Claiming Street Presence in Morocco

IES Rabat Study Abroad Program, Spring 2013, Morocco 

Badhaftu Kadir ‘14 Political Science Major
Mara Aussendorf ‘14 Sociology Major

Badhaftu (center right) with her program friends  

 
What led you attend this program in Morocco? 

B: I wanted to go to a French speaking country, and also learn Arabic. Also have an internship opportunity, and immerse in the culture through internship and living with a host family. 

M: Same. Honestly, it sounded like a beautiful country. I also have been interested in Islam for a while, so it made sense. 

How was living in a big city in Morocco?

M: The home stays I thought were really good. That's how I learned the most about the Moroccan culture. I practiced my language skills with my host family. Learned a lot about different roles in family living. 

Mara with her host mother

B: Same here. My family really liked me, and integrated me really quickly in their family structure. They would talk to my real family on Skype. I think my host mom had a plan to fatten me up. In one of my last meals, she said, “I remember when you came here, you were so small. Now, you are big”. I said, “oh this is why you have been giving me tea and cookies six times a day. I realize what your plan was.” They invited me back to Morocco, even put a large pack of cookies in my luggage [when I was leaving] so I could give them to my own family. 

M: In terms of home stay, something I noticed about Morocco is this extreme contrasts that were really hard to reconcile. We both had really good experiences with home stays. They were amazing people, respectful and considerate. The extreme contrast with that was to go out and walk around Medina to witness a lot of street harassment. It is difficult to identify, but random men would call you out and invite you over to their private spheres. Not that they are bad people but… 

B: Some of them probably were… 

What were you anticipating before you arrived there? What was different than your expectations? 

M: I knew that street harassment was big there. I was asked to be prepared for that. What I was not expecting that it was so much more than I had expected. It was constant. It was very aggressive. I am not from a big city, so I was not used that big city harassment that would happen in the US, either. I felt pretty unprepared for that. 

B: During the orientation, we were all told about the case of street harassment. But I had never realized until then that I was going to be racialized. I knew a lot of people in Morocco call themselves Arab, and identify North Africa different than the rest of the Africa. I didn’t realize my skin color was going to be such a big part of the kind of street harassment I faced. 

Like how?

Badhaftu enjoying the Moroccan cuisine

B: There were levels. Sometimes they would call me, “sister of Obama” …  How Immigration is dealt with is a big problem in Morocco. They receive a lot of people from neighboring countries, many immigrants use Morocco as a halfway point and to get into Europe, which creates conflict between the European states and Morocco as well as citizens and migrants. They would think I was from a neighboring country, so they’d yell at me to go back to Senegal etc. It was also hard for people to believe that I was American but not African. They would ask about my parents, but that does not count. My parents happen to be immigrants, but not every Black person you will see will be from Africa. It was hard for people  to believe that America is not only white people. I am American but I am not white. When I was alone on the streets it was worse. When I was in a group, they would see that I was an American student in a school program. But when alone, it gets scary especially at nights. No one hangs out in the dark alone in Medina. You just are not outside for no reason.

How did you cope with it? Did you find a method that made it easy for you to live there? 

M: It is hard to describe. I changed some of my habits. I love going out, but I wouldn’t. When I am out at nights, I would always make sure I am always with a guy. This is something I honestly hated. I hate being reliant on a guy. I found that instead of staying strong, I kind of changed that attitude and accepted what was going. Now looking back, I would probably act differently but when I was there my coping mechanism was to accept what was going on. I felt like I was only a guest there so I did not feel like it was my right to say anything, just because I came with a lot of privilege. I was having a more culturally relativist stance, but now in retrospect I feel I could have done some things differently.

Like what? 

M: I think I would stand up for myself more, and call people out when they were saying things that aren’t okay with me. 

Do you think that works?

M: Well, Badhaftu was a lot better than me at being stronger.

