Education for Emancipation and Disrupting Colonial Legacies in Morocco

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Decolonizing Educational Knowledge

Abstract

This chapter defines educational knowledge as the range of facts, information, concepts, principles, approaches, laws, theories, strategies, and skills about education including pedagogy, curriculum, delivery, and evaluation acquired through experience, education, research, and analysis. This chapter argues that (a) the colonial legacies that still function within and through education in postcolonial spaces and (b) the sustained attachment toward ready-made perspectives and conclusions about the sociocultural framings of educational structures problematize the very endeavors for develo** critical, nuanced, and effective educational policies that work toward the overall prosperity of the state and society. This chapter presents a case for decolonizing educational knowledge in Morocco as a necessary step for unsettling colonial legacies and framing education as a knowscape that supports the development of epistemic subjects who are power-literate and who can envision alternative worlds within which their knowledges are fundamental frameworks for making sense of one’s existence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free ship** worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aamari, O. (2022, April 23). Students abandon bachelor programs after failed reforms. Morocco World News. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2022/04/348537/students-abandon-bachelor-programs-after-failed-reforms

  • Alalou, A. (2018). The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco. Current Issues in Language Planning, 19(2), 136–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alami, A. (2013, December 11). A Battle Flares up in Morocco’s Language Wars. Al-Fanar Media. https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2013/12/a-battle-flares-up-in-moroccos-language-wars/

  • Amine, K. (2000). Moroccan theatre between east and west. Faculty of Letters Publications, Abdelmalek Essaadi University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashcroft, B. (2001). Post-colonial transformation. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2007). Postcolonial studies: The key concepts (2nd ed.). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Battiste, M. (2017). Decolonizing education: Nourishing the learning spirit. UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belhiah, H. (2020). English as a global language in Morocco: A qualitative study of students’ motivations for studying English. In H. Belhiah, I. Zeddari, N. Amrous, J. Bahmad, & N. Bejjit (Eds.), English language teaching in Moroccan higher education (pp. 33–48). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3805-6_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, B. (2018). On the classification and framing of educational knowledge. In R. Brown (Ed.), Knowledge, education, and cultural change (pp. 365–392). Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bhambra, G. K., Gebrial, D., & Nişancıoğlu, K. (2018). Decolonising the university. Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boum, A. (2008). The political coherence of educational incoherence: the consequences of educational specialization in a southern Moroccan community. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 39(2), 205–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boutieri, C. (2016). Learning in Morocco: Language politics and the abandoned educational dream. Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dabashi, H. (2015). Can non-Europeans think? Zed Books.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • El Amrani, A. (2019). Islam, colonialism and resistance in the contemporary Maghreb: A postcolonial perspective. Hespéris-Tamuda, 54(2), 221–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • El Amrani, A. (2021). Desecularising the postcolonial resistance: The role of Islamic spirituality in the framing of Moroccan anticolonial thought. The Journal of North African Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2021.1975272

  • Errihani, M. (2017). English education policy and practice in Morocco. In R. Kirkpatrick (Ed.), English language education policy in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 115–131). Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fanon, F. (1968). The wretched of the earth. Grove Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felahi, Y. (2021, September 17). Morocco launches 4 years Bachelor system starting October 1. Hespress English. https://en.hespress.com/26656-morocco-launches-4-years-bachelor-system-starting-october-1.html

  • Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Herder and Herder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fúnez-Flores, J. I. (2022). Decolonial and ontological challenges in social and anthropological theory. Theory, Culture & Society, 39(6), 21–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764211073011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gopal, P. (2021). On Decolonisation and the University. Textual Practice, 35(6), 873–899. https://doi.org/10.1080/0950236X.2021.1929561

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halstead, J. P. (1969). Rebirth of a nation: The origins and rise of Moroccan nationalism, 1912–1944. Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Idrissi, H., Engel, L. C., & Benabderrazik, Y. (2021). New visions for citizen formation: An analysis of citizenship education policy in Morocco. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 16(1), 31–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/1746197919886279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaafari, T. (2019). Language debates and the changing context of educational policy in Morocco. Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective, 14(2), 9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kachoub, B. (2021). English in the expanding circle of Morocco: Spread, uses, and functions. Doctoral dissertation, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorde, A. (1984). The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. In Sister outsider: Essays and speeches (pp. 110–114). Crossing Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansouri, Z., & Moumine, M. E. A. (2017). Primary and secondary education in Morocco: From access to School into generalization to dropout. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 6(1), 9–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marley, D. (2004). Language attitudes in Morocco following recent changes in language policy. Language Policy, 3(1), 25–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mignolo, W. (2011). The darker side of western modernity: Global futures, decolonial options. Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nandy, A. (1983). The intimate enemy: Loss and recovery of self under colonialism. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pihama, L., & Lee-Morgan, J. (2019). Colonization, education, and indigenous peoples. In E. McKinley & L. Smith (Eds.), Handbook of indigenous education (pp. 19–27). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3899-0_67

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Popkewitz, T. S. (Ed.). (2000). Educational knowledge: Changing relationships between the state, civil society, and the educational community. State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • R’boul, H. (2022a). English medium instruction in Moroccan Universities: Implications for multilingualism, linguistic dependency and epistemic justice. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2069250

  • R’boul, H. (2022b). The spread of English in Morocco: Examining university students’ language ontologies. English Today, 38(2), 72–79. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078420000449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R’boul, H. (2023a). Postcolonial challenges to theory and practice in ELT and TESOL: Geopolitics of knowledge and epistemologies of the south. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • R’boul, H. (2023b). English teaching in the global South: Interculturality, postcoloniality and critical pedagogy. In D. Hird (Ed.), Critical pedagogies for modern languages education. Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • R’boul, H., & Belhiah, H. (2023). Neo-nationalism and politicizing TESOL: Nationalist rhetoric and decolonial impulses in English teaching in Morocco. TESOL Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3230

  • R’boul, H., Belhiah , H., & Elhaffari, A. (2024). EMI in Moroccan high schools: multilingualism or multiple monolingualisms, ambivalent linguistic identities, and language use. Language and Education, 38(1), 23–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2023.2244910

  • Sawahel, W. (2020, January 13). Broader horizons – Universities switch to bachelor degree. University World News. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200113100149303

  • Segalla, S. D. (2009). Moroccan soul: French education, colonial ethnology, and Muslim resistance, 1912–1956. University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soussi, H. (2021). World Englishes in multilingual Morocco. World Englishes, 40, 259–267. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spivak, G. C. (1996). Poststructuralism, marginality, postcoloniality and value. In P. Mongia (Ed.), Contemporary postcolonial theory: A reader (pp. 198–222). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamale, S. (2020). Decolonization and Afro-feminism. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 39, 644–647.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiong’o, N. W. (1986/1994). Decolonising the mind: The politics of language in African literature. Zimbabwe Publishing House. (Original work published 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zyad, H. (2021). The limitations of civic education in the Moroccan context: The need for a reconceptualization. Journal of Applied Language and Culture Studies, 4, 161–177.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hamza R’boul .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

R’boul, H., El Amrani, A. (2024). Education for Emancipation and Disrupting Colonial Legacies in Morocco. In: Lopez, A.E., Singh, H. (eds) Decolonizing Educational Knowledge. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55688-3_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55688-3_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-55687-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-55688-3

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Navigation