Guinzet to Tassamert, her emotional odyssey unveils survivors’ testimonies and accounts of testimonies that echo the sacrifices of a nation. Fleeing the shadow of a Harki’s betrayal, Meryama’s quest for identity and liberation will touch your heart. The Woes of Meryama weaves a powerful narrative of courage against the backdrop of the Algerian War of Independence, where every step through the mountains is an act of resistance.

This interview offers an in-depth reflection on the intersections of exile, identity, and literary resistance in the work and life of Moroccan novelist Abdelhamid El Beyuki. Through an exploration of his creative vision, El Beyuki examines exile not only as a geographical displacement but as an enduring psychological and ontological condition. Writing becomes a site of resistance, remembrance, and reconstruction, where fragmented autobiographical experience is reassembled through fiction. He discusses how language and narrative serve as tools to preserve marginalized memory, challenge hegemonic discourses, and resist both political erasure and cultural essentialism. Migration, in his view, emerges simultaneously as a symptom of despair and a mode of defiant re-rooting. The conversation also engages with the role of love, ethics, and plurality in reshaping identity, highlighting literature’s capacity to offer more humane representations of migration, belonging, and hybridity. Ultimately, El Beyuki presents writing as a space for ethical imagination and cultural continuity that transcends borders.

The present article reads Mhani Alaoui's Dreams of Maryam Tair: Blue Boots and Orange Blossoms as a foundational text in the emerging discourse of Arab magical feminism. Through a close analysis of narrative strategies, mythopoetic figures, and carceral imaginaries, the study shows how magical realism disrupts hegemonic epistemologies, particularly those grounded in colonial historiography and patriarchal scripture. Central to this inquiry are the intertwined concepts of magical supplementation, or the insertion of the marvelous into empirical reality, and defamiliarization, which estranges normative perception to foreground structures of oppression and resistance to them. The novel's protagonists-Maryam, Zohra, and Sheherazade-are delineated as agents of feminist ontological rupture. Each articulates resistance via embodied knowledge, mythic lineage, and insurgent narration. Meanwhile, the carceral sites of Birsoukout and the demons' lair stand for the symbolic architectures of state violence, with their estranged portrayals challenging official memory and producing affective counterhistoriographies. By situating Alaoui's work within transnational magical realist traditions while anchoring it in North African cosmologies, the article argues for the epistemic and aesthetic distinctiveness of Arab magical feminism. Alaoui writes to reclaim the magical as a space of feminist and postcolonial intervention and positions narrative itself as a vehicle for ontological repair, genealogical recovery, and political insurrection.

This article explores the diplomatic mission of ambassador Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahāb al-Ghassānī (d. 1707) to seventeenth-century Spain, as detailed in his account The Journey of the Minister to Ransom the Captive (1690-1691), focusing on two pertinent dimensions. First, it aspires to read his use of Ibn Khaldūn's philosophy of history to fathom Spanish modernity, as a decolonial attempt to utilize local Islamicate epistemology in the face of an engulfing modernity whose beginning was marked by the expulsion of his ancestors from Islamic Spain (1609). Second, it underscores the burgeoning of Islamicate diplomatic ethics which were dislodged from the secular formation of diplomacy in its early modern Western conception. In light of these two arguments, this study aspires to showcase the decolonial significance of the period 1492-1609 to the study of the Islamic Maghreb, particularly as it is premised upon confronting unprobed historical presuppositions about the paradigm of decline in the writing of Islamic cultural history.

