In "Identities as Multimedia Spectacle," Nestor Garcia Canclini considers how globalized media, information technologies, and the global circulation of cultural commodities challenges traditional models of national identity formation. Canclini writes:
"One of the greatest challenges for rethinking identity and citizenship today is finding a way to study how relations of continuity, discontinuity, and hybridization are produced among local and global, traditional and ultramodern systems of cultural development." (Canclini, 96).
Review Multiplicity's Solid Sea 04: (m)re-tourism on Moroccan residents abroad (http://www.multiplicity.it/index2.htm). Using one of the eight testimonies on page 3 (select an image to read text) and the Canclini article, explain how the selected testimony is an example of how the MRE's sense of national identity is transformed through their movement between Morocco and Europe (as temporary residents, tourists, or permanent residents), the development of space, and use of commodities (for instance, homes and tourist resorts).
On the multiplicity website, we find a case study focusing directly on the movements of people an culture from Morocco and Europe. What they have described as a 'Solid Sea' means that many move over the Mediterranean sea as if it was a piece of land. The usual separation of people and culture that a divider, such as a sea of that size would normally bring, are non existent. Many people have left Morocco to find a job, with the intention of going back, all the while sending money back to their families. At the same time however, many have become permanent residents in Europe. One such case of a person who hasn't left Morocco in search of new opportunity is Toutouh Hakim, who is represented as a testimony on the multiplicity website. He is an ice cream vendor in Nador, Morocco and has been one for over 30 years. His parents started this business, which is a building that is evidently shaped like a football. As he describes it,"you could say it is the family legacy." in his testimony, he speaks about being able to tell the difference between the natives of Morocco and the MRE's by their clothes and just how much ice cream that they eat. Apparently, The MRE's eat much more. This really speaks to the identity that has of being truly Moroccan, never leaving to find fortune in Europe. He has stayed in his homeland, and as a result he himself, has not changed in the way that many of the MRE's have. He is able to see what the influence of European culture has done to many of his people. This influence isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the identity they all had as a country, has now been divided. His creation of a kiosk that is uniquely shaped like a football, has in many ways given him an identity that is specific to the culture that is surrounding him in Morocco. But in Hakim saying that he can tell the difference between the two groups, he being influenced by the effect of European culture on his people. This ties in direct with what Canclini writes in the essay, "Identities as Multimedia Spectacle." Stating that, "Identity today, even among broad sectors of the popular classes, is polygor, multiethnic, migrant, made from the elements that cut across various cultures."(91) This European influence on culture, is taking effect on the people who haven't left Morocco as well. Even though the influence isn't felt as intensely as actually leaving, or being in Europe, it is now playing a role in the definition of their culture.
ReplyDeleteOn the Multiplicity site section called “The Ghost Ship,” the Mediterranean Sea is dubbed the ‘Solid Sea.’ The reason for this is that it is becoming less and less of a tangible obstacle for communication and interaction between people living on different sides of it. What used to be a literal and figurative cultural divide is now essentially a neutral extension of the lands surrounding it. The Ghost Ship article tells the story of the Greek ship the ‘Yiohan” that was captained by a Lebanese man. The vessel carried 400 immigrants from India, Tamil, and Pakistan. The “Yiohan” met with a fishing boat on the sea onto which 300 of the immigrants boarded the small craft. The boats ended up colliding and caused the smaller fishing boat to sink. 283 men died. Despite this tragic incident implicating multiple countries, none of them have acknowledged this disaster. This definitely represents the neutrality of this ‘Solid Sea,’ as well as the amount of intercultural transportation and communication that crosses it. Technology has made the Sea less of an obstacle, thus people have migrated to different areas and crossing old cultural boundaries in the process.
ReplyDeleteJon Phillips-
ReplyDeleteThe Multiplicity Solid Sea 04: (m)re-tourism testimony by Abdelaziz Msegued mentions a 'evolution' of Moroccan architecture and tastes being displayed at new building sites on a public lot owned by CGI of Rabat, a Moroccan city. While only 12 percent of this lot has buildings on it owned by MREs, and the rest owned by those from Oujda, the way CGI deals with the property mirrors an anthropology concern mentioned in the "Identities as Multimedia Spectacle" article by Nestor Garcia Canclini. Msegued, a bank employee, tells how CGI claims the land, builds public lighting and roads, then allows private citizens to build their own property upon it. This mixup of traditional ownership processes and the confusion caused by it is similar to the confusion of anthropologists caused by transnationalization and globalization mentioned in "Identities"- namely, that when societies are globalized and spread throughout the entire world, it becomes difficult to determine what, exactly, is meant by a single culture.
