Contesting Boundaries: Satire in Contemporary Morocco

Abstract

The remarkable political change that Morocco has witnessed after the death of King Hassan II in 1999 and the succession of his son, Mohammed VI, has contributed to the development of Moroccan satire due to the margin of freedom allowed by the new regime. As a result of this political reform, satire becomes visible as a recent phenomenon in the cultural scene of Morocco, moving from the private sphere in which it has been circulating clandestinely, to certain extent, to the open public sphere where satirists tackle issues that were, not long ago, censored or strictly prohibited. Satirical sketches and shows that ridicule senior political figures, jokes about religious authorities and sacred icons, cartoons that expose sexual materials have become public and commonplace, and contributed to bringing about many debates and inquiries about very controversial issues. Satire thus has gained an important position and popularity in contemporary Morocco as a critical and provocative medium that tends to unmask and condemn the flaws of the political and social system, like corruption, injustice and power abuse. This research project raises many questions about the role and the functioning of satire in contemporary Morocco. How does satire function as a critical form and how does it negotiate the power relations that prevail in society and contest the existing boundaries that limit somehow the scope of its attack? What are the political and legal constraints that limit the workings of satire? What are the satirical stratagems used by satirists to challenge protected political, religious and cultural boundaries and evade punitive censorship and oppression? How does the new “liberal” political context stimulate satirists to try to redefine the boundaries of the permissible in contemporary Moroccan satire? To answer these questions, this study brings together a wealth of examples of satiric expressions in the Moroccan context and analyzes these materials in terms of agents, audience, targets and aims. A special emphasis will be given to the study of various types of satire by collecting and interpreting examples from printed media, television and films. It attempts to link these examples to earlier historical forms of expressions in Morocco. The study of these historical modes help to show how contemporary Moroccan satire replicates western models along with remediating traditional forms. That is why it is necessary to dig into history and analyze traditional satirical forms. The thesis consists of seven chapters. The first chapter studies four early forms of Moroccan satire and how these traditional modes functioned in the socio-political context of their time. The second chapter is devoted to the Moroccan satirical press and the legal corpus that regulates it. The third chapter addresses political satire during the reign of Hassan II, while the fourth chapter discusses political satire in the new era of Mohammed VI. The fifth chapter focuses on satire about religion as a taboo subject. The sixth chapter addresses the theme of sexuality in Moroccan satire and the last chapter deals with satire in public media, especially on television and cinema.