Theatre Triangulation: Tangier, Tetouan, Fez

  George Bajalia, Fulbright Scholar in Tangier, provides us this guest post on his adventures in theatre at the outset of his year-long research program in Morocco.  At TALIM, we believe in making the most of limited resources, and the semi-miraculous juxtaposition of Fulbright theatre scholar, American film festival in Tangier, and American Voices "Broadway … Read more Theatre Triangulation: Tangier, Tetouan, Fez


What You Must Know About (Protectorate) Morocco

  French Protectorate brochure for the Morocco Pavilion at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, TALIM museum and research library, Tangier In this year of the centenary of the 1912 Treaty of Fez, retrospectives on Protectorate Morocco abound. The first thing you must know about Morocco, 100 years ago, is that two Protectorate zones were … Read more What You Must Know About (Protectorate) Morocco


Domesticating Foreign Ads or Translating the Maghreb

   Foreignization, domestication, transmutation… Karima Bouziane has mastered the vocabulary of her topic. At today's presentation at TALIM, the audience caught on immediately to this specialized world of semiotics, which has to do with the study of signs and communication. The capacity audience (09:00 on a Friday morning – a major feat!) was composed largely … Read more Domesticating Foreign Ads or Translating the Maghreb


Deep Education: Olmstead Scholars Learn More Than Arabic

"To provide outstanding young military leaders an unsurpassed opportunity to achieve fluency in a foreign language, pursue graduate study at an overseas university, and acquire an in depth understanding of foreign cultures, thereby further equipping them to serve in positions of great responsibility as senior leaders in the United States Armed Forces." The Olmstead Scholarship … Read more Deep Education: Olmstead Scholars Learn More Than Arabic


Let It Rain, On Morocco

From "Précipitations Annuelles," dry month map inset at TALIM research library, from the colonial era Institut Scientifique Chérifien The Scientific American picked up Reuters' article from today "Morocco prays for rain for first time since 2007." Now, I don't think that my prayers for dry weather last fall, when the Embassy contractor started our latest … Read more Let It Rain, On Morocco


TALIM On the Digital Map

I know the print in the above image is a bit small (click on picture to enlarge in a pop-up screen).  But what it represents is this: during a long three-week period, ending on 12 December, we had almost no "hits" on TALIM Director's Blog because jinns had taken it over. Our URL, or, in … Read more TALIM On the Digital Map


Skydiving In a Hijab: the Wonders of Exchange Programs

You never know what those International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) people will get up to.  At Saturday's gathering in Mdiq (a northern Moroccan seaside town between Tetouan and Ceuta) of alumni from the US Embassy's various scholarship and visitor programs, the introductions were supposed to address the question "what do you miss most about your … Read more Skydiving In a Hijab: the Wonders of Exchange Programs


The Last of the Maghribi Grantees?

Algerian scholars Amina Leghima and Lila Chabane, 2011 AIMS Maghribi Grantees at TALIM's Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed Library I hope not; I hope this is not the end of a small, effective scholarship program.  I hope that someone in a position to do something – say a senior US Government Executive Branch official – will … Read more The Last of the Maghribi Grantees?


MEDays 2011: Tangier Welcomes the Great & Good

No qualitative or political inference to my post title – it's just a phrase, usually denoting the kind of people who show up at international conflabs like Davos and Aspen.  That said, MEDays brought an impressive array of people from all walks and regions to Tangier, for the 4th consecutive year. It was a Davos … Read more MEDays 2011: Tangier Welcomes the Great & Good


Maghribi Scholars Need Not Apply

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