"Ila l-muhibbati l-'azima": The Performance of Authority in Nineteenth-Century 'Alawi Official Correspondence

M. Ikraam Abdu-Noor

Scholars of the nation-state have noted the inherent instability of the idea of nation and the nation state's need to reassert its legitimacy through performance and display. Many pre-nation states have done the same, especially in their encounters with the West. European territorial incursions into Morocco in the nineteenth century exposed the problematic nature of central authority in general, and the weakness of the 'Alawi monarchy in particular. An examination of official correspondence between these monarchs and the British Consul General in Tangier between 1860 and 1888 reveals a narrative performance of authority in action. Religious dimensions of power and authority in Morocco are discussed, and religious discourses in the language of authority in the correspondence are revealed through examples drawn from the documents touching on images of the ruler, images of the ruled, the site of the deployment of power, and the questions of women and of slavery.

« Back