Minor Culture and Society in M0rocco starting from September 2016 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

• Prof. dr. Léon Buskens

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Minor Culture and Society in M0rocco

starting from September 2016

Minor Culture and Society in Morocco; in brief

• A challenging semester in Rabat
• A course on social-scientific research of and

in Morocco

• A series of on-site visits
• A course ‘Methods of Qualitative Research’
• A course ‘Research Design’
• Intensive language instruction in Moroccan Arabic,

including conversation classes

• An independent field research project during the

last part of the term

• The courses are taught by NIMAR faculty and

by guest lecturers from Moroccan institutions.

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Social-scientific research in Morocco

• A series of lectures by scholars based in Morocco
• On various aspects of Moroccan culture and society
• Such as social movements, gender, migration, urbanisation,

relations between town and countryside, media

• From different disciplinary angles: sociology, anthropology,

history, etc.

• Readings offering a good overview of the current state of

knowledge

• Anchored in the tradition of about a century of modern

research on Moroccan culture and society

• 5 ec.

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A series of on-site visits

• Excursions to various sites of cultural interest and to social
• rganisations in the surroundings of Rabat and Casablanca
• The lay-out of modern Moroccan cities
• Finding your way in the inner ‘Islamic’ city
• Casablanca and colonial and post-colonial modernity
• Fellow students and Moroccan universities
• Exploring libraries
• Out into the countryside
• Museums and the culture of memory
• Contemporary art and conspicuous consumption
• Social movements and NGOs
• Practicing fieldwork in Skoura.

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A course ‘Methods of Qualitative Research’

• An initiation into doing independent ethnographic

fieldwork

• (Participant) observation
• Conversations and interviews
• Life histories
• Focus groups
• Writing ethnographic reports
• Weekly assignments
• Literature on doing fieldwork in Morocco
• 5 ec.

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A course ‘Research Design’

• Planning your own research project
• Formulating a research question
• Designing your research: questions and time

schedule

• The uses of theories and concepts
• Paper outline
• Fine tuning your project
• Relating to existing knowledge
• Identifying experts.

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Intensive language instruction in Moroccan Arabic

• Learning to understand and speak Moroccan Arabic
• Handbooks available in English/ Dutch/ German/

French

• Phonetic transcription
• Other languages/ alternatives: Tamazight, Standard

Arabic, French, Spanish, English

• 5 ec.

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Your own fieldwork project

• Individually or in small groups of two to three persons
• Specific well-defined projects
• Under supervision of a lecturer
• Weekly intervision
• Six weeks
• An ethnographic report as term paper
• A combination of original empirical research, study of

existing literature, and theoretical framework

• 15 ec.

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Program overview (provisional)

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Weeks 1 - 7:

• Social scientific research in Morocco
• Excursions
• Methods and Techniques
• Research Design
• Moroccan Arabic (or an alternative).

Weeks 8- 13:

• Fieldwork
• Weekly reporting and intervison.

December - February

• Writing your term paper.

EC’s:

• Social-scientific research in Morocco, and excursions:

5 EC

• Moroccan Arabic: 5 EC
• Methods and Techniques, and Research design: 5 EC
• Research project and term paper: 15 EC.

Studying and living in Rabat

• Safe studying and living environment
• A pleasant and easy going city with good

facilities

• Living with Moroccan families or in your
• wn apartment
• Contacts with Moroccan and international

students

• Excellent international connections

(airport)

• Excellent national connections.

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Practical information

• ‘Culture and Society in Morocco’ will start on 5 September
• How to apply: nimar@hum.leidenuniv.nl
• Admission: students with a basic knowledge of the Humanities
• r Social Sciences
• What are the costs: participation is free, except for a 100 euro

contribution for cultural activities and excursions

• Living/housing costs: housing approximately 400 euro/month,

living costs approximately 300 euro/month, depending on your spending habits

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New housing from September 2016!

• Excellent classrooms
• Facilities for research
• Library
• Access to Leiden digital collections
• Students’ lounge
• Easy to reach.

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Summarizing

• Challenging program at NIMAR,

the national expertise centre for Moroccan Studies

• Learning new skills and languages
• A window on North Africa
• Initiation into ethnographic fieldwork
• Finding your way in a new society
• Studying in a safe, pleasant and relaxed environment.

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See you in Rabat!

• Further information? Please contact us nimar@hum.leidenuniv.nl

*) pictures Mike Spaans & Jan Hoogland