Abdülkerim el-Ğallâb'ın Defenna'l-Mâdî Adlı Romanında Tema ve Karakter Analizi Öz Bu çalışma, Abdülkerim el-Ğallâb'ın Defenna'l-mâdî adlı romanını tema ve karakter analizi bağlamında ele almakta olup, eserin sosyo-kültürel ve siyasi dinamikler çerçevesinde Fas toplumuna dair sunduğu temsiliyetleri ayrıntılı bir şekilde incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çalışma, edebiyat incelemesi yöntemine dayanarak, eserde öne çıkan temaların ve karakterlerin, dönemin toplumsal yapısını yansıtmadaki işlevini kapsamlı bir şekilde analiz etmektedir. Fas edebiyatı üzerine gerçekleştirilen mevcut çalışmalar genellikle tarihsel bağlam veya belirli yazarlar ekseninde şekillenmişken, bu araştırma, Defenna'l-mâdî özelinde derinlemesine bir tema ve karakter çözümlemesi sunarak alandaki önemli bir boşluğu dBu çalışma, Abdülkerim el-Ğallâb’ın Defenna’l-mâdî adlı romanını tema ve karakter analizi bağlamında ele almakta olup, eserin sosyo-kültürel ve siyasi dinamikler çerçevesinde Fas toplumuna dair sunduğu temsiliyetleri ayrıntılı bir şekilde incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çalışma, edebiyat incelemesi yöntemine dayanarak, eserde öne çıkan temaların ve karakterlerin, dönemin toplumsal yapısını yansıtmadaki işlevini kapsamlı bir şekilde analiz etmektedir. Fas edebiyatı üzerine gerçekleştirilen mevcut çalışmalar genellikle tarihsel bağlam veya belirli yazarlar ekseninde şekillenmişken, bu araştırma, Defenna’l-mâdî özelinde derinlemesine bir tema ve karakter çözümlemesi sunarak alandaki önemli bir boşluğu doldurmayı hedeflemektedir. Bağımsızlık sonrası Fas romanının en önemli örneklerinden biri olan bu eser, modern roman anlayışını yansıtmasının yanı sıra, tarihî olayları kurgu içinde ele alması bakımından dikkate
değerdir. Çalışma sonucunda, Defenna’l-mâdî’nin gelenek ve modernleşme arasındaki gerilimi, sömürge yönetiminin Fas toplumu üzerindeki etkilerini ve kimlik inşası süreçlerini merkeze alan anlatı yapısıyla öne çıktığı tespit edilmiştir. Romanın, Faslı entelektüellerin ve halkın sömürge sonrası kimlik arayışına yönelik önemli ve değerli çıkarımlar sunduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır

A imprensa árabe na América Latina foi um fenômeno de grande proporção, havendo registro de periódicos produzidos por imigrantes árabes em praticamente todos os países latino-americanos que receberam números significativos de imigrantes árabes. O Brasil, por sua vez, foi um dos países em que esse fenômeno se apresentou de maneira mais pujante. Esse artigo possui o intuito de escrutinar a história de um dos mais importantes periódicos inseridos nesse contexto: A Revista da Liga Andaluza de Letras Árabes. A publicação em questão foi um periódico literário editado na cidade de São Paulo, que veiculou entre 1935 e 1953. Criada por uma parcela de imigrantes árabes, a revista buscava consolidar um espaço de produção e difusão da literatura árabe, além de fortalecer a identidade cultural da comunidade. O periódico teve três fases distintas: os anos iniciais (1935-1939), os anos intermediários (1939-1941) e os anos finais (1947-1953). Com base nos editoriais lançados em momentos decisivos da trajetória da revista-início, hiato, retomada e término da publicação-busca-se traçar a história desse importante periódico. Através das próprias palavras dos editores do jornal é possível delimitar uma linha cronológica dos eventos marcantes que compuseram a história desse que pode ser considerado um dos mais importantes veículos de imprensa da diáspora árabe latino-americana.

La literatura hispanomagrebí es una gran desconocida en el canon literario hispánico. A fin de poder revertir esta situación, la iniciativa CoPoHiM (Corpus de Poesía Hispanomgrebí) busca localizar datos fundamentales sobre la materialidad poética hispanomagrebí empleando recursos digitales para cuidar la patria compartida que es el verbo. Espero que les guste este artículo divulgativo publicado en el blog de la Biblioteca del AECID (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo): ¡debates y consultas son más que bienvenidos!

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Hispanophone-Maghrebi literature is largely unknown in the Hispanic literary canon. In order to reverse this situation, the CoPoHiM (Corpus of Hispanic-Maghreb Poetry) initiative seeks to locate fundamental data on Hispanic-Maghreb poetry using digital resources to preserve our shared heritage, which is language. I hope you enjoy this informative article published on the blog of the AECID Library (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation): debates and questions are more than welcome!

