De-colonising Exile: The Moroccan Jew in Cinema

Abstract

The ”Moroccan Jew” in postcolonial Morocco is a diasporic or exilic figure whose narrative and memory have been confiscated or colonised by the two master narratives of both Zionism and Arab nationalism. Deprived of its own voice, the term Moroccan Jew has been re-cast in these historiographies and its literary and artistic nationalising “outlets” as self- contradictory; a political impossibility. The emergence of new historiographies in Morocco and in the diaspora that have begun challenging the two hitherto dominating nationalist narratives has been “crafted” in literature and cinematography.

My paper shall focus on the representation of the Moroccan Jew in both Moroccan and “Jewish” cinemas in the last two decades in order to show how transnational Moroccan cinema and post-Zionist Mizrahi films actually engage Moroccans – Jews and Muslims – to tell their confiscated memories on the screen; de-colonising exile and the Moroccan, the Jew.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date5 Dec 2016
Number of pages15
Publication statusIn preparation - 5 Dec 2016
EventMoroccan cinema uncut: local perspectives, transnational dialogues - Marrakech, Morocco
Duration: 2 Dec 201610 Dec 2016
http://middleeastbrown.org/call-for-papers-moroccan-cinema-uncut-local-perspectives-transnational-dialogues/

Conference

ConferenceMoroccan cinema uncut: local perspectives, transnational dialogues
Country/TerritoryMorocco
CityMarrakech
Period02/12/201610/12/2016
Internet address

Cite this