Knowledge and Power in Morocco [Paperback]

Dale F. Eickelman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 1992 | ISBN-10: 069102555X | ISBN-13: 978-0691025551 | Edition: 2nd Printing 1992

This intensive social biography of a rural Moroccan judge discusses Islamic education, the concept of knowledge it embodies, and its communication from the early years of colonial rule in twentieth-century Morocco to the present. The work sensitively combines the outlooks and perceptions of the author and those of the shrewd and reflective `Abd ar-Rahman, supplementing our knowledge of resurgent militant Islamic movements by describing other popularly supported Islamic attitudes toward the contemporary world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Eickelman is an astute and delicate storyteller. His narrative illuminates 'Abd al-Rahman's biography, as Michel Foucault says, at the 'point where power reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their bodies and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, learning processes, and everyday lives.' -- Stephen William Foster, The Middle East Journal

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; 2nd Printing 1992 edition (August 10, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 069102555X
• ISBN-13: 978-0691025551
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #509,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > History > Africa > Morocco

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars dry, not worth your time, October 13, 2009

By 

apocalypse blonde (michigan, usa) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Knowledge and Power in Morocco (Paperback)

i have read many books about the middle east and north africa, but i have never read a book quite like this before. eickelman's anthropological account of a rural moroccan judge's life, while it is an interesting idea, wasn't carried out well. he focused mainly on the fact that he (eickelman) translated lots of documents and where the judge studied. i got several chapters in before i even found a real theme to the book, he rarely stayed on topic. if you are reading this for class, warning that you may be bored. i recommend looking elsewhere to find your information on the morocco and the life of its people because this book gave me nothing.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anthropological Biography, December 29, 2003

By 

Tron Honto - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knowledge and Power in Morocco (Paperback)

Eickelman took a fascinating approach to writing this ethnography which makes this work not only a profound narration of the transformation of a facet of Moroccan society in the modern period but also a personal and engaging story. As such, it defies and even transcends the traditional hierarchy and divisions between the ethnographer and the subject of ethnographic observation/interrogation. He does this by focusing on the life of and his encounters with the elderly Qadi of Bzu, with whom he develops a increasingly friendly and intimate relationship.

Beyond its intrepid methodology, Eickelman's picture of the order and system of the traditional reproduction of Islamic knowledge and its transformation in the modern period, stereotypical said to be a movement from chaos to order, has proved to be largely influential in other famous social histories-especially, for example, in the work of Mitchell and Messick.