In her autobiography Porque me da la gana: una vida en contra de prejuicios (2022), hip-hopper Miss Raisa (Imane Raissali Salah, b. 1997) explores themes of cultural identity, religion and the integration of Moroccan immigrants in Catalonia. Utilizing her music and social media presence, she challenges stereotypes and narratives about immigration, blending Muslim elements with European youth culture to advocate for immigrant empowerment. Miss Raisa's approach raises questions about the portrayal of Muslim women and the potential reinforcement of anti-immigrant sentiments. This essay examines her use of popular feminism within a neoliberal context, highlighting the tension between promoting individual success and the need for collective action against systemic inequalities. Her reliance on social media for advocacy reflects the complex role of digital platforms in cultural discourse, underscoring the balance between visibility for feminist issues and the risk of aligning with market-driven practices. Miss Raisa navigates these challenges, offering insights into identity, integration and the nuanced impact of digital presence.

Chapter 25, collection edited by Carly McLaughlin, Gigi Adair, and Rebecca Fasselt.

The way an individual’s sense of time and place is transformed in the process of return migration can be uniquely dramatized in narrative fiction, which this chapter demonstrates through readings of Lalami’s Hope & Other Dangerous Pursuits, Yaa Gyasi’s 2016 Homegoing, and Hala Alyan’s 2017 Salt Houses. This chapter analyzes how the time-space distortions produced by return migration are reflected in the novel form and de-center the individual migrant’s voice by situating her story among not only other migrants, but also those who have migrated and returned before and those who stayed behind. Lalami’s novel highlights two distinctive aspects of return migration fiction that foreground spatiotemporal crisis: multi-vocality and innovative narrative forms. Building from these insights, the final comparative section on Gyasi’s Homegoing and Alyan’s Salt Houses suggests that return migration can be plotted across generations, elongating the temporal experience of an individual return journey by situating it as part of a larger ancestral return.

La literatura hispanomagrebí, de origen postcolonial, se compone, en su mayoría, de obras de lírica y narrativa, pero, sin lugar a dudas, la crítica se ha inclinado tradicionalmente más por el segundo género. Para contrarrestar esta dinámica y ahondar en una materialidad poética aún inexplorada, comencé la iniciativa CoPoHiM (Corpus de Poesía Hispanomagrebí), en cuya primera fase (2024-2025) fueron recopilados los datos de 90 poemarios escritos por autores de origen magrebí, ya sea en el insilio o en la diáspora. El tratamiento de los datos de dichos poemarios, llevado a cabo con Nodegoat, arroja interesantes resultados tanto en lo referente a su tiempo y espacios de publicación como en lo que concierne a factores autoriales como el género.
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Hispanophone-Maghrebi literature, of postcolonial origin, is mostly com
posed of poetry and narrative works, but, undoubtedly, critics have traditionally leaned more towards the study of the latter genre. I order to counteract this critical dynamic and examine further this poetic materiality still unexplored, I developed the CoPoHiM (Corpus de Poesía Hispanomagrebí) initiative. In its first phase (2024-2025), data on 90 books of poems written by authors of Maghreb origin, whether in exile or in the diaspora, was compiled. The analysis of the data from these collections of poems, carried out with Nodegoat, yields interesting  results both in terms of their time and place of publication and in terms of authorial factors such as gender.

Cuando me sumergí al rescate de los poetas de Murcia mi primera observación fue la falta de edición y traducción de sus obras, y no porque fuera ésta escasa, ni porque haya sido eclipsada por la de Ibn al-ʿArabī, autor que sí ha gozado de pervivencia, supongo que como en tantas ocasiones, es sólo la falta de interés general lo que hace que tantos autores sigan permaneciendo en el olvido.
Pude catalogar casi una centena de autores literarios nacidos en Murcia o en la provincia, de los que se conserva la obra de dos terceras partes de ellos, entre los cuales llama la atención la extensa y olvidada obra de algunos, como por ejemplo Ṣafwān ibn Idrīs al-Tuŷībī, cuya poesía se editó en árabe hace unos años, en un libro que reclama su traducción, ya que de la calidad de su poesía sí hay constancia.
También me sorprendió que entre esa centena de literatos sólo hubiera mención de dos mujeres, Umm al-Fatḥ Fatḥūna bint Ŷaʿfar, cuyo libro sobre las esclavas cantoras de al-Andalus lamentablemente se perdió y Umm Abū l-ʿAbbās ʿAzīza, autora de una obra ascética también perdida. Vivieron en los siglos xi y xii respectivamente y casi nada se sabe de ellas, pero eso, ya, sería otra historia.
En estas páginas, vamos a recordar a algunas personas que formaron parte de una historia que comenzó hace mil doscientos años, con la fundación de la ciudad de Murcia y que si somos capaces de asimilar, habrá llegado a nuestros días.

