The Amazigh community abroad has captured my attention since the 2000s. It was a period when I contemplated becoming a migrant somewhere in the world. However, due to a justifiable lack of financial resources, this dream remained elusive. Today, I see this unfulfilled dream as a blessing from God, considering that things did not unfold as planned. Who knows? Only the creator of plans and lives.

Lahcen Assinou, as he preferred to be called, is a Moroccan Amazigh migrant in Spain. He emerged as an artist and singer practically overnight. His awareness and command of the Spanish language allowed him to express the experiences of the diaspora through his song “Spania.”

Living in Spain during the financial crisis of 2010, Lahcen fled Morocco to Spain through an illegal boat trip known as “Talflokt.” Despite this, he returned to Morocco during the summer of 2010 and created a groundbreaking song that shed light on the struggles of the Amazigh diaspora in the Moroccan Southeast.

The subsequent popularity of his song, spread through CDs and MP3s, marked his sudden rise in the artistic industry. Upon his return to Spain, his song became a trending sensation on modern social media platforms. However, the detailed narratives of his first-hand experiences with Moroccan Amazigh migrants during the crisis led to numerous complaints from Spanish authorities, accusing him of defaming the migrants and criticizing the socio-economic conditions in developed countries like Spain and France. As a consequence, Lahcen was expelled from Spain and banned from re-entry.

The artistic work “Spania” is intellectually engaging, politically charged, and culturally loaded with messages, silenced voices, and lessons learned during tough times. The end justifies the means; Spain becomes a means to an end, symbolizing a better life opportunity for a simple Moroccan dream – a family, a house, a car.

The issues and questions confronting the wretched of the Earth, as described by Franz Fanon, are explored in “Moroccan Migrants in the Era of Crisis.” These include the psychological impact of unemployment, the silencing of family ties, appearances of family disintegration, signals of rebellious women, self-denial behaviors, dissatisfaction stories, past traumatic experiences in the home country, poor living conditions, weakening brotherhood, oppressed revenge left behind, the continuity of national injustice, unwavering parental support, bad luck with heavy debts invested in housing, strong attachment to the home country, weak citizens fleeing, offspring patience, endurance, and resistance, the capitalism-charged mentality extending to Tamazirt (birthplace and first-made memories), and the destiny to live away from the warmth of parents and their visionary simplicity.

Despite facing opposition from personal enemies and critics of free voices, freedom of expression, and difference-based culture, Lahcen remains fully aware of the sedition and criticism against him. This situation only strengthens his resolve to advocate for free speech in his own way, echoing the sentiment, “I sing, therefore I am.”

The transliteration and translation of the captivating Amazigh song play a crucial role in contributing to research into Amazigh songs and orality. Now, it is time to listen attentively and rejoice in the richness of Amazigh orality.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he drawn image on Imazighen in tourism portrayals is complicit with orientalism. I seek out to revisit this integral part of sacrosanct pictorial gaze. The Moroccan Tourism narratives (un) consciously perpetuate this westernized image. This image entices my attention while tailoring a fifteen-day tour. Indeed, although Imazighen are still cemented as Berbers and isolated groups of people in tourism narratives, they have insidiously capitalized on it to re-write the written-out part history. This essay expounds three focal points with examples from tourism-based websites. The first is concerned with principal factors. The second point deals with several manifestations of the Berber use. The last point calls forth recommendations to take notice of in designing and planning tourism tours.

The first point to tackle is the meticulous term of Imazighen, plural, and Amazigh is singular. The most, if not all, tours are tailored to read by non-Moroccans in English, French and Spanish. They have increasingly instrumentalized the term, Berbers. The repetitive use of the term stands for its consolidation and concentration among writers and owners of websites. None can deny the fact that the Berber is more popular than Amazigh in these thousands of websites.

The reasons behind the choice of the term are countless and unjustifiable. I pin down some of them here. The first is the widespread popularity of the term among pantheons of human rights. The second is the lucrative use of the term associated with desert and inevitable visit of them. “Berbers” are made to use their “Berberness” in order to financially live and benefit from their current state. Finally, it is uneasy to be a Berber; one has to live in isolation from the modern and globalized world.

Hidden reasons account for undeclared purposes. The first is the repudiation of the state in connection with the Amazigh question. Many educated activists constantly strive to mitigate the distorted image on Imazighen by revisiting the tourism narratives. It seems that no academic research conducted in this area to this day. Another critical factor is the incompatibility of business with lively and vibrant culture. To be precise, tourism intends to cover (and uncover) historical pitfalls of the political system; it had better help tourists, including Moroccans, to realize the truth, even if it is partial truth to use James Clifford’s terms.

The second point deals with several manifestations of the Berber use. Below I discuss these common incarnations of western legacy to the national tourism. Whenever a trip or tour planner includes the term of Berber, the person is obliged to insert with capitalized and sense of desert, authenticity, tranquility, originality, hand-made, nature-driven life. These common traits are noticeably prevalent in the book of Orientalism by Eduard Said. Namely, it refers to binary oppositions one can face in reading the Orientalist works, such as Jorge Orwell, Joseph Conrad, etc.

