Dis-orienting the Maghreb

This book rethinks the encounters between Morocco and the West by exploring the ideological and historical foundations of the discursive shifts in Anglo-American travel writing on Morocco. Four paradigm shifts are explored in the book: national(ist), secular, transnational and imperial – to reveal the diversity of this genre. From the Foreword: «Dis-orienting the Maghreb offers a valuable contribution to both scholarship on travel literature and postcolonial studies. Rddad’s emphasis on geographical specificity and his focus on the often-neglected travel narratives of Morocco provide a much-needed corrective to the prevailing trends in the field that privilege temporality and continuity. His work not only broadens our understanding of Orientalist discourse but also contributes to the study of travel literature by highlighting the diversity and complexity of Western representations of the Maghreb. His nuanced approach invites readers and scholars alike to reconsider the ways in which we engage with and interpret the rich tradition of travel writing that have shaped our understanding of the world.» (Ali Behdad, John Charles Hills Chair in Literature, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, and the Director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies at University of California, Los Angeles) This book rethinks the encounters between Morocco and the West by exploring the ideological and historical foundations of the discursive shifts in Anglo-American travel writing on Morocco. Four major paradigm shifts are identified that characterize travel writing’s production of knowledge in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, an era which started placing Morocco in the narrative of Western civilization. The national(ist) turn considers the ways in which Philip…