Cuando pienso en Granada me vienen a la mente las calles de la Alcaicería, desde donde seguramente alguien pudo ver pasar las carretas con miles de libros que se habían requisado en la Madraza bajando en dirección a la plaza de Bib-Rambla. Me vienen a la mente las terribles imágenes que nos relata Radwa Ashur en su magnífica novela Granada. Me viene a la mente la intolerancia y la violencia.
Cuántos versos debieron arder, cuánta poesía, cuánta cultura. Y cuántos autores literarios pasaron directamente al olvido mientras las cenizas de su rastro se esparcían por el suelo o ascendían al cielo entre columnas de humo.
«Para desarraigarles del todo de su perversa y mala secta», dijeron…, incumpliendo así el pacto alcanzado en las Capitulaciones con los reyes cristianos e iniciando así un proceso de limpieza étnica que acabó en unos cien años con los herederos de un sueño de casi ochocientos en la península, los moriscos.
Ahora nos sentimos orgullosos de tener la Alhambra, la Mezquita, la Giralda, las preciosas alcazabas, baños –primer servicio público prohibido–, restos de murallas... y de hablar una lengua con tantas palabras procedentes del árabe...
Pero en realidad ignoramos el alcance de la cultura andalusí, ignoramos la vida literaria de miles de autores, su obra… Valgan estas páginas para recordar, a través de sus versos, a algunos poetas, hombres y mujeres, que nacieron en Granada.

Morocco is a country with a vibrant musical heritage, where many traditional genres, such as Rai, Berber, Gnawa, and Sufi, continue to be performed today. One particularly distinctive and unconventional style of music is Malhun. Included in the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO, Malḥun poetry is a key part of Moroccan oral tradition, serving as a popular form of memory that is expressed in melodic dialectal Arabic. Among the known poems in the Moroccan register, we find the well-known "Fiyachiya". Originating in the 17th century, Ana Mani Fiyach a Qsida/ poem by Sidi Bahloul Cherki stands as a pillar of the Malhun poetic tradition, continuing to resonate deeply with audiences across Morocco. Known for its profound emotional and spiritual themes, the poem is often performed at religious and social gatherings, capturing feelings of love, longing, and existential reflection. Over the centuries, Ana Mani Fiyach has evolved into much more than a poetic work-it has become a defining element of Moroccan cultural identity, through shaping the nation's artistic and spiritual heritage. This article examines the religious, cultural, and symbolic dimensions of Ana Mani Fiyach, focusing on the famous line "Ana Mani Fiyach" ("I haven't got the force"), which encapsulates themes of longing, spiritual devotion, and existential questioning of the human soul. Through a close analysis of the poem's structure and language and translating it into English, the article reveals how Ana Mani Fiyach intertwines personal desire with spiritual devotion. By situating the poem within its historical and cultural context. This study aims to uncover the layers of meaning in Ana Mani Fiyach, shedding light on its role as both a spiritual and cultural touchstone in Moroccan society.

Television, newspapers, magazines, and other print and electronic media contribute to developing and preserving national and cultural identity by providing a platform for diverse voices, enabling different communities to share their narratives, traditions, and values. Media nurtures a sense of belonging and fosters a more unified and inclusive society by promoting cultural events and showcasing unity, harmony, and group spirit among citizens during times of crisis. Media narratives can shape the nation's perception, including national identity and political, social, and international relations narratives. However, the current paper focuses mainly on crisis narratives, another type of media narrative that can affect the perception of a nation. Those narratives focus mainly on events threatening a nation's stability, security, or well-being. Crisis narratives include natural disasters, economic slumps, and public health emergencies. Therefore, the current study attempts to analyse the Moroccan media narratives on the Alhawz earthquake, utilising a comprehensive analysis of 17 articles published between 10th September and 26th September 2023. The analysis is conducted within the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and corpus linguistics to reveal how media narratives foster a sense of unity and nationalistic sentiments among citizens during the Alhawz earthquake. The findings indicated that Moroccan media narratives on the earthquake could shape how the public perceives the nation's ability to handle a crisis, the effectiveness of its leadership, and the resilience of its people, who were able to show a sense of unity and national pride during that natural disaster.