Mara with local women 

B: Oh no. Well I had the opposite reaction of Mara, it was interesting actually. I read through my blog, and would see my progress about my feelings towards the street harassment. I’d say “okay street harassment is happening, I need to figure out a way to deal with it. Maybe I will yell back at people. Also, I really don’t care what people will think of me. I am not okay with being called names, and I don’t care if standing up is not seen as culturally appropriate or not. I don’t like this. I wouldn’t take this in America, so I won’t take it in here. So I started yelling at people. Then I escalated to threatening people that I would punch them. Yes, I want to have a culturally relative perspective but I just simply can’t accept being harassed and it does not matter where I am in the world. One time we were in Marrakech, a touristy town so we are walking around. This guy apparently said something to me but I did not hear. My friend stopped me and said it was not okay. She turned around, kicked him off his bike and we got into a fight. But we stopped immediately because we were in a public place and there were a lot of people around us. Many shouted “shame”, they shouldn’t be doing this”. I thought that the best way for me was to yell at people and head-on confrontation.

How would people react to that?

Badhaftu with local people

B: It depends. Some people laugh. Some people would get angry. It was also a little dangerous on my behalf. There were things I should have thought of more, because who is to say they were not going to react poorly?

How do Moroccan women react to similar situations? 

B: I think most of the time if it was another woman in the situation they would stand up to the harasser. It was reassuring for me that they were not happy about this, either. It is also a weird balance because these people could be your sister, your mom or your cousin. It is weird to think because they would not want anyone to street harass their mothers or sisters, I even asked this once to a man and he said he would not be happy about it - so it is okay for them to do it, but no one can do it to women they know. I don’t really know how people reconciled with that. Older women don’t have to deal with it, but lots of teenagers do. It’s not a game or anything, but it felt that it is something people have accepted mostly and know that it is part of life .

M: I can only speak for who I talked to about it, and I got very different views on it. I mostly talked to my Gender Studies Professor who is a native. She had very powerful views on how it was not okay, and it was a patriarchal society and that needed to change. She had these ideas but she was a professor. The other person I spoke to was my host sister. She had very different views on it. When I asked her about how she dealt with it, she said she wore full hijab to avoid it. My professor would say that should not be necessary to cover everything to avoid harassment. My sister saw it as a good thing because it helped her escape the harassment. For her, it symbolized that you are more dedicated to Islam, and Islam is against sexual harassment. We actually had this conversation with her right after I came home after just being harassed by someone. It was the most extreme that I had by then, so I came quite traumatized and told her what happened. She told me she had another host student who faced assault and came home crying. My sister did not understand why she was crying, nor understood why I was upset. That was interesting to observe.

Mara on the camel 

What would you have done differently if you were to go back?

B: Honestly, I don't think I would have done anything differently while abroad, I would have prepared more mentally I guess pre-departure.

M: There is a lot I would never take back and a lot that I would do differently. But the first thing that comes to mind is that I would hope to be stronger. It's hard to navigate a new culture while maintaining particular values you've learned to cherish from your own culture, and I found that to be a difficult process for me. I now have a better understanding of what is actually valuable to sacrifice and what is perhaps valuable to not sacrifice, as well as doing so in a way that is still respectful.  

I would also eat more of my host mom's cookies. So good.

Overall, how would you reflect back on your experience in Morocco? What did you learn from living there?

B: I can say that my experience was very polarizing I had some of the best and worst experiences of my life but it was definitely something that help me grow as a person immensely. I learned that I'm more resilient than I thought and that I stick to my guns and will stand up for myself regardless of the cost. 

M: I reflect very positively on my time there. I learned an unquantifiable amount on love, beauty, friendship, sharing, sisterhood, trusting myself, Islam, sunburn, and -- this may sound funny -- but being nice. Most of the Moroccans I became close with were incredibly, openly nice to an extent that was truly amazing. 

3 tips would you give to those who are about to study abroad in Morocco, and should keep in mind during their visit?

Mara:

1) Spend time with your host family and friends you meet there. 

2) Say yes to more things than you would here. 

3) Try to learn darija (Moroccan Arabic)! 

Badhaftu (left) and her friends

Badhaftu: I would remind them to think about their own identity and to understand that may be perceived differently than they identify at home. Travel around the country as much as possible homework is overrated! Last but not least talk to as many different people as possible and try to build relationships in your community whether that is having an internship or just having a hanook guy you buy snacks from everyday, take it all in study abroad flies by.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with the Macalester community. This is invaluable information for anyone who is considering to go abroad in Morocco, or a country with similar profile.  If your interested in hearing more from Badhaftu or Mara, email me at ckaysadi@macalester.edu