Cleveringa lecture in Rabat: “The Central Rif and the Western Anti-Atlas: divergent migratory margins. On social capital and the mosaic of the diaspora”

The annual Cleveringa lecture, featuring Dr. Paolo De Mas, geographer and former director of NIMAR, is scheduled for Tuesday, November 28, 2023, at 5:30 PM at the Netherlands Institute in Morocco (NIMAR). 

“The Central Rif and the Western Anti-Atlas: divergent migratory margins. On social capital and the mosaic of the diaspora” 

The lecture with a rather hypothetical nature is part of a process of reflection and redefinition of 'the margin', a concept dear to geographers and one that has evolved considerably over time. It is the comparison between two territories on the Moroccan margin, both with a migratory vocation, that will be tackled: the Central Rif and the Western Anti-Atlas, apparently similar in their marginality by their location and geographical framework, but nevertheless quite divergent in their interaction with the center. The southern margin is much more integrated with the national level (economic, electoral, political, cultural and social) - and therefore less peripheral - than its northern counterpart. This is due both to the nature of the migration and to the associative capital in the two regions and their respective diasporas. 

About the speaker: 

Paolo De Mas (1948), geographer. From 1974-1984 coordinator of the research projects REMPLOD and REDRA of the University of Amsterdam in collaboration with the INSEA (Institut d’Economie et de Statistique Appliquée) and the INAV (Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire) in Rabat, in the Rif and the Sous. He was attaché at the Embassy of the Netherlands, the first director of the NIMAR in Rabat and acting director of the CTC in The Hague. After retirement he is affiliated to the African Studies Center, Leiden University. His personal research focuses on the interaction between the two areas and the center of Morocco and the role of the diaspora thereon. 

Discussant:

Badiha Nahhass is a sociologist and professor at L'Institut Universitaire des Études Africaines, Euro-méditerranéennes et ibéro-américaines at Mohammed V University in Rabat. Her research primarily centers on the construction of national belonging, collective memory, social dynamics, and modes of governance in Morocco, with a specific focus on the Rif region. Additionally, she is a founding member of the CRESC (Center for Research and Studies on Contemporary Societies).