… they saw Africa. Notes from a trip across the Strait. Well, of course they saw Africa: every primary school geography student knows that the Strait of Gibraltar (or, as they say north of the water, el Estrecho de Gibraltar) separates the continents of Europe and Africa. But Spain's Africanistas were not academic "Africanists" – … Read more What the Africanistas Saw Across El Estrecho de Gibraltar
Geography lesson (image from Kidsmaps.com) The Maghrib (or Maghreb) is the accepted term for North Africa. The Maghrib was the birthplace of the Arab Spring (Tunisia). Its latest blossoming of freedom was in Libya. The Maghrib is where AIMS Maghribi Grantees come from. Or came from. Click on the above link, and this is what … Read more Maghribi Scholars Need Not Apply
A very interesting meeting took place last week in Paris between Moroccan and French industry groups. MEDEF, the French employers association, welcomed its Moroccan counterpart CGEM for a round table under the rubric of "Reforms and Growth: Where Does Morocco Stand?" Six Moroccan ministers attented. But what was especially interesting for readers in Tangier was … Read more Your Choice: Electricity, Food, or Shelter
They were handing out red roses to (some) women at Tangier's Ibn Battuta Airport on International Women's Day. Nice gesture. Just like some organizations – websites, news media, governments, private industry – mark the day, until they get to the next de rigueur event, like Earth Day. Points on the calendar. Check. What happens the … Read more International Women’s Day – All the Days After
MRE – to some Americans familiar with the military, that stands for "Meals Ready to Eat," the food for soldiers in the field. But we're talking here about the French acronym for Marocains Résidants à l'Etranger, Moroccans living abroad. The travails of MREs in Libya were profiled here in SOS Marocains en détresse, from Info … Read more MREs From Libya Return to Morocco
Three profs from orient did come. West, to Tangier. Our visitors: three Algerian professors from the University of Guelma. Guelma, located in Algeria's Far East, is about as far from Tangier as you can get in Algeria. The University's name – 08 Mai 1945 – is a giveaway to its location, near the town of … Read more Maghrib Triangulation: Guelma-Tunis-Tangier
TALIM gets its share of AIMS Maghribi Scholars (the American Institute for Maghrib Studies grant program for inter-Maghrib research). Actually, Morocco gets the lion's share of scholars from Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Libya. At TALIM, we get to meet these scholars, who all have interesting stories to tell about their specializations, from architecture to zoology. … Read more Wissem Abdelmoula Shares the Fruit of His Research
Good publicity is almost as good as cash in the bank. So we were very pleased to be listed in the top 10 organizations to be highlighted in the upcoming "Summit" in Washington on Citizen Cultural Diplomacy. If it brings us much-needed funding, all the better. If not, well, we can bask in the glory. … Read more TALIM’s Moment In the Sun?
Right now it's Ramadan, and the month of August, so it's supposed to be quiet, right? The faithful are too tired, hungry, or thirsty to stay awake over books, and the un-Islamic or non-Muslim are expected to stay in Europe, perhaps awaiting better weather and the assurance of daytime food come mid-September. So why is … Read more The Scholars of Summer
"Ghana's Fairytale Ends…" was how the Reuters dispatch from Accra described the letdown ("the silence of the vuvuzelas") of Ghana's defeat last night at the hands of (or is it at the feet of?) Uruguay. The Moroccan waiters at the Tangier restaurant were rooting for their fellow Africans, just like the Algerians were last week … Read more A Ghanaian’s Black Friday On the Tip of Africa
