Of Space and Time: On a History of Morocco

Abstract

The Histoire du Maroc edited by Mohamed Kably is a monumental collaborative work involving more than fifty authors, all, with only one exception, Moroccan. It is thus a de facto “Moroccanized” history (though not excessively so) and the synthesis that it presents marks an important milestone. This article will nevertheless suggest some alternative thematic or transversal structures while also highlighting some of the volume's guiding threads: the initial geographical tableau, the periodization, its vision of historical origins and antiquity, the “plural” nature of Morocco and its relationship with the exterior world. In terms of the overall tone of the volume, it is necessary to evaluate its place in the broader historiographical context today. Other recent studies have revealed an oscillation between two scales, the one tending toward oversimplified generalities (the Middle Ages, the modern period), the other toward what has sometimes seemed an excessive focus on the specific and the exceptional. The Histoire du Maroc handles these debates with cautious discretion as they run through its chapters in a light filigree; it is a useful tool, pedagogic and accessible to a large and diverse public because it is neither intransigent nor polemical. Hard to reduce to particular historical currents, it is a scholarly work, an example of reasoned academic study. It is based on actual knowledge, without preconceived boundaries, and will remain a reference, scholarly, experimental, and pragmatic. It seems most unlikely, after the publication of this volume, that the history of Morocco will need to be rewritten over again.