Konstantin Sedov
ReplyDeleteOn the multiplicity website a testimony by an architect and urban designer Saadi Abdellah describes how the identities of the MRI’s are transformed as they are both influenced by European investment and tourism but at the same time there is a return to traditional Moroccan architecture and style, though still retaining the comforts of the European home. Their identities are hybridized and the architect explains that in order to be successful on the market he has to find the balance between European Modernity and traditional culture that would appeal to the newly formed identities. Europe and Morocco are interconnected economically as construction and jobs for the Moroccan’s are fueled though European money, and as a result the gap between what traditionally is Africa is lessening and the cultures are mixing and interchanging as well. It is unknown whenever Saadi gave up his identity or not, but his testament describes views that do not favor one culture over the other, instead viewing everything from an economic perspective, and using the newly formed identities to make a profit. One could say that he is now all European, but this could not hold true as many Moroccans who work what some say European jobs have to embrace the European identity to hold their job, but at the same time could still retain their original identity with their family. This demand for European comforts and traditional styles proves the Garcia Canclini point that cultures are no longer unified and identities separate, as globalization and economic unification brought and hybridized different cultures leaving the identities unique to that geographical entity in the name only.
Christopher Poff
ReplyDeleteSanya Bouhliba, the administrator of the Jnanat Laksar rest area in Morocco, describes the structure and purpose of the rest area on the Multiplicity web site. The resort caters to the families of MREs, Moroccan emigres who work in Europe but routinely return to Morocco.
The description of the rest area struck me as something of a paradox. Ostensibly, it is for Moroccans returning home for the holiday, but the facilities have a strong emphasis on offering the trappings of Western entertainment -- it has a bar and a pizzeria, for starters. There was a subtext that activities geared for children are offered, ostensibly to free up the adults to partake in other forms of recreation -- something that runs a bit counter to traditional Arab values toward family-oriented vacation. Most surprising for me was the fact that the resort offers concerts in Andalusian music, from Spanish culture. MREs coming to this resort to return to their homeland would seem to me to end up visiting a veritable simulation of what values and entertainment options (even music) they could experience merely by staying in Spain.
To me, this seems to support strongly Canclini's concept of the inequality that takes place where cultural identities blend. It seems to me that an awful lot of Moroccan culture is being sacrificed in the burgeoning resort industry to make it feel, as much as possible, that MREs haven't actually left Spain. I don't wonder if that will have a long term effect of eroding the connection that MREs, especially children, will have with their Moroccan roots.
Jessica Knap
ReplyDeleteFilm 301
The Multiplicity website elaborates and illustrates the 'Solid Sea', or the Mediterranean, cultural movement through case studies from Morocco and Europe. The Mediterranean Sea connects individuals who reside in Morocco to those who live in Europe, all through the goal of finding jobs, where the money is then sent back home to the family. This is not the only connection created between the two places; tourism and the attraction of architecture or building connect the MRE’s. Names Lakhdar Mimouni, an English professor and a resident of Oujda, describes how the MRE’s are the majority of owners. The MRE’s are trusted to freely create and add details to the basic structure given by an architect. Mimouni describes the neighborhood as safe, clean and like a family, this clearly displays how the cultures interact and adapt to one another. The homes and environments built respect and include both cultures, not only this but everyone is free to come and go as they please, the structures built by both hands connect the MRE’s. As Cnclini says, "One of the greatest challenges for rethinking identity and citizenship today is finding a way to study how relations of continuity, discontinuity, and hybridization are produced among local and global, traditional and ultramodern systems of cultural development" (96). Cultural development is clearly illustrated though the architecture and the people who then reside in these structures with details European and Moroccan styles.
The multiplicity website brings up the concept of a “solid sea”, or a sea where there is somewhat of an osmosis effect of the movement of people, ideas, beliefs, and commerce. Due to this collision of cultures and ideals, there are new sub cultures or identities that are formed. There are a group of people called MRE's that move between Europe and Morocco, and they don't view themselves as being attached to either place and as a result, a new identity as a MRE is born.
