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Khalid
Bekkaoui, an English professor in the Faculty of Letters-Dhar
al Mahraz in Fez, Morocco, spent his three-month research grant
at the State University of New York-Binghamton creating an anthology
of writings on the cultural, diplomatic, historical and literary
relations between the United States and Morocco.
For his project, Bekkaoui used a variety of primary materials-including
consular reports, diaries, letters, newspapers and travel narratives-to
chronicle what he referred to as the history "of American
cultural reception and conception of the Moorish Other."
He had many sources to draw from. Several American writers have
been attracted to and have written about Morocco, including such
well-known authors as Edith Wharton and Tennessee Williams. "Morocco
did not only gratify these authors' quest for the remote and exotic
but also inspired and seduced them to use it as an integral part
of their artistic products," said Bekkaoui. "Thus, Morocco…became
an essential component of some of the finest works in American
Literature."
This anthology also places a great emphasis on the contribution
of female authors in reshaping American images of his country.
"Women's writings occupy a special position in the discourse
of difference," said Bekkaoui, "The female gaze often
generates…conflicts and contradictions which radically destabilize
and disorient masculinist positions and articulate alternative
representations of the racial Other."
Bekkaoui's project will help "fill in a gap in Moroccan-American
cultural studies by providing students, researchers and all those
interested in Morocco from the other side of the Atlantic with
a much needed anthology," said colleague Mohamed Laamiri,
dean of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences in Oujda, Morocco.
According to Beakkaoui, the work will fulfill two objectives:
"First, it will bring to light very rare and unpublished
works and try to re-define their position within canonized literature.
Second…it is hoped that the anthology would encourage research
in a field which is attracting increasing interest."
Bekkaoui has presented a number of papers on the topic at several
conferences. He is also the author of many articles and books.
His most recent publication, a play which he edited and published
in 1999, is entitled Lust's Dominion. The play is set in the 16th
century and focuses on Eleazar, the Prince of Fez. Eleazer is
taken to Spain as a captive but ends up becoming the general of
the Spanish forces.
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