“We Call on Citizens to Be Aware of the Value of What Is in Their Homes:” a Case Study of the Hassan Ii Prize for Manuscripts and Archival Documents
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“WE CALL ON CITIZENS TO BE AWARE OF THE VALUE OF WHAT IS IN THEIR HOMES:” A CASE STUDY OF THE HASSAN II PRIZE FOR MANUSCRIPTS AND ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS Sumayya Ahmed A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Information Science in the School of Information and Library Science Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Christopher A. Lee Glaire Anderson Denise Anthony Kenneth Honerkamp Ryan Shaw © 2016 Sumayya Ahmed ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Sumayya Ahmed: “WE CALL ON CITIZENS TO BE AWARE OF THE VALUE OF WHAT IS IN THEIR HOMES:” A CASE STUDY OF THE HASSAN II PRIZE FOR MANUSCRIPTS AND ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS (Under the Direction of Christopher A. Lee) Archival documents were seen to be important tools for restoring the historical character and geographic integrity of the nation in post-colonial Morocco. In a country where the number of historic manuscripts in private collections are believed to outnumber what is currently held by public libraries and archives, where there is a tendency towards nondisclosure and even the hiding of historic manuscripts in Morocco, the Hassan II Prize for Manuscripts and Archival Documents was began in 1968/9 as a way to gain access to records in private collections. This dissertation sets out understand how the Hassan II Prize elicited approximately 35,000 submissions in the almost fifty years since its inception. Specifically, how did the Hassan II Prize overcome resistance to archival disclosure and negotiated access to private collections with or without the perceived loss of possession by owners; and what motivating factors contributed to manuscript holders submitting their records to the Prize? The Hassan II Prize was studied as an explanatory, qualitative case study using multiple sources of data including 14 semi-structured interviews with submitters to and administrators of the Prize, participant observation of the 2015 Hassan II Prize process, analysis of local periodicals, government and historic documents, as well as of microfilm and digital copies of submitted manuscripts that are stored at the Moroccan National Library (BNRM). iii Interviews identified four main themes related to participation in the Hassan II Prize: national identity and heritage, loss (material and intellectual), religious charity, and prize money. This research seeks to introduce participant narratives, which have been absent from the official documentation of the Prize in favor of the texts of their historic manuscripts and documents, into the archival record. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “The one who has not thanked people, has not thanked God,” is a traditional saying of the Prophet Muhammad. I have a lot of people to thank for helping me get to this point. My advisor, Dr. Cal Lee has been an immeasurable resource since I began at UNC. I thank him for his patience and sincere guidance at every step along the way. I am grateful for all of the encouragement and support of SILS faculty and staff, several people at SILS, Drs. Barbara Moran, Ryan Shaw, Diane Kelly, Evelyn Daniel, and the late Deborah Barreau have shown such generosity of spirit and intellect that I would like to wholeheartedly acknowledge them. I am grateful for the insights of each member of my committee, including the aforementioned Cal and Ryan, as well as Denise Anthony, Glaire Anderson, and Kenneth Honerkamp of the University of Georgia. Also, thank you to Dr. Michelle Caswell of UCLA who, since my sophomore year of high school has been a mentor, inspiration and cheerleader. Research for this dissertation greatly benefited from the support and encouragement of the American Institute of Maghrib Studies (AIMS). I would be remiss if I did not thank profusely the Moroccan scholars who shared their time, books, and insights with me. Especially, Si Abdelaziz Essaouri and the folks at the Ministry of Culture, Aomar Afa, Ahmed C. Binebine, Mohammed El Mansour, Khalid Ben Saghir, Nozha Ben Saddoun, Latifa Benjelloun-Laroui and all of the patient people at the National library who helped a sometimes anxious and insistent American researcher. v Fellow doctoral students have helped lessen the bumps on the road to dissertation and I am grateful to Anita Crestinzi who helped me survive Statistics; the ELIME-21 crew: Sarah Ramdeen, Amanda Click and John Martin III; my late stage writing crew Rachael Clemens, Ericka Patillo, and Angela P. Murillo; and to all the nice folks who helped make things a bit more pleasant like Sarah Beth Nelson, Casey Rawson, Patrick Golden, and Alex Chassanoff. There have been a lot of people supporting me outside of academia and I must acknowledge them, my extended family (White/Garth/Weston) with their care packages and inspiration from Chicago, my in-laws the El Mansour family for all the good meals and helping us to celebrate life’s milestones; my friends’ families who seem like family: the Hassan family, the Avant family, the Khan family, and the Abou-el Khair-Selenica family. There is no way that I could have gotten this far without your generosity and affection. And thank you to the boys, who sacrificed so much so that their mom could do all this, Abdessamad and M. Zakaria.; and last but not least to my beautiful husband (tabbarak Allah) Salah, thank you! vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................................... x 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 1 Research Problem ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Research Questions .................................................................................................................................. 4 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................ 6 Codicology: Study of the Manuscript’s Physical Form ......................................................................... 8 Manuscripts and Islamic Education ...................................................................................................... 9 The Manuscript as a Documentary Source ............................................................................................. 11 Waqfs, endowments for books ........................................................................................................... 13 Manuscripts in the Moroccan Context ................................................................................................... 14 Public and private libraries ................................................................................................................. 15 The French Colonial Venture and Archival Practices in Morocco ........................................................... 19 The Ethnographic Colonial State ......................................................................................................... 21 The Hassan II Prize for Manuscripts and Archival Documents ............................................................... 29 Establishing the Hassan II Prize for Manuscript and Archival Documents ......................................... 30 Discovering Manuscripts ..................................................................................................................... 33 Describing Manuscripts ....................................................................................................................... 38 The digitized manuscript, creating a new thing .................................................................................. 45 The Digital Library ............................................................................................................................... 47 Theorizing the Digital Library .............................................................................................................. 48 Digital Cultural Heritage ...................................................................................................................... 49 UNESCO and the Interrogation of World (Digital) Heritage ............................................................... 50 Heritage Manuscripts in Context ........................................................................................................ 52 3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS ................................................................................................... 54 Study population and case selection ...................................................................................................... 57 vii Sources of Data ....................................................................................................................................... 57 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 63 Coding ................................................................................................................................................. 63 4. THE HASSAN II PRIZE FOR MANUSCRIPTS AND ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS: HISTORY AND FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... 66 An Idea into Law: the Rules of the H-II Prize..........................................................................................