Queer Moroccan cinematic subjects tend to leave the Maghreb for the West to fully realize their "gay" sexual subjectivity. By contrast, two recent Moroccan films, Maryam Touzani's The Blue Caftan (Le Bleu du caftan, 2022) and Nabil Ayouch's Razzia (2017), insert queerness into localized forms or, more precisely, into localized networks, defined through time and space and in dialogue with Indigenous representational forms. Queer is not suddenly visible or "out," but rather is shown to have always been present locally, meaning that Western discursive taxonomies are not needed. These two films opens up possibilities for queer Moroccan film to ignore and speak back to Western hegemonic constructs of sexuality.

A lo largo de las últimas décadas, los medios literarios se han enriquecido con el nacimiento de una nueva ola de escritoras marroquíes que cultivan el género narrativo en lengua árabe, explorando nuevas temáticas e innovadoras técnicas narrativas.
Cabe añadir que el mérito de este nutrido grupo de escritoras se debe a su osadía en abordar puntos muy sensibles de la cultura islámica sacudiendo de este modo a la sociedad e invitándola a la reflexión y al debate. Entre estos temas podríamos subrayar: la sexualidad femenina, la prostitución, el lesbianismo, la marginalidad, entre otros.
En el presente artículo procuraremos verter luz sobre lo más relevante de esta experiencia tanto a nivel temático como formal, logrando así hacer al público hispanohablante partícipe de esta experiencia insólita en el mundo literario árabe.

Since 2004, Catalan presses have been publishing Moroccan-Amazigh/Riffian voices who write in Catalan and Spanish and have lived in Catalonia since childhood. 1 Amazigh/ Riffian-Moroccan authors such as Saïd El Kadaoui Moussaoui, Laila Karrouch, Jamila al-Hassani, Karima Ziali, Safia El Aaddam, and bestseller Najat El Hachmi show the processes by which literary writing may be interpreted as a form of migration in itself, as a journey of the mind, as an itinerary of discovery. Their narratives embark on a journey, constantly negotiating their native and adopted cultures while keeping a critical view of the feeling of unhomeliness. Upon arriving in Catalonia between the ages of eight and ten, these authors have integrated into employment, education, and Catalan society. Yet their sense of unhomeliness is not solely inherited from their immigrant parents; it also arises from cultural disparities, particularly in terms of religion. Equally significant is the impact of how they are perceived by Catalans who do not share Maghrebian origins. Their transgressive narratives disrupt power structures by creating literary sites that transcend national boundaries, thus echoing Achille Mbembe's and Sarah Nuttall's ideas about Afropolitanism and Léonora Miano's concept of Afropean Soul (2008). Their identities vary according to their class status, the gendered version of their testimony, and their place in the generational and immigration lines. Beyond the insightful readings, among others, of Carmen Sanjuan-Pastor, Kathryn Everly, Adolfo Campoy-Cubillo, and Marta Segarra, as well as my studies about Maghrebian immigrant writers in the Iberian Peninsula (particularly about El Hachmi's narrative), scholarship currently lacks a wider discussion of issues related to Amazigh/Berber ethnicity, religion, nationhood, and diaspora in Saïd El Kadaoui's works. This chapter addresses these omissions by exploring his approaches, as a first-generation Amazigh-Catalan writer, to selfhood concerning home (national and domestic) and his ambiguous feelings of belonging, positing plausible reasons for his compulsive textual reliance on these questions. I will focus on three novels: Límites y fronteras (Limits and Borderlands; 2008), Cartes al meu fill. Un català de soca-rel, gairebé (Letters to my Son. A Catalan Through and Through, Almost; 2011), and NO! in 2016. 2 Límites y fronteras primarily delves into the themes of exclusion and racism. Similarly, NO! focuses on self-exclusion and communal confinement. Cartes skillfully strikes a balance between these two novels.

This paper explores the phenomenon of linguistic sacrifice in Morocco, focusing on Moroccan Darija and its Amazigh roots. It examines how Moroccans modify their speech to accommodate Arabic speakers, reflecting historical Arabization, cultural identity, and sociopolitical dynamics.

This chapter reflects upon translating Fatema Mernissi’s previously unpublished co-authored film script, The Lionesses, French to English. It proposes to think about translating through what is absent (pre-translation, here Arabic and Amazigh languages), through untranslatables, through translation pauses and through the politics of reception.

