Fus'ha/Darija

Warning: this post is going to be really linguistics-y so sorry in advance, it’s just something I was thinking about today.

So, background on Arabic is that there is one dialect, Modern Standard Arabic (Fus’ha), that is taught is schools and is considered the official Arabic language. No one actually speaks this language as a first language, though. They all speak their own dialects of Arabic. Darija is spoken in most of North Africa, the Egyptian dialect in Egypt, and the Levantine dialect in most of the Middle East. Everyone learns Fus’ha in school, and all formal schooling is done in Fus’ha. This creates a really big divide between the literate Moroccans, who know Fus’ha and use a lot of those words in their everyday life, and the lower class Moroccans who only speak Darija. The divide in languages only gets bigger the more schooling you have. Thus, by only teaching reading and writing in Fus’ha, you’re essentially creating a culture divide between literate people and illiterate.

It’s also interesting to think about how this all came about. In English, our language evolved pretty much with the writing – there was no formal register of English that was a different dialect from the colloquial dialects. Some formal terms that you may not use in everyday conversation of course, but not anything that could be termed two different dialects. I think it may have something to do with Arabic schooling being so tightly tied to reading the Koran, which is written in an older form of Fus’ha. As the various dialects developed over time, but people still studied the Koran to learn to read and write, the divide between colloquial speech and formal speech got wider and wider. It’s very strange how it is today, though, where all the books and news stations are in a language that is barely mutually intelligible with what everyone in the country speaks. I asked my Arabic professor if any books are written in Darija, and she said one famous author has written some things in Darija, but it’s not popular at all yet. It seems to me like if you’re writing a book in what is essentially a second language, your creativity would be a bit stunted. I think it would be cool for the Moroccans to start producing official things in Darija so they could share more personal stories and share the culture more directly, instead of translating it into a formal register.

Another thing about the languages is that each person speaks their own mix of Fus’ha and Darija, just depending on how much schooling they have or perhaps their socioeconomic background and how much of each they’re exposed to. My Arabic teacher explained to us that some people, the most educated, speak like 70% Fus’ha and the rest Darija in every day life, while some may speak no Fus’ha at all. It’s so weird to me to think of a society sort of stratified by language. It’s sort of like a sociolinguistics thing, where the language you speak is directly linked to your schooling or your socioeconomic background.

It’s all just fascinating to me. Especially coming from America where we basically only speak English. For an entire country to speak a different language at home than the one they speak in school seems so weird.

I have to qualify that, though. The Egyptian and Levantine dialects are both mutually intelligible with Fus’ha for the most part. It’s just the Moroccan dialect that is barely mutually intelligible at all, so it basically is like a second language for them.

Women and the veil in Morocco

During our orientation, one of our instructors gave a talk about the history of the veil and the political implications that went with it, and what she had to say was actually very interesting and made me think of the veil in a new way.

She started by telling the story of her grandmother, who could count the number of times she left the house in her life on both hands, and who wore the full veil each of those times she left her house.
She was very proud of this, and said that she was proud to have a husband who was kind enough to never make her leave the house. The grandmother explained to her that from where she was from, in rural Morocco in the early 1900s, women were used sort of as pack mules, and that it was common practice for a man to go to his neighbor’s house and ask to borrow the neighbor’s wife to help carry something heavy into town. So, it was a sort of a symbol of prestige for a woman to wear the veil and to have the freedom to stay inside her house.

Much later, around the 1970s, our instructor told us that hardly any women wore veil or even a headscarf, and that at that time the literacy rate for women was very low. There was also a lot of sexism regarding religious practice, ie. women were not encouraged to go to the mosque to pray, but instead were encouraged to pray at home, and they were not encouraged to read the Koran. In the 1980s there was a feminist movement where more women were being educated, and wearing the head scarf became a women’s movement as a symbol of being able to read the Koran and interpret it for themselves without having men interpret it for them. Many women began to wear the headscarf and go to the mosque to pray as sort of a symbol of defiance against men who had told them that it was not necessary to do so before.

So, that is the history of the veil and the headscarf, and it’s a bit more complicated today. Most middle aged and older women wear the headscarf, and most younger women do not. People wear it for a wide variety of reasons, too – some for religious piety, some because they like the way it looks, some for traditional reasons, some because their families want them to, some because of just general societal pressure. Our instructor does not wear the headscarf, and she says she gets questions all the time from other women about why she doesn’t wear it. So there is definitely some community judgment against middle aged women who don’t wear it. Most younger and unmarried girls don’t wear it though, and there’s no pressure for them to.

I must say, just as a personal observation, it was very shocking to see women wearing the full veil. Very few women wear the full veil here (only showing a slit for your eyes). I did sort of a double take at one woman in head to toe black robes with black gloves. My first impression of her was that she was sort of faceless. I had an interesting conversation with one girl in my program about it – she commented that the face is such an important part of communication and expression, and that by covering up your avenues of expression, you’re covering up your humanity. It was eerie, almost, to see this woman walking around with no face. I’ve gotten more used to it, though, and it’s not as shocking anymore. One interesting thing I saw was a woman wearing the full veil with lots of eye makeup. I did not know what to make of this at all. It feels contradictory to try to cover up your whole body and face, but then wear lots of eye makeup. Maybe her family makes her wear the veil and that’s her way of feeling attractive? I don’t know. Make of that what you will.

