CURRICULUM
Note: 1 unit = 4 semester hour credits
Courses taught by AMIDEAST faculty:
 Modern Standard Arabic (1.25 unit)
 Moroccan Arabic (Darija) (.75 unit)
 Contemporary Moroccan Culture (.75 unit)
Courses taught by the Beloit College faculty director:
 RLST 200 Comparative Religion in Morocco (1 unit) (may be taken by other
AMIDEAST students)
 RLST 390 Special Projects: Advanced Research Seminar (.50 unit)
Course Descriptions
RLST 200 Comparative Religion in Morocco (1 unit): This course combines a lecture format
with excursions to historical and contemporary sites linked to the varied religious landscape of
Morocco. In our examination of three Abrahamic traditions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam –
we will strive to uncover similarities and differences between religious ideas and practices,
without begging questions as to the theological and philosophical significance of those
similarities and differences. In the process we will consider ways of fostering inter-religious
understandings that are responsive to the complexity of religious life and practice in a Muslim
majority country that is also inhabited by a minority of Jews and Christians.
Core readings will be drawn from:
Allison Baker, Voices of Resistance: Oral Histories of Moroccan Women
Joelle Bahloul, The Architecture of Memory: A Jewish-Muslim Household in Colonial Algeria,
1937-1962
Marjo Buitelaer, Fasting and Fasting in Morocco
Dale Cannon, Six Ways of Being Religious: A Framework for Comparative Studies in Religion
Vincent J. Cornell, Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism
Vincent Crapanzano, The Hamadsha: A Study in Moroccan Ethnopsychiatry
S.S. Davis & D.A. Davis, Adolescence in a Moroccan Town: Making Social Sense
Shlomo A. Deshen, The Mellah Society: Jewish Community Life in Sherifian Morocco
Dale F. Eickelman, Moroccan Islam
Clifford Geertz, Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia
Elizabeth Fernea, In Search of Islamic Feminism
Doris H. Gray, Muslim Women on the Move: Moroccan Women and French Women of
Moroccan Origin Speak Out
Amir Hussain, Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God
Raphael Israel, Back to Nowhere: Moroccan Jews in Dream, Nostalgia and Reality
John W. Kiser, The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria
Michael M. Laskier and Yaacov Lev, The Convergence of Judaism and Islam: Religious,
Scientific, and Cultural Dimensions
Brooks LLC, ed., Moroccan People by Religion
Vivian B. Mann, Morocco: Jews and Art in a Muslim Land
Fatima Mernissi, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in a Muslim Society
Frederic P. Miller, Moroccan Jews
Margaret Rausch, Bodies, Boundries and Spirit Possession: Moroccan Women and the Revision
of Tradition
Haya Bar-Itzhak, etal, Jewish Moroccan Folk Narratives from Israel
Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience
Monika Sudakov, Moroccan Tea Ritual
Huston Smith, The World Religions
Earle H. Waugh, Memory, Music and Religion: Morocco’s Mystical Chanters
Students will be evaluated based upon completion of reflection papers, a public presentation, and
an oral final exam that directs them to thoughtfully address the content, context, process, and
outcome of their learning during the semester. The course meets 4 hours each week for 14
weeks. The course is taught by Prof. Debra Majeed, Beloit College Department of Philosophy
and Religion.
RLST 390 Special Projects: Advanced Research Seminar (.50 unit): This serves as the
intellectual space in which students tie together the threads of what they are learning about
religion and Morocco while in Morocco. Under the guidance of the program director and through
readings, seminar engagement and on-site interaction with Jewish, Christian, and Muslim
communities in Morocco, students undertake an independent research project culminating in a
10-12-page paper and a presentation at the 2013 Student symposium. The course meets 2 hours
each week for 14 weeks; the program director also meets individually with students on a regular
basis. Students will be evaluated based upon the submission of a well-articulated and supported
argument, thoughtful exploration of their chosen topic, and completion of the research paper.
The course is taught by Prof. Debra Majeed, Beloit College Department of Philosophy and
Religion.
Potential research themes or questions include:





Memory and History
o Why do religious communities remember some events and not others? What can
we learn about these religions through an analysis of their common history?
Music
o Why do some kinds of music find a continuing place in worship while others
seem to lose their appeal?
o In what ways is “religious” music used in “secular” contexts?