This article explores Mohammed Shukri's lasting impact on Moroccan and African literature. It examines his life with a focus on For Bread Alone (1973) and its initial censorship. Shukri's provocative autobiographical writings continue to inspire Moroccan authors, offering a model of insight and honesty. The paper analyses the events that shaped his narrative voice, defiance against censorship, and enduring influence. Shukri's example also highlights African literature's transformative power in guiding postcolonial communities toward independence, justice, and prosperity. Beyond paying tribute, this study underscores how Shukri exemplifies the 'life writing' genre's role in African literary development.

La finalidad de la realización de esta bibliografía ha sido reunir, por primera vez, y en la medida de lo posible, todas las referencias existentes acerca de la producción literaria hispanomagrebí. En su recopilación, he excluido los estudios: 1) acerca de la representación de la migración en la literatura escrita por autores españoles, 2) acerca de las relaciones hispanomarroquíes e hispanomagrebíes y 3) acerca de la historia «común». La he confeccionado a fin de recuperar los resultados de décadas de investigación, pues esta es, sin duda, un esfuerzo colectivo, más si cabe en el caso de una literatura de frontera como la que nos ocupa.



The aim of this bibliography has been to compile, for the first time and as comprehensively as possible, all existing references to Hispanophone-Maghrebi literary production. In assembling it, I have excluded studies on: 1) the representation of migration in literature written by Spanish authors, 2) Hispano-Moroccan and Hispano-Maghrebi relations, and 3) “shared” History. This bibliography seeks to recover the results of decades of research, as it is inherently collective, especially in the case of border literatures like this.

Abdellah Taïa is one of the greatest exponents of the current Maghrebi novel of
French expression, with a series of autobiographical stories in which he narrates the evolution of his homosexual identity. The present paper explores and compares different models of coming-of-age storytelling in contemporary Maghrebi literature, which may have influenced Taïa in his works: Mon Maroc (2000) and Une mélancolie arabe (2008). With the aim of observing the evolution of the Bildungsroman model in this literature, two tales of childhood and adolescence have been selected from Moroccan literature in Arabic: Fī-l-ṭufūla (In Childhood) by Abdelmayid Benjelloun ([1954] 1992), and al-Jubz al-ḥāfī (For Bread Alone) by Mohamed Choukri ([1982] 1993). These referents show stories of learning that start from the heteronormative autobiographical literary canon of modern Arab literature and evolve to relate other types of childhood and adolescence, which are part of the social reality of the Maghreb. This comparative analysis follows a threefold approach based on: family and affective-sexual relationships; cultural references as models of sociocultural gender identity; and the construction of the homosexual identity expressed in the literary idiolect of Taïa through implicit and explicit discourses, according to the vital time evoked in the plot.

Abdellah Taïa es uno de los mayores exponentes de la novela magrebí actual de
expresión francesa, con una serie de relatos de corte autobiográfico en los que narra la evolución de su identidad homosexual. En este trabajo se exploran y comparan diferentes modelos de relato de formación en la literatura magrebí contemporánea, que han podido influir en Taïa, en sus obras Mon Maroc (2000) y Une mélancolie arabe (2008). Con el objetivo de observar la evolución del modelo de Bildungsroman en esta literatura, se han seleccionado dos relatos de infancia y adolescencia de la literatura marroquí en lengua árabe: Fī-l-ṭufūla (De la niñez), de Abdelmayid Benyellún ([1954] 1992), y al-Jubz al-ḥāfī (El pan desnudo), de Mohamed Chukri ([1982] 1993). Estos referentes muestran relatos de aprendizaje que parten del canon literario autobiográfico heteronormativo de la literatura árabe moderna y evolucionan para relatar otro tipo de infancias y adolescencias, que forman parte de la realidad social del Magreb. Este análisis comparativo obedece a un triple enfoque basado en las relaciones familiares y afectivo-sexuales; los referentes culturales como modelos de identidad sociocultural de género; y la construcción de la identidad homosexual, que se manifiesta en el idiolecto literario de Taïa a través de marcadores discursivos implícitos y explícitos, según el momento vital evocado en el relato.

