Research in the field of memory studies has in recent years broadened into a consideration of how memory, trauma, violence, and testimony take place in more intimate contexts of cultural and political practices through various forms of social exchange. Comparatively, Morocco and Lebanon are exceptional in that for at least 20 years their respective public cultures have been characterized by energetic forms of cultural production that creatively engage a violent past as sites of dialogue in and for the present. From a multidisciplinary perspective—including oral history, Islamic studies, literary, cultural and gender studies, political science and cultural anthropology—the project "Transforming Memories" addressed memory and trauma in Morocco and Lebanon as transformative sites in which past and present are situated as shifting boundaries across personal and public registers.

"Memory and Reconciliation: Conflict on Mount Lebanon" by Makram Rabah

Research in the field of memory studies has in recent years broadened into a consideration of how memory, trauma, violence, and testimony take place in more intimate contexts of cultural and political practices through various forms of social exchange. Comparatively, Morocco and Lebanon are exceptional in that for at least 20 years their respective public cultures have been characterized by energetic forms of cultural production that creatively engage a violent past as sites of dialogue in and for the present. From a multidisciplinary perspective—including oral history, Islamic studies, literary, cultural and gender studies, political science and cultural anthropology—the project "Transforming Memories" addressed memory and trauma in Morocco and Lebanon as transformative sites in which past and present are situated as shifting boundaries across personal and public registers.

"Memory and Reconciliation: Conflict on Mount Lebanon" by Makram Rabah

This subproject explored the reconciliation process between the Druze and the Maronites within the historical context of the Mountain War that erupted in the summer of 1983. The research examined how decision-makers and participants in these events have different perceptions and memories of what went on at various stages of the conflict. This was done in part by drawing on the existing literature – ranging from novels and films to surveys and chronicles – that deals directly or indirectly with the Mountain War. While many of the extant works on the civil war use oral history, none of them juxtapose the views of the different warring factions in relation to the same incidents. They also do not refer to the differences in party rhetoric. This project sought to document the experiences of the individuals involved in the conflict (combatants, politicians, and civilians) and examine the extent to which the events of that conflict still affect their perception of their "former enemy."

"Sites of ReMemory: Situating Cultural Production and Civil War in Lebanon" by Norman Saadi Nikro

Since the formal end in 1990 of the 15-year civil war, the Lebanese state has opted for a strategy that can be euphemistically called "turning the page": the institutional management of forgetting, or what can be otherwise termed a state-sponsored practice of "dismemory." This encompasses the glaring absence of any state initiatives engaging in a public inquiry into the war as well as of state-supported museums, memorials, or commemorative practices. Nonetheless, there has been a prodigious amount of cultural production situating the civil war as sites of "rememory" in the present. This is evident in the visual and literary arts and the lively grassroots work of NGOs and civil society organizations. These creative and critical practices work to render the present open to review, initiating memory as an ethical concern for a political culture and public ethos connected more to practices of care and nurture and modalities of grief and mourning. By taking a phenomenological approach to practices and forms of cultural production, testimony and public confession and body and voice, this project situated them as sites of "rememory," as an ethical modality of social exchange.

"Wounded Memories: An Ethnographic Approach to Contemporary Moroccan Cultural Production" by Laura Menin

Along with the changed political climate of "le gouvernement de l’alternance" (1998), which included the promise of democracy fostered by the reign of Mohammed VI (1999), cultural production in Morocco has contributed to the image of the so-called "nouveau Maroc." By interweaving daily life and history and personal and collective memories, political activists and artists have shared significant (hi)stories with their audiences. In many cases, these narratives have challenged the former government’s interest in sustaining historical amnesia – the post-colonial historiography of denying and forgetting embraced by Hassan II until shortly before his death (1999). The emergence of counter-narratives of former political prisoners appearing in the forms of novels, poems, cartoons, movies, and (auto)biographies helped place pressure on Mohammed VI to set up the Equity and Reconciliation Commission in 2004. Recent scholarship has provided insights into the institutional processes of reparation and reconciliation and their ambiguities. Yet there remains a need to further explore the role of cultural production in shaping transformative sites of memory. How do films, fictions, and autobiographies contribute to reorienting people’s imagination, memory and agency? Based on an ethnographic approach to cultural productions and circulations as well as audiences, the subproject aims to uncover the multiple ways in which people in Morocco engage with public culture and the politics of memory to discuss the present, reflect upon the past, and imagine the future.