The Traditional Hammam Bathhouse from Morocco to France: the Body, Purity, and Perception
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The Traditional Hammam Bathhouse from Morocco to France: The Body, Purity, and Perception Roxanne R. Brame A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2018 Reading Committee: Laada Bilaniuk, Chair Philip Schuyler Deborah Kapchan Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Anthropology ©Copyright 2018 Roxanne R. Brame University of Washington Abstract The Traditional Hammam Bathhouse from Morocco to France: The Body, Purity, and Perception Roxanne R. Brame Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Dr. Laada Bilaniuk Sociocultural Anthropology This dissertation explores what it means to be clean - spiritually, corporeally and psychologically, not only in the context of Moroccan traditional bathing practices, but also within the ethnographer’s experience and perception. It gives a detailed account of the ethnographer as a subjective research instrument and the role of personal trauma in shaping perception in the field. The metaphysical and social implications of participation in the traditional hammam are illustrated through visceral ethnographic writing based on participant observation and interviews in urban Morocco. In addition to the exploration of traditional hammam practices in Morocco, this study also investigates the role of bathhouses in diaspora in France, in Paris and Marseille, and explores how various disparate desires - tied either to capitalism, religion, and/or socio- political position - motivate participation in the hammam tradition. Hammams in recent iterations in Morocco and in diaspora reveal re-appropriations of an Orientalist aesthetic established by the colonizer as well as additional enactments of power reversals. Throughout the study, ethnographic description is layered over a foundational story arc that reveals the ethnographer’s geographic movements, follows her psychological unraveling and reintegration, and finally, provides a window onto her own self-reflection and psychoanalytic treatment once she has left the field. The psychological effects of trauma on the ethnographer as research instrument and how the condition of that instrument affects the resultant ethnographic process are at the heart of this work. Ultimately, this study has implications for the phenomenology of perception, affect theory, and psychological anthropology while also contributing to a body of knowledge about daily life, healing and the body in North Africa. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Theoretical Themes: Orientalism; Desire and the Production of Religious and Secular Piety; Visceral Ethnography ...................................................................................... 20 Chapter 3: Context: Characters, Costumes and Sets ..................................................................... 68 Chapter 4: Hammam Elements ..................................................................................................... 92 Chapter 5: Fire, Water, Air, Earth ................................................................................................. 97 I-Fire ...................................................................................................................................................... 98 II Water ................................................................................................................................................. 115 III – Air ................................................................................................................................................. 134 IV – Earth .............................................................................................................................................. 150 Chapter 6: Bread and Blood: Clean and Dirty Bodies ................................................................ 186 Chapter 7: Escape from Fez to France ........................................................................................ 227 Chapter 8: Paris Hammams: Panties and Bourgeois Bohemians ................................................ 277 Chapter 9: Hammam Epilogue .................................................................................................... 337 Appendix A- Najdi’s Poem: The People’s Hammam ................................................................. 345 Glossary: Non-English Terms ..................................................................................................... 357 Reference List ............................................................................................................................. 361 i Table of Figures Figure 2.1 The Turkish Bath, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1862-63 ................................... 25 Figure 3.1 Map of Fez (Ogrizek, 1955, p. 107). ........................................................................... 82 Figure 4.1 Floor plan of hammam Moulay Driss (Raftani and Radouine, 2008, p.63). Elements in clipart added by author. ......................................................................................................... 96 Figure 5.1 Farnatchi’s Fire, Hammam 1001 Nuits, Marrakesh .................................................... 98 Figure 5.2 Hooves at the hammam ............................................................................................. 101 Figure 5.3 Hussein holding a hoof-filled tanjia .......................................................................... 101 Figure 5.4 Hussein arranging tanjias .......................................................................................... 102 Figure 5.5 Farnatchi room in Hammam Jedidia, near Rcif, Fez ................................................ 110 Figure 5.6 Brma, Hammam Hay Agadir, Fez ............................................................................. 115 Figure 5.7 Courtyard Fountain, Riad L'aroussa .......................................................................... 128 Figure 5.8 Public fountain across from my house, Fez Medina ................................................. 129 Figure 5.9 View of the Fez Medina ............................................................................................ 130 Figure 5.10 Domed hammam ceiling .......................................................................................... 134 Figure 5.11 Hay Agadir Hammam: brma (left) and qant d-'arusa (right) .................................. 137 Figure 5.12 Wood stacked for the farnatchi, Hammam Ouedi Fez, near my family's neighborhood ...................................................................................................................... 150 Figure 5.13 Serghina incense ...................................................................................................... 152 Figure 5.14 Price List, Hammam Ouedi Fez .............................................................................. 167 Figure 5.15 Online price list, Hammam Nausikaa, Fez Ville Nouvelle http://nausikaaspa.com/hammam ........................................................................................ 169 Figure 5.16 Waiting room, Hammam Ziani, Marrakesh ............................................................ 171 Figure 5.17 Website, Hammam Ziani, http://Aziza.hammamziani.ma/ ..................................... 172 Figure 5.18 Entry, Hammam Ziani, Marrakesh .......................................................................... 181 ii Figure 5.19 Façade, Hammam Douche A-raha, Awatif, Marrakesh .......................................... 182 Figure 5.20 Entry, Hammam Sidi 'Azzouz, Fez Medina ............................................................ 183 Figure 5.21 Family members covered up and protected from the wind and cold, walking home from Hammam Agadir, Fez, stamping the ground with our blessings. .............................. 185 Figure 6.1 Allah, Al Waṭan, Al Malik, (God, the Country, the King), Hillside, City of Agadir, Morocco, https://Aziza.pinterest.com/pin/38210296817904399 ........................................ 188 Figure 6.2 Tea time in Fez: qreshl in its baking tray on the kitchen floor, and sfinj on plates. .. 196 Figure 6.3 French kumir and Moroccan khbz at the medina hanut ............................................. 204 Figure 7.1 Meat and herbs, Fez Medina, Talaa Kebira ............................................................... 244 Figure 7.2 Fruit and vegetable stands, Talaa Kebira, Fez Medina ............................................. 245 Figure 7.3 Egg seller across from my house, Fez Medina .......................................................... 248 Figure 7.4 Shabakiya, Fez Medina ............................................................................................. 251 Figure 8.1 Les Bains d'Orient, Paris ........................................................................................... 281 Figure 8.2 Sidewalk view, Les Bains d'Orient, Paris .................................................................. 282 Figure 8.3 Cafe 25 Degrés Est, Paris, http://Aziza.barsparis.com/bar-paris/25-degres-est/ ....... 284 Figure 8.4 The Cafe 25 Degrés Est, social housing project in the distance ................................ 285 Figure 8.5 Elusive hammam entry (left), behind the pastry case, Great Mosque, Paris ............. 294 Figure 8.6 Entry, Great Mosque of Paris ...................................................................................