Resumen
Esta tesis titulada “Problemas semánticos y pragmáticos en la traducción española de La garza y Turno de noche, de Ibrahim Aslán, estudio descriptivo – crítico”, tiene como objetivo arrojar la luz sobre la traducción, especialmente la traducción literaria y los problemas con los que el traductor enfrenta, enfocando en las teorías, estrategias, métodos y técnicas que el traductor utiliza para tratar con estos problemas. El estudio abordó los problemas semánticos y pragmáticos por medio de analizar dichos problemas y los presentamos en tres partes:
La primera parte es la teórica y se divide en dos capítulos. En el primer capítulo cubrimos los temas de la traducción, sus tipos, teorías y estrategias además de los fenómenos de domesticación y extranjerización. El segundo capítulo incluye los problemas semánticos que enfrente el traductor, como: la polisemia, la sinonimia, entre otros, además de los fenómenos de la pragmática, como los actos de habla, deixis, la implicación y presuposición.
La segunda parte, la práctica, está dedicada al estudio de los problemas semánticos y pragmáticos encontrados en el corpus.
Las conclusiones son la tercera y última parte donde ofrecemos los resultados sacados del corpus y los representamos en gráficos y tablas.
El estudio concluye que, a pesar de los errores encontrados en los dos textos traducidos por Milagros Nuin Moneral y Clara María Thomas de Antonio, las dos traductoras intentan transmitir el mismo efecto creativo del texto árabe al lector español. También concluimos que la traducción de los textos literarios requiere un conocimiento pragmático.
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Encontramos una importancia urgente de la creación de diccionarios coloquiales y pragmáticos debido a la escasez de este tipo de diccionarios entre el árabe y el español

امتدت مملكة سبأ في بداية ظهورها على الأراضي الشمالية من عواصمها الأولى مارب وصرواح حتى شملت الأراضي الواقعة ما بين مدن مملكة سبأ ومدن مملكة معين، ومن بين أبرز تلك المدن مدينة كتال (خربة سعود) وهي المدينة السبئية الواقعة في مديرية رغوان بمحافظة مارب، في بداية الواحة الصحراوية الواسعة، وهي المدينة التي تبرز معالمها المعمارية على تل مرتفع يحدد موقع سورها الذي ما زال قائم حتى اليوم، وتعد من المدن القديمة التي لم تشملها الدراسات العلمية بشكل دقيق، سوى بعض من دراسات المسوحات القديمة التي نفذتها البعثة الأثرية الفرنسية في بداية سبعينات وثمانينات القرن العشرين.
وتهدف الدراسة إلى التعرف على تخطيط المدينة السبئية كُتال حسب ما هو واضح من معالمها المعمارية البارزة مثل الأسوار والأبراج والبوابات، فضلًا عن تخطيط المدينة وما تحتويه من معالم وعناصر معمارية قديمة، حيث شكلت النمط المعماري للمدن القديمة التي برزت منذ العصر السبئي المبكر (عصر مكاربة) سبأ، واستمرت تؤدي وظيفتها كمدينة رئيسية على الطريق التجاري القديم المعروف بطريق البخور.
الكلمات الدلالية: سبأ- المدينة – وادي رغوان- كُتال – خربة سعود- العمارة.

Recordar a Trina Mercader -y a Eugenia Gálvez, por otra parte-es celebrar un homenaje lleno de nostalgia y, también, una obligación para sus amigos, tanto españoles como marroquíes. Es cierto; se trata, además, de una obligación para los que tuvimos la oportunidad de tratar a Trina y gozar de su amistad, de su "fe ingenua e infantil", como decía Pío Gómez Nisa en la presentación de su primer libro de poemas 1 • Es una mujer "a la que la poesía española y marroquí debe un gran homenaje para que su nombre no caiga en el olvido", tal como afirmaba otro buen amigo de Trina, Jacinto López Gorgé, que aseguraba, voluntarioso: "no lo caerá. Estoy seguro. Porque, más pronto o más tarde, llegará ese merecido reconocimiento a su gran obra poética 2 ".

La reciente publicación de la edición facsimilar de la revista Ketama (Tetuán, 1953(Tetuán, -1959)), nos ha suscitado una serie de recuerdos que deseamos describir ahora. ¿Quién conoce el significado real y simbólico de los propios títulos de las dos revistas más destacadas que se publicaron durante los años del Protectorado español:

Queer Moroccan cinematic subjects tend to leave the Maghreb for the West to fully realize their “gay” sexual subjectivity. By contrast, two recent Moroccan films, Maryam Touzani’s The Blue Caftan (Le Bleu du caftan, 2022) and Nabil Ayouch’s Razzia (2017), insert queerness into
localized forms or, more precisely, into localized networks, defined through time and space and in dialogue with Indigenous representational forms. Queer is not suddenly visible or “out,” but rather is shown to have always been present locally, meaning that Western discursive taxonomies are not
needed. These two films opens up possibilities for queer Moroccan film to ignore and speak back to Western hegemonic constructs of sexuality.

