Morocco: Multiculturalism and Human Rights

Faculty and Staff

Abdelhay Moudden, PhD, Academic Director
Dr. Abdelhay Moudden earned his PhD in political science from the University of Michigan and has been a professor of political science and international relations at Mohamed V University in Rabat since 1978. He has been the academic director of the SIT Study Abroad Morocco program since 1992. In 1995, Dr. Moudden founded the Center for Cross Cultural Learning and since that time has served as the center’s academic director. Dr. Moudden is a member of the Consultative Council on Human Rights and a former member of the Moroccan Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2004–2005). He has published several articles on Moroccan politics and culture and two novels, the latest of which, The Farewell Sermon, won the Morocco book award for 2004.

Taieb Belghazi, PhD, Academic Director
Taieb Belghazi earned his PhD in 1993 from the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at Cardiff University where he was a Chevening scholar. He later held a Fulbright postdoctoral scholarship at Duke University and was a member of the UNESCO-sponsored International Panel on Reading for All. He has been director of the Centre for Doctoral Studies: The Human and Space in the Mediterranean and professor of cultural studies and history of the present at the Faculty of Letters in Rabat. He has also been a visiting professor at a number of universities, including Duke University; the University of California, Irvine; and the Ferguson Centre for African Studies and Asian Studies at the Open University, England.

Dr. Belghazi has been a consultant for a number of projects, including the project Diaspora as a Social and Cultural Practice and the UNESCO project on reconceptualizing Mediterranean dialogues. He is a member of the editorial boards of the periodicals Time and Society (England), Current Writing (South Africa), and Al Azmina Al Haditha (Morocco). He has published a number of writings on social movements, the politics of identity, and global/local dynamics. His current research centers on the politics of the recent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East as well as on experiential learning. His most recent publications include Time and Postmodernism, Faculty of Letters Publications, Rabat, 2012; Dialogues Khatibi Weber (editor), Faculty of Letters Publications, Rabat, 2012; International Education and Global Justice: Rethinking the Politics of Sustainability (co-editor with Said Graiouid), Faculty of Letters, Rabat, 2012; “Les études subalternes et l’historiographie postcoloniale” (translation into French of an article by Dipesh Chakrabarty) in D’Inaouen à Istambul, Mélanges offerts à Abderrahmane El Moudden, edited by Abdelahad Sebti and Abderrahim Benhadda, Faculty of Letters, Rabat, 2012; and “Le dernier échange dialogique de Khatibi,” Al Azmina al Haditha, summer 2012.

Additional program staff include:

Nawal Chaib, Program Assistant
Nawal works closely with the program’s academic directors to help with the execution of certain managerial aspects of the program; she also helps students to navigate their everyday needs and logistics. Nawal serves as the mediating channel between the SIT program and the Center for Cross Cultural Learning’s administrative management. Nawal accompanies the group on excursions and, if needed, accompanies students to the doctor to facilitate communication. Nawal has a BA in English studies from Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, and has been working with study abroad programs since 2007. Nawal is a great resource for the students on aspects of Moroccan culture and society.

Bouchra Sahimda, Language Coordinator
Bouchra is responsible for supervising the Moroccan Arabic language placement test, holding regular meetings with language instructors, teaching when needed, and overseeing the Moroccan Arabic language program. Along with other language instructors from the Center for Cross Cultural Learning, the program’s host institution, she brings years of language teaching experience to the classroom.

Doha Lmachichi, Homestay Coordinator
Doha was born and raised in the medina in Rabat where most of the program’s host families are located; she knows every family with which the program works. Doha has been coordinating the program’s homestay component for approximately a decade. She studies the profile of students and families before assigning each student to a particular family. Doha remains a wonderful resource throughout the semester on every issue pertaining to the homestays.

Program lecturers are drawn from the following institutions:

Mohammed V University
Hassan II University
Ibn Tofail University
Center for Cross Cultural Learning
National Council for Human Rights
Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture
Central Entity for the Prevention of Corruption
National Library
National Observatory for Human Development
League of Muslim Scholars
Anjib Association, Oulmes

Credits: 16

Duration: 15 weeks

Program Base: Rabat

Language Study: Arabic

Prerequisites: None; however, students with a background in French will have opportunities for French language practice while also learning Moroccan and Modern Standard Arabic. Read more...