The instructor closed the session by repeating what one woman who wore the full veil once told her. The woman said that she felt the most free she ever had when she started wearing the full veil. Now, after seeing the way Moroccan men treat women in the streets, I can actually understand this sentiment.  Moroccan men make you feel very objectified by staring at you and making comments all the time, with no shame at all, and I can understand why this woman would feel free walking in the streets not being overly scrutinized and bothered by men. It is sad, though, that some women here go to those lengths to feel comfortable and free walking around in the streets. I think that shows the problems with what is acceptable for men more than anything.

Anyways, all in all I think my conceptions of the veil have definitely changed, or at least I can kind of commiserate with it a little more. It doesn’t seem quite so foreign to me anymore. I think people in the US have sort of a phobia with all things foreign, and the ideas of the veil and Islam seem very foreign to people in the US. It is important to note that, at least in Morocco, wearing the headscarf is a personal choice for women (with a little bit of societal pressure). It’s not encouraged by the government at all. 

2 and a half weeks in

It's interesting to me how now, after a couple weeks, things are already starting to become so familiar to me that I don't even notice them anymore. I don't get lost anymore in the maze of alleys leading from my house to the building where we have class. I don't really notice the questionable piles of trash in the streets. I've stopped minding the looks/greetings/comments from random men. I've gotten used to everyone being about 10-20 minutes late for everything. My first instinct is to say certain things in French or Arabic instead of in English first and then searching for a translation. Sometimes it's annoying always searching for a way to express exactly what I want to say, but it's also fun when I am able to express myself. I've found myself remembering words for things I didn't know I knew, and I'm getting really used to only using French at home (even though I should actually be practicing my Arabic also).

One thing I can't get used to, though, is the food. Moroccan food is very very VERY carb heavy. Breakfast always consists of a tea or coffee and a combination of toast, baguette, and croissants. Lunch is generally some type of stew with bread. (The traditional way to eat the stew is using bread as a spoon and picking up the food with a piece of bread. My family uses spoons, though, thank goodness. Trying to use bread as a utensil causes you to eat way too much bread.) Then we have tea at dinnertime, around 7pm, which consists of bread, baguette, croissants, tea, and coffee. Then a small dinner late at like 10 or 11pm, which varies, but is usually more carbs... something like pasta or rice. Basically my diet is entirely carbs, cooked vegetables, fat, some meat, and fruit. There is not a lot of variety in the meals, which makes me miss American food so much. I definitely took for granted the ability to find any type of food I wanted.

Everyone in my program is settling in to Moroccan life. A group of us have decided to take belly dancing classes and surf lessons, which are both absurdly cheap here by American standards. We've also been planning trips, for example, next weekend we're going to Tangiers to go to the beach and a jazz festival. The week after that is our group excursion, where we're visiting all over Morocco including several days in Marrakesh and camping in the desert in southern Morocco. For our break we've decided to go travel around southern Spain and then spend some days in Portugal.

We just got my internship placements today, and we start tomorrow. I'm working at the Association Democratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), which is a nonprofit women's advocacy organization that works closely with a lot of other women's groups to push certain measures in parliament. I'm pretty sure they're mostly political advocacy group for gender equality and women's rights, but they also run some education programs. It's interesting that on their website they describe themselves as a feminist group. The word 'feminist' seems almost outdated in American culture, but I keep having to remind myself that in Morocco the concept of feminism is not outdated or superfluous in politics but rather fairly modern and necessary. I'm excited to work with those women and hopefully get a better grasp of the types of social and political gender inequalities in Morocco today.

This past weekend we took a trip to Casablanca. The highlight of the trip was probably seeing the Hassan II mosque, the third largest mosque in the world, with the tallest minaret. (The tour guide emphasized this point). It was huge and beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice at all.

The mosque is built right on the ocean, and it was beautiful to watch the sunset on the ocean with the mosque all lit up like this. King Hassan II of Morocco, who built this in the early 1990s, said he chose this spot because of  the line in the Qur'an that says "his throne was on the ocean" ('his' being Allah).

The other highlight was the Casablanca nightlife. We went to several clubs that were all VERY different, and each interesting and fun in their own ways. One, we soon found out, was a gay club. Homosexuality is very taboo in Moroccan culture, so it was interesting to find very blatant homosexuality inside the club when outside the club it would be very taboo for two men to kiss, for example. Homosexuality is actually illegal in Morocco, and you can get pretty serious jail time for being openly gay. That is to say, there are many gay men (and presumably women) in Morocco, but you have to be very secretive about it. So, it was interesting to see crossdressing and men kissing in the club when it is so taboo in general and in public. Another club we went to was very loud and crowded with a mix of traditionally dressed Moroccans and very westernly clad Moroccans. They were playing traditional music, and lots of women were belly dancing. One woman was actually wearing the traditional robe and head scarf while belly dancing. This was very strange - I continue to not understand so much about this culture. I'll write more on that later perhaps.