The Experimental Turn in the Moroccan Novel, 1976-1989 examines the trajectory of the Moroccan experimental novel and makes a link between its emergence in the early-mid 1970s and the Arab defeat in the six-day war with Israel in 1967.

Drawing on works by Muḥammad Barrādah, ʿAbdullāh al-ʿArwī, Aḥmad al-Madīnī, and others, the book contends that the Moroccan experimental novel reflects an historic turning point and transitional cultural landscape. It further shows that the experimental novel laid the ground for a different vision of literature, an important feature of which was the intent to surpass the traditional realist model as executed by Moroccan novelist ʿAbdulkarīm Ghallāb (1919–2017) and Egyptian Nobel laureate Najīb Maḥfūẓ (1911–2006). This new vision of literature seeks to create new discursive spheres for the treatment of the social and the political.

This book will be an important contribution to debates around Moroccan/Arabic/Maghrebi literature, as well as to the field of literary experimentalism more broadly.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Mapping al-Tajrīb in the Moroccan and Arabic Novel

Chapter 1: The New Novel in Morocco and the Arab World and the Question of Reception

Chapter 2: Al-Tajrīb (Experimentation), al-Turāth (Heritage), and The New Moroccan Novel: Between Innovation and Imitation

Chapter 3: Aḥmad al-Madīnī’s Zaman bayna al-Wilādah wa al-Ḥulm: Writing the Self and Flouting Systems of Authority

Chapter 4: Muḥammad Barrādah’s The Game of Forgetting: Experimental Multiplicity, Ludic Memory, and Sexual Politics

Chapter 5: ʿAbdullāh al-ʿArwī’s ʾAwrāq Sīrat Idrīs al-Dhihniyyah: The Politics of Form as an Allegory for the State of Crisis

Conclusion

Index

The filmmaker and writer Ahmed Bouanani (1938–2011) was born in Casablanca. When Bouanani was 16, in the final days of the French colonial era, his father, a police officer, was assassinated, a tragedy that the artist returned to in his work for the rest of his life. Bouanani studied film at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC) in Paris for three years before returning to Morocco, where he directed several classics of North African cinema. He published three poetry collections during his lifetime, as well as the novel The Hospital. Bouanani’s generation of artists and intellectuals were persecuted and tortured by King Hassan II’s government for celebrating a national culture long suppressed by the French. The poet honors “the ancestors,” “the horsemen of the past” and their oral traditions over the king’s official history. Given the imprisonment of his fellow poets, Bouanani was reluctant to publish his written work and was known mainly for his films, yet they, too, were censored.

Moroccan Arabic is an interesting and diverse language with a complex phonological system that
includes a range of diphthongs. Diphthongs are a common feature of Moroccan Arabic, but their
occurrence is subject to variation across different dialects, reflecting the complex linguistic
diversity of Morocco. The methodology section of this study employs qualitative research
methods, including semi-structured interviews and geolinguistic mapping, to investigate people's
attitudes and perceptions towards regional varieties of language, including their evaluation of
linguistic features such as diphthongization. The objective of this study is to investigate language
attitudes and beliefs surrounding the usage of diphthongs in Moroccan Arabic. The findings
reveal that Casa-Settat is perceived as a region where diphthongs are commonly employed,
indicating a potential regional variation in linguistic features. Participants associated the use of
diphthongs with older and rural speakers, suggesting a perception of it being a characteristic of
traditional or non-prestigious language varieties. Interestingly, a small number of participants
regarded diphthongization as prestigious, highlighting the influence of social and cultural factors
on language attitudes. Additionally, some participants expressed neutral opinions, potentially
attributed to their frequent exposure to diphthongized words. The study's findings have
significant implications for linguistic research and language policy in Morocco. The study
highlights the importance of considering linguistic factors such as dialectal variation and
language attitudes when investigating language use and change in Morocco. The findings
suggest that dialectal attitudes and perceptions are shaped by linguistic factors such as age,
gender, education level, and geographic location.