Memories of Absence; How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco by Aomar Boum
The book at Amazon and on Kindle
There is a Moroccan saying: A market without Jews is like bread without salt. Once a thriving community, by the late 1980s, 240,000 Jews had emigrated from Morocco. Today, fewer than 4,000 Jews remain. Despite a centuries-long presence, the Jewish narrative in Moroccan history has largely been suppressed through national historical amnesia, Jewish absence, and a growing dismay over the Palestinian conflict.
Memories of Absence investigates how four successive generations remember the lost Jewish community. Moroccan attitudes toward the Jewish population have changed over the decades, and a new debate has emerged at the center of the Moroccan nation: Where does the Jew fit in the context of an Arab and Islamic monarchy? Can Jews simultaneously be Moroccans and Zionists? Drawing on oral testimony and stories, on rumor and humor, Aomar Boum examines the strong shift in opinion and attitude over the generations and increasingly anti-Semitic beliefs in younger people, whose only exposure to Jews has been through international media and national memory.
A book talk with Aomar Boum, Dept. of Anthropology, UCLA
Tuesday, October 27
12:00 PM
306 Royce Hall
UCLA
This talk will explore Moroccan attitudes towards the Jewish population and questions such as where does the Jew fit in the context of Arab and Islamic monarchy and can Jews be Moroccans and Zionists?
Between the 1950s and the late 1980s, 240,000 Jews emigrated from Morocco. Today, fewer than 2,000 Jews remain of this once thriving community. Despite a centuries-long presence, the Jewish narrative in Moroccan history has largely been suppressed through national historical amnesia, Jewish absence, and a growing dismay over the Palestinian conflict. As Moroccan attitudes toward the Jewish population have changed over the decades, a new debate has emerged: Where does the Jew fit in the context of an Arab and Islamic monarchy? Can Jews simultaneously be Moroccans and Zionists? Drawing on oral testimony and stories, on rumor and humor, Aomar Boum examines the strong shift in opinion and attitude over four generations.
Funding provided by the NEH Endowment in Jewish Civilization