Civic Participation: Citizenship 101 in Tangier

April Seminar 2012 TALIM's theme this year – Civic Participation – drew in a range of civic associations, student groups, and academics, both from Morocco and Tunisia.  In the wake of the Arab Spring, the idea was to stress the local, homegrown roots of public participation.  Not in politics, but in the betterment of life … Read more Civic Participation: Citizenship 101 in Tangier


Taking the Cultural and Human Pulse: Geographers at TALIM

It's one of those happy coincidences of timing: in the same week, we have had a convergence of human and cultural geographers from two universities in the Netherlands here at TALIM.  What is the difference between the disciplines? From the University of Utrecht's Human Geography and Planning website, the answer in a series of questions: … Read more Taking the Cultural and Human Pulse: Geographers at TALIM


Better Legations Mean Better Image Abroad

  Tangier American Legation circa 1910 Over 100 years ago, in 1910, an organization called the American Embassy Association published an illustrated book entitled American Embassies, Legations, and Consulates Mean Better Foreign Business.  You can leaf through the book here, courtesy Cornell University Library. The above photo – which we have in our collection of … Read more Better Legations Mean Better Image Abroad


Consul McMath’s Sentence to Tangier

  Jesse McMath, US Consul Tangier, 1862-1869 Those shoe boxes full of old photos keep on producing historic gems.  Thanks to Parisian pediatrician, author, and Tangerine transplant Philip Abensur – who had already provided us a rare image of Civil War era US Consul in Tangier James DeLong from the archives of his great great-uncle, … Read more Consul McMath’s Sentence to Tangier


Moroccan Marathons: Runners for a Cause

Note: because they are going to run their heads off for good causes, we're providing space here for some of our friends to share their news on the two upcoming fundraisers in Morocco – next month, the "Marathon des Sables," which takes its participants (victims?) through the desert, and June's "Marathon des Cèdres," which, though … Read more Moroccan Marathons: Runners for a Cause


Islam, America, and Anouar Majid

  TALIM hosted Dr. Anouar Majid of the University of New England, back in his native Tangier to move forward his plan to establish a UNE center in the city. For the very respectable Friday evening crowd of academics, students, and bookworms, Dr. Majid provided a summary of his latest book: Islam and America: Building … Read more Islam, America, and Anouar Majid


Arabs Studying America

To be precise, it's actually Moroccans studying the Moroccan-American relationship, through history, in the present, and into the future.  That's what the Morocan American Studies Lab is about, part of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities at Hassan II University, Casablanca (Ben M'Sik).   Students & Faculty of the Moroccan American Studies Lab Ben M'Sik … Read more Arabs Studying America


All Women, All Week

  International Women's Day, at least in Tangier, looks more like Women's Week.  Today, of course, March 8, is the official day.  But things started here on Tuesday, with the Cinémathèque launching a Nadia Kaci film retrospective, then her one-woman show "Ladies In(tro)spection," part of a trilogy involving views of women in Morocco (the woman … Read more All Women, All Week


The Andalusian-Maghrebi Cultural Bridge

  The village of Gaucín    Ronda A week spent on the Andalusian coast, looking south, meant that Morocco was never out of sight.  So too it seemed further inland, where the whitewashed hilltop villages look much like they must have looked before the Moors were expelled from Spain half a millenium ago. Based in … Read more The Andalusian-Maghrebi Cultural Bridge


Clinton: Tangier Legation Symbolizes Centuries-old US-Morocco Ties

  Tangier American Legation chimney spanning Rue d'Amérique, seen from the Arab Pavilion Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new American Embassy in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday February 26.  In her remarks she noted that   our relationship stretches back more than two centuries. Sultan Mohammad III became the … Read more Clinton: Tangier Legation Symbolizes Centuries-old US-Morocco Ties