On the other side, Franz Fanon, Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall and Chenoa Achebe revolt against the insidious constructedness of these narratives by inventing what Jean François leotard calls metanaratives. In other words, “Can the Subaltern Speak” by Gayatri Chakravatory Spivak is an interesting and seminal contribution in this regard. Here, one is reminded of the significance of these works, with which most Moroccan tourism websites and texts portrayals align. Ultimately, the role of critique, not to summon or make an appeal to rethink over these narratives, is to pick holes in these widely cemented narratives and to revolutionize the Moroccan tourism-based text. In cultural studies, a text is a pretext, so that innocent text is hardly suppositional.

This paragraph is to give epitomes from the following Moroccan tourism-based websites about the supposed meanings of the Berber term in use. The first is from Travel of Morocco Company’s website. One reads “…The camel trek takes about 1hr 30 min to the camp where we continue the spirit of the nomadic Berber lifestyle”. Another interesting example is the following. A website designer writes, “We will cross the massif of the Atlas on the runway of the caves, to visit a nomadic family and see their way of life.” Here the website designer associates lifestyle with nomadism, desert and caves. Similar examples are countless in this regard. To give illustration, Amazighophone and Imazighen historically populate Merzouga; instead of using Berber or Berber language. Merzouga’s Imazighen are ignorant of these dissimilarities in connection with language and space distribution.

There are expressions, such as “Berber” camping, tent, lifestyle, house, hotel, mint tea, clothing, and dinner, music… Are they normal to the tourists or travelers? Why do not they use Amazigh to express freedom in the language choice? How do they stick to use the term even if the guides are aucaurant with new updatings in the country? Why do they provide Tourists with démodé knowledge? The onus of the tourism-concerned people and officials, to my knowledge, is to enlighten the new comers to the country with true and real information, not to mislead and misinform them.

These are overall manifestation of culture in harmony with geography and landscapes. “Berbers” in tourism language and Imazighen in a constitutional language are engaged in the processes of estrangement and self-dissatisfaction embroiled without full consciousness. Finally, there are some proposed practical and necessary recommendations to take notice of for scrupulous people.

The third point calls forth recommendations to take notice of in designing and planning tourism tours. I include this part of recommendations as a prelude to the reform of tourism image among concerned people. I think these recommendations are of great importance. No one can deny the fact that they are insufficient in the service of this economic-driven sector in the country. It is so vital so long as it serves the citizen at the expense of other considerations.

Planners of Touristic trips and tours on Tourism-based websites are advisable that these following recommendations into consideration be to update their démodé (old fashioned) knowledge and their customer’s fresh memory.

1- Cognitively adjust the content with current reality in Morocco and Constitution;
2- Quickly update the tours portrayal of Imazighen, not Berbers as they opt for the term per se;
3- update local and professional guide’s jargon on Moroccan tourism information;
4- include authenticity with modernity in referring to Imazighen as a secular people;
5- uncover the widespread pitfalls of the state in housing nomads in towns and cities;
6- build partnership among websites designers and tours planners;
7- build partnership between guides and transportation companies in defying the pejorative use of the term;
8- Yes for making Imazighen and nomads aware of their rights and duties;
9- No for using nomads in Touristic narrow purposes to grab the attention;
10- Yes for implementing pragmatic approach towards tourism-based nomads and Tourism Company’ owners.

Tourism-based websites are only windows to connect with travels and tourists from within and without of the country. This is a narrow look at websites. Through tourism text, one can intentionally convey perfidious lies and untrue information, for the purpose of satisfying and getting the consent of the customer. That is the reason business has absolutely been failing to meet ethical norm of investigation. In this essay, I make a call for the designers of tourism-based websites to take account of the followings recommendations above. This takes aim at consolidating and ameliorating the reliable techniques, available means and followed style employed in the increasing development for tourism sector, as an integral part of national economy. It should be not at the expense of any essential components of the Moroccan society as well as culture.

Contextualization of Tabadirt
As students at the level of university, we were conversing on some way to rejuvenate our potency for study on the eve of beginning a coming semester. We have a common background of culture and language, Amazigh (particularly South East). We usually try to feel at ease as soon as possible. A seeminly common suggestion was to prepare Tabadirt. My roommates finally agreed to do so on condition that it should be prepared in Taghazot beach, Agadir.
As far as a reference of findings obtained here is concerned, my close cultural and linguistic familiarities with the local culture and interviewing persons of the area allowed me to write down this sort of sine qua non information pertaining to day-to-day life of people in question.

