Language Ideologies in Morocco Sybil Bullock Connecticut College, [email protected]
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Connecticut College Digital Commons @ Connecticut College Anthropology Department Honors Papers Anthropology Department 2014 Language Ideologies in Morocco Sybil Bullock Connecticut College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/anthrohp Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, Linguistic Anthropology Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Bullock, Sybil, "Language Ideologies in Morocco" (2014). Anthropology Department Honors Papers. 11. http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/anthrohp/11 This Honors Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology Department at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Department Honors Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author. Language Ideologies in Morocco Sybil Bullock 2014 Honors Thesis Anthropology Department Connecticut College Thesis Advisor: Petko Ivanov First Reader: Christopher Steiner Second Reader: Jeffrey Cole Table of Contents Dedication………………………………………………………………………………….….…3 Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………….…….4 Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………….…….5 Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..6 Chapter 2: The Role of Language in Nation-Building…………………………………………..10 Chapter 3: The Myth of Monolingualism………………………………………………….……18 Chapter 4: Language or Dialect?...................................................................................................26 Chapter 5: Tracing the History of Morocco’s Sociolinguistic Complexity……………………..32 Chapter 6: Twelve Moroccan Voices……………………………………………………………45 Chapter 7: Mapping the Linguistic Landscapes…………………………………………………82 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………..…….100 Works Referenced……………………………………………………………………….……..102 Appendix: Interview transcriptions 1. Rachid………………………………………………………………………….……107 2. Oumaima…………….………………………………………………………………120 3. Leila…………………………………………………………………………………129 4. Farah…………………………………………………………………....……………136 5. Badrdine……………………………………………………………..………………148 6. Hussein………………………………………………………………………………158 7. Hanaa……………………………………………………………..…………………167 2 This thesis is dedicated to the late Professor John Burton, who opened my eyes to anthropology. 3 Acknowledgments The intellectual adventure that resulted in this thesis would not have been possible without the love and support of so many individuals to whom I wish to express my deepest gratitude. I am eternally indebted to Petko, my professor, advisor, mentor, and friend, whose unwavering guidance gave me the courage and strength I needed to undertake this project. Thank you for challenging me, motivating me, and believing in me. You have influenced my academic and personal development in immeasurable ways. I am forever grateful for the time this thesis has enabled us to spend together and for all I have learned from you, both inside and outside the classroom. Many thanks must also go out to CISLA for the generous grant that enabled me to conduct my research in Morocco. It was such a pleasure interning at the Center for Cross Cultural Learning and proved to be an invaluable learning experience. To everyone at the Center and the friends who came along the way, thank you for everything. To the researchers I had the pleasure of meeting and learning from at the November 2013 conference, “Anthropology in Morocco: Discourses, Encounters, and Networks,” your presentations were thought-provoking and your kindness unforgettable. I must also thank my wonderful and patient readers, Professors Jeffrey Cole and Christopher Steiner, who taught me how to think like an anthropologist and gave me helpful feedback in the writing process. Last, but certainly not least, thank you to the friends and family who put up with me over the course of this year and supported me. Thank you Sunshine, Chief, and Shmoob. Thank you Snuggle Burgers. Thank you Earth House family. Most of all, thank you Max. Your love kept me sane. 4 Abstract ______________________________________________________________ The process of decolonization in Morocco has created new spaces for displaying national identity, most notably through the development of official policies regarding the acquisition, promotion, and performance of language in the public sphere. The flow of languages into the Moroccan linguistic mosaic has facilitated the transmission of beliefs about language as well. These beliefs are far from neutral, for each language possesses symbolic capital that grants access to explicitly demarcated domains of power. In this thesis, I examine the construction of national power that resides in discourses on multilingualism in Morocco. In the process, I uncover the sources of competing language ideologies through which beliefs about national identity are negotiated. I show that the project of establishing and maintaining power depends largely on the control of language reproduction. By focusing on forms of familial, ethnic, national, and religious power embedded in Morocco’s languages, I locate the sites in which language ideologies are enacted and reveal the consequences of internalized linguistic imperialism. 5 1. Introduction ________________________________________________________________________ “The colonized’s mother tongue, that which is sustained by his feelings, emotions, and dreams, that in which his tenderness and wonder are expressed, thus that which holds the greatest emotional impact, is precisely the one which is the least valued. It has no stature in the country or in the concert of peoples. If he wants to obtain a job, make a place for himself, exist in the community and the world, he must first bow to the language of his masters.”1 A central component of the colonial project rests upon the necessary subjugation of the colonized’s language. Power relations are performed and reinforced through the domination of the colonizer’s language in public spheres that control important resources. The establishment of a hierarchical language system secures the concentration of cultural, economic, and political capital among the foreign elite. Consequently, many nationalist independence movements in the 20th century have placed language rights high on their lists of grievances. Legitimate claims to nationhood are mediated through discourses calling for the recognition of a people’s language. For many new nation-states, this battle is still raging. The removal of colonial governments has not removed the colonizer’s influences on local languages. In the former French protectorate of Morocco, many cultural rights were violated. Perhaps most significant was the open discrimination against Morocco’s native languages: multiple varieties of Arabic and Berber. French was made the official language of the public sphere, establishing its power in administration, education, and the government. Today, French is no longer the “official language” of Morocco, but it remains a language of power and social mobility. In the fast-flowing mixtures of Moroccan Arabic, French, and one or more variety of Berber that can find their way into a conversation on any street in Morocco, one can hear that 1 Memmi, Albert. The Colonizer and the Colonized. Boston: Beacon Press, 1967. 6 these codes communicate more than the words they contain – they convey social status, power, and oppression. In the first few years after Morocco declared independence in 1956, a policy known as “Arabization” was adopted to completely eradicate the presence of the French language in Morocco. Modern Standard Arabic, a pluricentric written standard used in all Arab League countries, replaced French in the government and in public administration, as well as in schools. Within a few years, however, Moroccans began to feel as though “French had been stolen from them.”2 The absence of French cut them off from the rest of the Francophone world – and from job opportunities. After much political campaigning by anti-Arabization groups, French was reintroduced into certain domains of the public sphere, and today competes with Modern Standard Arabic in “official” discourses and with Moroccan Arabic in “familiar” discourses. Many Moroccans, however, take issue with the resurgence of French. Meanwhile, the three major strands of Berber, Tamazight, Tashelhit, and Tarifit, which are spoken by over half of the Moroccan population, were not recognized by the government at all until 2011, when King Hassan II declared Tamazight an official language of Morocco after Arabic. This was done in an effort to appease growing tensions during the political upheaval of the Arab Spring. Recognize the language, many said, and you recognize the people who speak it. The problem with this move, however, is that the everyday understanding of what a language is significantly affects how its speakers are treated. In the case of Tamazight, the King’s establishment of the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture has only perpetuated the discrimination it seeks to dissolve by attempting to standardize the Tamazight language (by extension, 2 Dominique Benbrahim, personal communication. 7 excluding certain regional varieties) and by codifying a written alphabet for this largely oral language. Moroccan Berbers have long felt oppressed by their Arab conquerors, and this frustration becomes apparent in Morocco’s changing language policies. The primary question that