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Ethnography of the Fez Medina (Morocco) September 2013

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Ethnography of the Fez Medina (Morocco) September 2013 Living in a World Heritage Site: ethnography of the Fez medina (Morocco) A dissertation by Manon Istasse submitted to the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the Free University of Brussels for the degree of Doctor in Anthropology Members of the jury: David Berliner (University of Brussels) Mathieu Hilgers (University of Brussels) Jean-Louis Genard (University of Brussels) Christoph Brumann (Max Planck Institute in Halle) Lynn Meskell (University of Stanford) September 2013 i Acknowledgments Carrying a fieldwork investigation and writing a dissertation is only made possible with the help and support of such a number of people that I can scarcely do justice to all in what follows. Furthermore, words alone are hardly adequate to fully express my gratitude for the kindness and guidance each and every one awarded me during these four years of joy, satisfaction, and difficulties between Fez and Rabat in Morocco, Brussels in Belgium, Halle in Germany, as well as the many cities which hosted conferences and other academic events I took part in. I must begin this list of acknowledgments by thanking the financial support I received from the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) in Belgium, without which any research would have been impossible in the first place. Deep and sincere thanks go to those who, in one way or another, made my research possible: Jawad Yousfi and his family for their warm welcome in their house and for the many discussions and debates we had, Abdelhay Mezzour for his support and help with the Ziyarates families and for the football matches we watched at the Firdaous, Pierre-Marie Roux and his wife Caroline, as well as, among others, Bernard, Kleo Brunn, Françoise, Christian, Jenifer, Josephine, Naïma, Christophe and Vincent, Nordin, Omar, Amina, Vanessa and Vincent, Bonnie and Gilles, Fettah, Anouar, Pauline, Didier, Kenza, Abdelwahed, Stephen, Hugo and his wife, Mohammed, and Zarha for opening the doors of their house to me, and the staff of the Centre Jacques Berque in Rabat, of the Archives Municipales in Fez and of the Institut français in Fez. They gave their time even as their professional and familial lives were already busy. Special thanks are rendered here to Christine Devictor and Raymond Prieto-Perez, for the numerous dinners they invited me to and for being my "parents" in Fez. I express my gratitude also to Najib, Hamid and Khlifi for the conversations in their shop, Cécile, Frédéric Calmès, Mary, Isabelle and Hassan for their support, and to my dear friend Omar Chennafi for our conversations and adventures in the medina. David Amster, the director of the Arabic Language Institute in Fez, gave me his time and shared his knowledge of Fez and its architecture, which were most interesting and important to me. I also benefited from the help of members of various institutions: Mohammed Idrissi Janati, Abdelghani Tayyibi, Mohcine Idrissi, Kamal Raftani, Rachida Ben Guessous, Abdelbasset Fellous, Saïd Jabri and Rachid Alaoui. Finally, a special thought goes to Yürgen and Olivier, who died during the fieldwork. Justin McGuinness, Anton Escher, Jean-Louis Tornatore, Antoine Hennion, Nathalie Heinich, Damiana Otoiu, Cristina Golomoz, Maria Gravari-Barbas, Noël Salazar, Christoph ii Brumann, Bertram Turner, Ioan-Mihai Popa, Fan Zhang, Pierpaolo De Giosa, Stefan Dorondel, Vivienne Marquart, Esther Horat, Simon Schlegel, and my colleagues at the University of Brussels, Nicole Grégoire, Maïté Maskens, Mathieur Hilgers, Joël Noret, Pierre Petit, Chiara Bortolotto, Annabel Vallard, Marie-Pierre Lissoir, Benjamin Rubbers, Mikaëla Le Meur, Laurent Legrain, Gina Aït Mehdi, Anne Laure-Cromphout and Lisa Richaud supported me with their advice, experiences, ideas and wisdom. I specially thank my colleagues for their help and advice during the seminars, workshops, lunches, days of work together and conversations in the hallways, as well as for the most enjoyable atmosphere they created on the 12 th floor of the Université Libre de Bruxelles’ Institut de Sociologie. It would be entirely unfair not to mention Irina Bussoli and Sandrine Levêque, the two successive secretaries at the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains. Their availability, experience and cheerful countenances made the administrative work and intricacies of academic life much more agreeable. My research would have been totally different without the comments, understanding, and presence of my three mentors in Brussels, namely David Berliner, Mathieu Hilgers and Jean-Louis Genard. I wish I could