Globalization and Religion: Identity and Power
INAES (Institute for North American and European Studies), University of Tehran
15-16 November 2005
Abstract
The Moroccan Islamist Movement in a global context
Taieb Belghazi
University Mohamed V, Rabat, Morocco
T.Belghazi@open.ac.ukHe is a Professor of l'enseignement supérieur, Department of English, Faculty of Letters, University Mohamed V, Rabat, Morocco. He has a PhD from Cardiff (where He was Chevening Scholar) as well as degrees from the Universities of Rabat and Fès. He also held a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Research Scholarship at Duke University. He is a member of the UNESCO International Panel on Literacy, a consultant in the area of occupational training, a member of the Rabat Culture and Development Research Unit, a member of the editorial board of Time and Society (Sage Publications), and coordinator of graduate courses in Cultural Studies at Rabat.
This paper seeks to show how the identity of the Islamist movement in Morocco is affected by economic, political, social and ideological global processes. It elaborates on the idea that far from being a traditionalist undertaking, the Islamist Movement is a frontal engagement with the problematics of Modernity in a global context; and argues that Islamist movement reinvents Islamic tradition in order to confront the challenges of globalization.
The paper also discusses the ways in which various Moroccan trends of Islamism such as “Al ‘Adl wal Ihsan” and “Al adala wa Tanmiya” attempt to bring their politicised interpretations of events or frames into alignment with potential recruits’ pre-existing frames, constitute an lustration of the Islamists’ instrumentalisation of “modernity”. This will be shown through a discussion of the Islamists’ campaign against the “Programme for the Integration of Women in Development” and their involvement in the universalizing discourses on human rights.