Fundamentalism
o Why are Islam, Judaism, and Christianity understood narrowly by some
practitioners even though each tradition has a broadly textured history of belief
and practice?
Ritual
o In what ways do the commonalities and/or differences of ritual expression suggest
potential challenges to/possibilities for interfaith collaborations?
Sexualities
o How do Jews, Christians, or Muslims who maintain alternate forms of sexuality
sustain their faith and identity when heterosexuality is normative?






Human/Women’s Rights
o How do the tenets of faith inform or challenge the “rights” struggles of Jews,
Christians, or Muslims?
Family Law
o In a country in which Shari’a is the residual source of law, how might the
religious law of one tradition limit adherence to the family code of another faith?
Female Leadership
o How do opportunities for religious or political leadership differ among the three
traditions as practiced in Morocco?
Sacred Texts
o What can we learn about these religions through an analysis of their sacred texts?
Literature
o What can we learn about these religions through an analysis of literature produced
by their adherents?
Architecture
o What can we learn about these religions through an analysis of the architecture of
their “sacred” spaces?
Modern Standard Arabic (1.25 unit): All students enroll in Modern Standard Arabic at a level
appropriate to their proficiency. Moroccan Arabic instruction begins during on-site orientation
and continues throughout the semester. Students are placed in classes (Arabic 211 or Arabic 311)
appropriate to their previous knowledge of Arabic, Arabic 1, for example, introduces the Arabic
alphabet and sound system forms. Students will be given ample opportunity to practice and
produce both the alphabet and the sound system; they will start developing their vocabulary via
specific structures presented in the primary textbook (Alif Baa Introduction to Arabic Letters and
Sounds Third Edition). Students will learn simple grammatical structures and gradually listen to
authentic instructional materials that come with the textbook. Most of the exercises and the
activities are task-based and student-centered. The course meets 5 hours each week for 14 weeks.
Understanding and ability to read the Qur’an is facilitated by language skills. The course is
taught by AMIDEAST staff.
Moroccan Arabic (Darija) (.75 unit): Instruction begins during on-site Orientation and
continues throughout the semester. Students are placed in classes appropriate to their previous
knowledge of Arabic. Students in the introductory course are introduced to words, expressions,
and instructions used frequently in everyday life. Student practice them in class before they are
given assignments to carry out with native speakers in real situations. Evaluation combines
performance in class and successful interaction with Moroccans. The course meets 3 hours each
week for 14 weeks. The course is taught by AMIDEAST staff.
Contemporary Moroccan Culture (.75): This course introduces visiting students to the
different facets of contemporary Moroccan culture. Being caught between the North and the
South, the East and the West, Moroccan culture has embraced a wide diversity of cultural
variants and has integrated them into a homegrown cultural hybrid. Pre-Islamic, African, Berber,
European, and modern technological cultures have intermingled to create contemporary
Moroccan society. This hybridizing process has resulted in a number of fascinating mixes and
paradoxes (linguistic, cultural, religious, ethnic, and political). Among the topics covered in this
course are Moroccan traditional culture in the cyber age; current popular culture; religious
rituals; youth culture; media culture of newspapers, T.V., and radio stations; the impact of
modernization on Moroccan social practices; perceptions of time, space, and the body; changes
in the culture of womanhood; recent reforms in Morocco (education, women, human rights, labor
laws); culture of dress, fashion and traditional clothing; arts, music, and painting; intellectual
production in different areas; the language question (Arabic, Amazigh, French, English); and
facing globalizations: the Moroccans’ conception of the past, the present, and the future
(religious, cultural, philosophical, and political implications). The course also will consider the
implications of “The Arab Spring” democracy and revolution in Morocco. The course meets 3
hours each week for 14 weeks. The course is taught by AMIDEAST staff.
EXCURSIONS
To be arranged by AMIDEAST in conjunction it its excursions for AMIDEAST study abroad
students:
 Travel to Fez for visits to Center for the Study of Islam, local synagogue, and Al
Akhawayn University in Ifrane.
 Travel to Chefchowen to meeting with local artisans and here an Andalusi music
performance.
 Day trips and admission to Casablanca to visit Jewish Museum, Hassan II
Mosque, local synagogue and church.