First impressions

So, first of all, I wasn't sure if I was going to start a blog or not for this trip.. I wasn't sure if any of my observations would actually be of any interest to anyone, but I decided to start one anyways mainly as a journal for myself and as a way to keep everyone updated about my travels without having to update everyone individually.

I guess I'll start by saying that I've been here for approximately a week and half but it feels so much longer than that. The trip here was very long - a flight at 7:30 am California time from Los Angeles to New York, then a flight at 7 pm New York time from New York to Paris, then a flight at noon Paris time from Paris to Rabat... all in all it was about a full 24 hours of traveling. So, once we actually got to Morocco we were just happy to be able to be done with all the flights and waiting in airports.

When we first got here, we were staying in a hotel in the modern part of the city that was built in the mid 1900s during the French colonization of this part of Morocco. (Morocco was colonized by both France and Spain around the time of WWI until the 1950s or the 1970s for some areas- Spain got the northern and southern areas, and France got the middle section). So, it was interesting to see the juxtaposition of relatively modern architecture vs. the older architecture from the people that lived here before. There are 3 different developed areas in Rabat. There is the old city built in the 12th century by the native people of Morocco, then the medina "city" built in the 17th century by moors who came down from Spain, then the modern city built by the French in the mid 1900s. We're taking classes and staying with host families in the medina (17th century city). It's basically just a big grid of alleys like a maze. (I've gotten lost so many times, but now I can basically find my way around). It's completely self sufficient, though. All the markets and homes are here for the people who live here, and most don't have to go outside to the newer part of the city for anything. Here's an example of a street:

We stayed at the hotel for the first week we were here during our orientation, which included a crash course in the Moroccan dialect of Arabic (darija) and we were given 10 dirhams each (the Moroccan currency, about 8 dirhams to a dollar) and being sent out to the markets to bargain with some Moroccan shopkeepers. This was semi successful on my part. Most people were amused and surprised at me, this very white American girl, trying to bargain with them in their language. I only know so much of the dialect, though, (basically hi, how are you, how much, etc.), so I always fell back on French. Orientation also included us being dropped off in random parts of the city and us having to ask directions from people on the street to find our way back to the medina. All of this trying to communicate in various languages (Darija, Standard Arabic, French, English) is very confusing and often ends in a lot of miscommunication and confusion. It's very rewarding, though, once you finally actually understand each other.

Another part of our orientation was a seminar on harassment from men on the street. We have experienced this a LOT firsthand. It is very culturally acceptable for Moroccan men to look women up and down, make kissing noises, whistle, and try to talk to random women on the street. So far I think the range of comments I've gotten is "hi sweetie" "hi sugar" "hello" "how are you" "hola" "bonjour" "salut" "ca va" "konichiwa" "I love you" "I want to teach you English" "American?" "Francais?" "Oh my God" "beautiful face" "bi kem" (which means "how much" in Arabic), and a lot more things in Arabic that I didn't understand. This happens ALL THE TIME too - I will get a mixture of at least 5 of these things said to me in any 10 minutes of walking on the street. This was very strange at first, especially when they walk by very close to you and say this right in your ear. I've gotten pretty used to it now, though. Most of the time I don't pay any attention to it. I've made friends with some Moroccan boys my own age who are friends with my host sister, and I've asked them about it, and they say that it's just teasing girls on the street and that it's not bad. They say it's just a compliment and that they're just them letting you know that they think you're attractive. Also, something strange to get used to is the very common pasttime of Moroccan men to sit at terraces of cafes and just watch women walking by, not even talking to each other. Apparently many Moroccan men love to just sit and people watch for hours at a time on terraces of cafes. (The Moroccan love for cafes came with the French colonization and it stuck. About one in every 5 stores on the street is a cafe.)

We moved in with our host families last week - mine is very nice and welcoming. My host mom and dad are a bit older, perhaps in their early 60s, and I have a host sister who is 27. They have a really nice, clean, apartment (which is pretty rare in the medina, because it's so old and all the buildings are so small), and they're really fun and funny (even though I can barely understand them). They also have a western toilet and shower instead of a turkish toilet and buckets for a shower! This is wonderful.. most families only have the turkish toilet and buckets. If you don't know what this is look it up on Google images. Moroccan culture is very welcoming - my fam always has guests over, and I've met a lot of the families who live around us. I've met a bunch of guys my age who are family friends, and I've gone to some cafes with them. They speak good English, so it's really nice to be able to be able to speak to them in English and not have to search for the words for things.

I have to go to class so I'll save the rest for later. Sorry this post is all over the place. There's so much to cover! I need to remind myself to talk about food/coffee/tea, the call to prayer, street cats, Moroccan beaches, dating/marriage, alcohol, holidays, and women and the veil/covering their head.