On Double-Diasporicity: Notes From a Pilgrimage Ethnography to the Grave of Amran Ben Diwan

• Samuel Sami Everett ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Cambridge

     University of Cambridge

     Cambridge District, Reino Unido

     
• Localización: Hesperis Tamuda, ISSN 0018-1005, Nº. 55, 3, 2020, págs. 49-64
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Each year, towards the end of spring, many Moroccan Jews undertake Hiloulot (festive-pilgrimagessimilar to ziyārāt) to the tombs of local Sayyid (or Tsadikim, Saints). One such pilgrimage is held near Ouazzane in a douar (village) called Asjen where Amran Ben Diwan’s grave is located. While some claim that Amran Ben Diwan, who is venerated by Muslims and Jews alike, was a Rabbi from the holy land, others report that he was a local healer. Amid the Moroccan protests of 2011 and in spite of the bombing in Marrakesh, the Hiloula of Ouazzane for 2011 was well attended. In the same year, the appointment of a moderate Islamist government indicated a shift towards democratic change for which ongoing protests in Morocco have been appealing. On the basis of an ethnography to the tomb of Ben Diwan (2011), research on the subject over the last decade, and inspiration from interviews with several interlocutors among them the scholar and activist Simon Lévy, this paper takes a look at the tensions between minorities and the changing Moroccan political system. Through the prism of the Hiloula ‒ an important symbolic date for the Moroccan Jewish Diaspora and local Jewish residents alike ‒ this paper discusses the imperatives of Moroccan historiography and Diaspora relation to place, people and culture