Moroccan Women between Tradition and Modernity: A Gendered Analysis of Identity and Agency

Abstract

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which iswhywecall it the present." [quotation by Bil Keanein the caption under The Family Circus news paper cartoon (08/31/1994)]Bil Keane's [Bil Keane –William Aloysius Keane- an American Cartoonist known for his works on the comical newspaper" The Family Circus" (1922-2011)] words had been notable among many people for many years; describing the pastas history, the present as a gift, and the future as a mystery he did gives us the main idea and the epitome of life. Keane deliberately chooses the words; history, mystery, and gift, to explain that what happened in the past did happen; we cannot change it, so there is no need to look back. While what will happen in the future is something ambiguous, no one knows what will happen. Hence, the present resembles a gift-giving by God; it is what we are living andfacing, so what will happen when someone tries to take your present from you? What will happen when someone tries to take the gift which God gives you? People are facing this situation, but instead of taking their gifts from them, they face a worsesituation by taking their lands from them. Our country is our identity; what will happen if someone wants to take it away? By referring to Lalla Essaydi's work, I intend to define and explain from her photographs the change that a colonized life, especially if it was a woman, precisely a Moroccan woman.