Home > Events > Fez, Morocco, Crossroads of Knowledge and Power: Celebrating 1,200 Years of Urban Life (Day 2)

Fez, Morocco, Crossroads of Knowledge and Power: Celebrating 1,200 Years of Urban Life (Day 2)

An international conference organized by the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Riverside.

Saturday, November 15, 2008
9:15 AM - 4:30 PM
UCLA Faculty Center, California Room
480 Charles Young Dr. East
Los Angeles, CA United States

To commemorate the occasion of the 1200th anniversary of the city of Fez and the city’s designation as a UNESCO world heritage site, University of California and local scholars will meet with colleagues from Morocco, Europe and the U.S. to explore new cross-fertilizations of ideas about urban space and social relations.

Viewed as the archetypal North African, Arab, and Muslim walled city, the medina of Fez can be mapped chronologically or surveyed as a traditional site to be revived and renovated. Fez serves as a case study for the comparative exploration of visual, architectural, and literary representations in research at the intersection of social history, architectural history, urban planning, engineering, anthropology, and literature.

The conference will be accompanied by a concert on the evening of Saturday, November 15th entitled Fez: Queen of Cities.

Abstracts of most of papers to be delivered at the conference are available by clicking on the highlighted paper title. A PDF of the conference program is also attached.

 

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14
University of California, Riverside
Humanities and Social Sciences Building 1500

9:45 am       

Welcome and Introduction
Susan Ossman, UC-Riverside

SESSION I: PRESERVING THE OLD CITY
Chair: Anne Sutherland, UC-Riverside

10:00 am    

The policy of Morocco in the preservation of architectural heritage of the city of Fez
Amina Aouchar, University Mohammed V

10:30 am   

Maison Arabes au Maroc: Fez and French Colonial Architecture
Patricia Morton, UC-Riverside

11:00 am   

Conservation and Sustainability: Case study of the Sahrij & Sbaiyin Madrassa Complex
Bonnie Kaplan, Sahrij & Sbaiyin Madrassa Complex Restoration Project

11:30 am       

Discussant: Irene Bierman, UCLA

12:00 pm       

Lunch Break


SESSION II: RELIGIOUS RITUAL AND POLITICS
Chair: Susan Slyomovics, UCLA

2:00 pm   

Political Legitimacy and Popular Participation in the Royal Musalla of Fez
Stacy Holden, Purdue University

2:30 pm   

The Ruins of Hierarchy: Shifting Powers of Person and Place in a Fassi Religious Rite
Emilio Spadola, Colgate University

3:00 pm       

Transcribing Jewish Fez: Colonial Linguistics and the Ethnographic Construction of Judeo-Arabic
Oren Kosansky, Lewis & Clark College

3:30 pm        

Discussant: Muhamad Ali, UC-Riverside

 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15
University of California, Los Angeles
Faculty Center, California Room

9:15 am   

Welcome and Introduction
Susan Slyomovics, UCLA

9:20 am       

Summary of Previous Day
Susan Miller, UC-Davis

SESSION III: DIVISIONS AND REVISION OF URBAN SPACE
Chair: Susan Slyomovics, UCLA

9:30 am    

From “Rabad” to “Habitat Social”:  An Urban-Cultural History of the Suburbs of Fez
Said Ennahid, Al-Akhawayn University

10:00 am   

Is There a Secret Tunnel Under Fez: Oral History vs. Remote Sensing
Kamal Oudrhiri, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA

10:30 am   

From Open Air Sewer to Multi-Performative Infrastructure: River Restoration in the Medina of Fez, Morocco
Aziza Chaouni, University of Toronto & Takako Tajima, Landscape Architect

11:00 am        

Carnet de quartier. Change on Zkak Roumane in the early 2000s
Justin McGuinness, American University in Paris

11:30 am       

Discussant: Susan Miller, UC-Davis

12:00 pm        

Lunch Break

SESSION IV: FEZ, BEYOND BORDERS
Chair: Said Ihrai, University Mohammed V

2:00 pm       

Readings from Secret Son
Laila Lalami, UC-Riverside

2:30 pm       

Negotiating “European” and “Local” Characters: Preserving Fez during the French
Protectorate
Colette Apelian, Independent Scholar

3:00 pm   

Danza Mora: North Africa in Flamenco, and Flamenco in North Africa
Walter Clark, UC-Riverside

3:30 pm       

Discussant: Dwight Reynolds, UC-Santa Barbara

4:00

Concluding Remarks

 

 

Cost: Free. No RSVP is required.

Special Instructions

Parking will be available in Parking Lot 2. You can obtain a parking permit ($9 per car) from the parking/ information kiosk located on Westwood Blvd just north of the UCLA Hospital, or use the pay-by-space stations located in Lot 2 (they accept $1 and $5 dollar bills, as well as VISA and MasterCard credit cards). Conference attendees will be on their own for lunch. Suggestions will be available for places to eat on or near the campus.

For more information please contact

Peter Szanton, Center for Near Eastern Studies
Tel: 310-825-1455
cnes@international.ucla.edu
www.international.ucla.edu/cnes

Download File: Fez brochure V8.pdf

Sponsor(s): Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA International Institute, UC-Riverside Global Studies Program, UC-Riverside Center for Ideas and Society, UC-Riverside Office of Research, UC-Riverside Department of Anthropology, UC-Riverside Department of Music, UC-Riverside Department of Art History, University of California Humanities Research Center (UCHRI), Social Science Research Council Islam and Muslims in World Contexts Program, Moroccan American Cultural Center Los Angeles