Theatre Journal

Since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, North Africa has been the topic of many books and articles, often focused on the role of women and ethnic groups in the revolts. In particular, Amazigh (Berber) minorities have become more visible after years of being marginalized; for example, they achieved official recognition of their languages and specific heritage in several countries. However, very little has been written about Black communities, despite the vibrant, popular Gnawa cultural movement in Morocco. In the racially-charged context of North Africa, Black immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa often face suspicion and discriminatory practices from majoritarian communities, police forces, and governments. With a growing number of migrants and refugees trying to cross into Europe, North African states are placed under tremendous pressure, and this creates tensions between local communities and new arrivals.

Cynthia Becker’s new book, Blackness in Morocco: Gnawa Identity through Music and Visual Culture is a welcome, needed, and topical addition to research on North African identities and contemporary culture. More specifically, it ties performance and music practices to the issue of race and the history of slavery, bringing a new outlook to studies on Gnawa communities and their history. It is an essential read for anyone interested in North African cultural and performance heritage, and, more generally, minority and race studies.

Becker takes a fieldwork-focused approach to research, bringing to the fore the voices of minorities that are often excluded from national discourse. She adopts an ethnographic methodology, fully immersing herself within communities for long periods of time and documenting practices that are central to their sense of identity. Blackness in Morocco focuses on Gnawa performance practices and their spiritual rituals, both unique within the North African cultural landscape. Her previous book Amazigh Arts in Morocco: Women Shaping Berber Identity (2006) looked at the quotidian lives of women in marginalized areas, who play a vital role in preserving local dialects and traditions. Some of the key themes of this earlier research reappear here: a focus on marginalized groups, particularly women, and the idea of empowerment through creative or spiritual practices. Becker particularly teases out the ways differences are celebrated through performance, and how African ancestral heritage perpetuates despite postcolonial policies that sought to streamline North African identities around a pan-Arab ideology.

‘Gnawa’ in Morocco can carry a number of different meanings: a specific type of musical performance that usually involves drumming, spiritual events, or, more generally, a descriptor for Black Moroccan communities. Gnawa, Becker writes, is “a connection to Blackness…[with] a mythological and symbolic quality”; it is, she continues, a marker both of ‘Otherness’ and authenticity (4), with this latter term understood as emerging through hereditary lines within families of spiritual practitioners and musicians. Descended from Black African slaves, the Gnawa community developed its own codes and rites, different from mainstream Moroccan culture, while, at the same time, playing a very specific role within it. Renowned and sought out specifically for their musical skills and healing powers, Gnawa people inspire respect and awe within majoritarian Moroccan culture.

A key strength of Becker’s book is her decades long commitment to the community and her rigorous research process. She spent years attending events and interviewing musicians, spiritual healers, diviners, and other members of the Gnawa community. Becker discusses the Orientalist lens through which Gnawa performances are often viewed, as well as their contemporary commercialization as part of a growing tourist industry. To avoid a voyeuristic position, she adopts a participatory role, fully partaking in the performances and rituals about which she later writes. She also particularly focuses on the experience of female practitioners, notably absent from much of the existing literature. Indeed, Blackness in Morocco includes one of the few contemporary accounts describing a ‘lila,’ spirit possession events that are central to Gnawa spiritual practices. Her work provides us with a rare and detailed insight into these ceremonies, which are usually closed to outsiders, a point to which I return below...