Introduction
Luciano Pavarotti states “One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” From this quote, one’s mind is set on tenterhooks if one does not eat. That is, one always keeps seeking to set it at rest at all costs, instead. Whenever one yearns for the tranquility, one naturally commences to consider how to enjoy it to the fullest. In so doing people’s intuition takes them and tries to ponder on the techniques ancestors used to instigate their lives to get pleasure whether by what they used to eat or how to prepare it. Indeed, Tabadirt epitomizes much more than a meal per se outside of one’s home. In this essay, I will broach the recipe of its preparation, define it in its context and evince its significance as an ethnic food throughout history in direct connection with culture.

Tabadirt and its ingredients
Evidently, Tabadirt or “Amazigh pizza”, a name given by youth compared to pizza in the main, comes to the notice of Ait Atta the largest group among tribal communities having resided in Morocco for centuries. It is named after Dadda Atta as the father of this ethnic group. Besides, it is located in the South East of Morocco. Not only have Ait Atta created this sort of food, but also other neighboring ethnic groups as Ait Merghad, Ait Yeflman, and Ait Hdido, who pervade in the high Atlas. This food further demands that one be equipped with ample skills, either men or women, in cooking unlike those things at home.
The process of its preparation incorporates four steps mainly. The first one is to meticulously choose some round, harsh and small stones to use them on the ground as a carrier that prevents the dough (which is already supposed to be kneaded ahead) from touching the dust. The second step is to stuff the dough with those ingredients prepared at home. These ingredients are varied, say, eggs, meat, onions, tomatoes, carrot, spices whose smell and taste seem to be strong. The third one requires bringing a particular sort of sand to use after flatting the dough upon hot stones by means of woods burnt over. The fourth one is to cover the dough altogether with clean sand and burn enough woods over that added layer of sand, which is commonly found in the valley. Indeed, when it becomes heated enough it turns out to be brown; almost ten people can eat it and extinguish their hunger. Finally, even though Tabadirt is a demanding task, it is a food of full flavor.

Tabadirt’s perception
Whenever one has mentioned Tabadirt, it usually occurs to his or her mind that something is associated with desert. By all means this type of food was ab initio found within a nomad daily life. These nomads invented this food to serve them energy and time, and space into the bargain. In essence, Tabadirt is a threefold concept. As far as energy is concerned, it is due to Tabadirt’s ingredients which are very effective in resisting hunger and it is concomitant with fueling energy to hone the extent of endurance. As regards the time it demands to prepare it is important in understanding its secret. To wit, during the day and especially at noon is the best time to have Tabadirt either alone or in concert with others. The reason behind this very duration, the nomads begin to prepare it to economize the food of the whole day, by dint of shortage of sustenance, and direct at other task-demanding and energy-depleting necessary affairs like water-bringing and animal-milking. In the eyes of the nomad, space is indisputably a consequential segment in day-to-day life. Add to this, water and grass available in a particular area are the paramount, if not sole, criteria a nomad rests upon to outlive or abandon quickly for a better life in the service of the family and the animal husbandry en masse. Furthermore, these factors gathered are sufficiently conducive to unriddling the Tabadirt’s symbol in a nomad culture. Its form, they shape a circle around it as they start eating it, is a circle which signifies life and a moving element, such as Ahidus dancers during playing. Indeed, Tabadirt is looked on the source of mutual strength and joy, and equality among members of the same family to gather and organize well the rest of the day.

Tabadirt in its social context
Any food in any culture has witnessed a story behind its emergence, namely, Tabadirt in the Amazigh nomad culture made history by its special story. Tabadirt as an Amazigh ethnic food is basically originated from nomad culture, albeit it has recently been domesticated on the morrow of urbanization and migration factors. This latter clearly contributes to variegating food prepared at home with which we were unfamiliar on account of its aroma of outdoors. Add to this, Tabadirt, in common with other food, has recently construed as a highly substantial meal to generously serve to the guest(s). This meal candidly speaks for itself when it is timely introduced in the atmosphere of celebrating a particular ceremony. For example, in some cases, the newly married bride, in order to reveal whether she is indisputably adept at cooking or not, i optionally tends to prepare Tabadirt to peak with the recognition of the whole family, let alone if she is beautiful and elegant. Then she becomes in favor with the new received family. At present, it is further served in concomitant with the tea pot. This tea is preferred to be simmered on the ashes of the burnt wood to heat Tabadirt. As a highly recommended food in special circumstances, it has recently cooked in demand for personal reasons. Eventually, Tabadirt is one of the contributions to the Amazigh culture in general, and a nomadic culture in particular that made history by it.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the most precious gift parents, very mother, can offer to their offspring, a girl in particular, with a view to taking immense pride in their roots and/ or family-belonging, is the culture, of which its food distinguishes it that human has lived on. And the first manifestation the host family in back of matrimony attests to the eligibility and credential of the bride is nothing but her cooking skills, believing that having a man’s heart is by all means through feeding enticingly his stomach.

Acknowledgment: I am thankful for the guidance of Professor Fatima Moaid from the University of Dhar El Mahraz in Fes, Morocco.

Resources: See Sadiqi, Fatima. Moroccan Feminist discourse. Palgrave Macmilan, United States, 2014