repay them in some other venue for all they brought me. Their patience, their encouragements, their knowledge, helped frame and direct my first tentative steps and my final writings. The mistakes and loose ends in the present dissertation are not due to any lack or neglect on the part of my mentors, but are entirely my own. Our meetings and conversations pointed out all the work I still had to carry out, but also the ways to define my own voice and to make my messy thought-processes clearer. I have no words to appropriately render thanks to my advisor, David Berliner who saved me on several occasions from getting "lost in theory." I particularly appreciate the rigor, clarity and accuracy of his intellect. I'm grateful for his readings, his reminders about the moral and theoretical issues at the core of this dissertation dealing with heritage, and for the windows of opportunity he opened to me in the academic world. Christoph Brumann, for his part, kindly welcomed and integrated me in his research group at the Max Planck Institute (Halle). The four months I spent there were highly interesting, intellectually stimulating and overall motivating. The good work conditions and the English speaking environment pushed me to write in English, a venture at once rich, risky and exhausting, especially in the non-English speaking LAMC where I continued and finished writing this. As a consequence, I wholeheartedly thank Jeremi Szaniawski and Kate Ashby for the proofreading of my dissertation. Charlotte Joy, Chiara Bortolotto, Nicole Grégoire, Maïté Maskens, Justin McGuinness, Christoph Brumann and David Berliner, as well as Mary Conway were more than useful and relevant in their iii comments of my writings, be it on the level of a single chapter, or the entire dissertation. Time being one of the scarcest resource of any scholar, I really appreciate the amounts of this precious resource they gave to me. Even if I have never met them, I have to underline the influence of William James, John Dewey, Tim Ingold and Bruno Latour in shaping my thinking and intellectual processes. Their books formed my bedside table and filled my desk during my research. They also helped me finding energy to think of and write the dissertation in least pleasant times. My will – and stubbornness – to create a dialogue between them sometimes lead me to momentary enlightment that I had to temper later while they gave me unexpected energy.Also, the seminar "Attachement" at the École des Mines in Paris helped to familiarise myself with their ideas. Finally, aside from the academic world, I express my utmost respect and heartfelt thanks to my family and my friends. In one way or another, they participated to make these four years enjoyable, lively and full of surprises through dinners, parties, concerts and other enjoyable events we shared. I address a special thought to Alain Félix who, from privileged informant, has become my partner. I thank him for his support in hard times, and for his precious input in the shape of non-academic perspectives. iv Table of content 1. Introduction 1 1.1.Theoretical appetizer 1 1.1.1. Anthropology, architecture and houses 1 1.1.1.1. General approaches 1 1.1.1.2. Houses as material elements 4 1.1.2. Anthropology and heritage 7 1.1.2.1.Constructivist approach of heritage 7 1.1.2.2.Daily life of heritage 10 1.2. Dissertation starter 14 1.2.1.What is this dissertation about 14 1.2.2. Methodology and epistemology 17 1.2.3.The choice of Fez 20 2. Fez 22 2.1.History of Fez 23 2.2.Inhabitants in the Fez medina 25 2.2.1. Presence of foreigners 27 2.3.Cultural heritage in Morocco 31 2.3.1. The Protectorate period (1912-1957) 32 2.3.2. UNESCO and the World Heritage nomination 36 2.3.3. UNESCO: a visible absence 42 2.3.4. Definitions of heritage 46 2.3.4.1. "Moroccans" and heritage 47 2.3.4.1.1. Tangible heritage 49 2.3.4.1.2. Intangible heritage 50 2.3.4.2. "Foreigners" and heritage 54 2.3.4.3. Members of institutions and heritage 59 2.4. Tourism in Morocco 64 2.4.1. Tourism in Fez 65 v 3. Six main informants 70 3.1. Jawad 71 3.2. Abdelhay 71 3.3. Fettah 72 3.4. Gigi 74 3.5. David 75 3.6. Hassan 76 4. How to engage with the materiality of houses? 78 4.1.A first glimpse at the houses in Fez 78 4.1.1.The Islamic city paradigm 79 4.1.2.North African houses 81 4.1.3.Houses in the Fez medina 88 4.1.3.1. Jawad's house 88 4.1.3.2. Ruth's house 93 4.2.Undertaking works in a house 98 4.2.1. Qualifications of the construction works 102 4.2.2. Values in the construction works 106 4.2.3. Institutions responsible for the construction works 109 4.2.4. Work permits 113 4.2.5. Bypassing the rules 116 4.2.5.1. Bribery 119 4.2.5.2. Legality and ruses 121 4.2.6. Construction works as a learning process 123 4.2.7.
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