ReplyDeleteI studied the case of the member of the parliament, and the developer of a holiday village named Mohammad Aberkan. In his case, he dealt with a German company that wanted to build a village for German vacationers only. This idea was denied for the obvious reason that it wanted to allow Germans only. Aberkan took over and took control of the project, which is now a soon to be vacation spot for Europeans, Moroccans, and MRE's alike. European television stations have interviewed Aberkan, and the German company that came up with the original design for the project is now building the roads. The Paris-Dakar race, which is a rally race that goes through Africa (mostly Morocco) and ends in Paris, also runs next to the grounds where the resort is being built. As an MRE, Aberkan wanted to bring cultures together and integrate them, rather than separate them by allowing only Germans to the resort. I thought that not only was this vacation spot as a multinational joint venture a good example of cultural hybridity, but also the Dakar race that goes through Africa and Europe and includes drivers from all across the world
Trent Huismann
The multiplicity website, which is a case study involving people migrating back and forth from Morocco to Europe. There is one such case of Toutouh Hakim a permanent resident of Europe who is an ice cream vendor in Nador and has been for thirty years. He is following in the family business and he says tourism has increased dramatically over the years. This helps to prove the point that the Mediterranean is ultimately becoming more of a solid sea with every year that passes. More and more people are traveling back and forth over it only securing its identity. He explains how he can decipher the tourists and MRE’s by their clothing and the amount of ice cream they consume. Its also interesting that their family has their ice cream stand shaped like a football which I assume would be a soccer ball since it is not American culture. The idea of having the stand shaped like a soccer ball would be easily more geared to the Europeans and Tourists as it is a sport that is part of their nation pastimes. It’s also a sport that spans many nations and also connects many nations therefore making his stand more inviting and a sense of unity almost. Canclini's writes about the development of culture and no one is closer to view this then Toutouh on the streets where people of different cultures are mixing in front of his eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of the MREs lend a whole new level to the idea of globalization. The MREs are not struggling immigrants in either nation. In fact, they are often well to do and support commerce in both Europe and Morocco. For example, Habiba Ben Amar is trying to start an eco-tourism project that will involve the local Moroccans. Though the MREs can be looked at as neither Moroccan nor European, Amar sees a finite line between the MREs and the locals. She sees the influence of the MREs as foreign, negative and irresponsible to the local communities. For people like her the concept of the "solid sea" in the mediterranean is a negative thing and more driven by greed and capital than an actual positive cultural hybridity and cultural blending.
ReplyDelete“Where does identity reside?” Canclini asks us. In Multiplicity’s Solid Sea, it seems that MREs identity is formed through their indeterminate national status, and all the implications that come with that. Habiba Ben Amar, a cultural mediator, says, “The behavior of the MREs who come in summer goes against the values of the local population.” She does not move back and forth between Europe and Morocco, rather, she is a permanent resident of Morocco, a tourist hotspot for all Europeans, and views the temporary and long-term effects of tourism. She laments, almost pitifully, that “there is no financing for eco-tourism.” She works for a non-profit that seeks to get Moroccan women employment by restoring traditional Berber homes for the purpose of housing MREs and tourists. She says that “This offers the Berber culture an opportunity to be reborn and be recognized.”
ReplyDeleteIn this case, Amar presents an interesting point—the movement of modern Moroccans removes them in an economic sense from traditions of their culture. This causes them to lose identity as a Moroccan, or a Berber, and contribute to the subjugation of local Moroccans instead of the celebration and upward mobility of Moroccan residents. The type of tourism offered in Morocco, as evidenced in the photographs, is one that lavishes in the weather of Morocco, without as much interaction with Moroccan culture or landscape. Land is developed for more modern, European tastes, with dance clubs and bars and everything else, set apart from the more impoverished sections of Morocco. This steers MREs away from their heritage and towards a more homogenized culture. The result could be the loss of Moroccan identity, a Moroccan landscape, and a sense of Moroccan history. Only a permanent resident like Habib Ben Amar would be able to witness the enormous push of the tourists and the gradual wiping away of the old Morocco.
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ReplyDeleteCanclini’s article, Identities as a Multimedia Spectacle mentions, “If anthropology--the social science that has studied the formation of identities more than any other-- encounters difficulties today in dealing with transnationalization and globalization, it is because of the habit of considering the members of a society as belonging to one homogeneous culture and, for that reason, having one distinctive and coherent identity.” The fact of the matter actually is that our world is globalizing. Transnationalization and globalization are the concepts behind different national identities and cultures coming together and forming, “one distinctive and coherent identity”.
ReplyDeleteOn the multiplicity site, (M)Re-Tourism testimonies, Abdelaziz Msegued has lived in Al-Wahda for more than eight years. Most of the inhabitants there are people from Oujda, however, an evolution of Moroccan-style architecture is taking over; even though only 12 percent of the district belongs to the MRE’s. Msegued's national identity is now becoming confusing, as it gradually getting more difficult to determine, while where he lives is not just one single culture as it was at one point. This is one of many examples nowadays, where we see national identities coming/blending together (forced or unforced), as a result of cultural hybridity, transnationalization, and globalization.
Adam Wynne -- Film 301