Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the ...

336 Pages·2013·14.16 MB·English

by  Rogers, Amanda Elisabeth

Distribution Agreement

In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an
advanced degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the
non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or dissertation in whole
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Amanda E. Rogers Date
Politics, Gender and the Art of Religious Authority in North Africa:
Moroccan Women’s Henna Practice

By

Amanda E. Rogers
Doctor of Philosophy

Art History

__________________________________
Dr. Sidney L. Kasfir
Advisor

__________________________________
Dr. Walter S. Melion
Committee Member

__________________________________
Dr. Vincent Cornell
Committee Member

__________________________________
Dr. Roxani Eleni Margariti
Committee Member

Accepted:
__________________________________
Lisa A. Tedescoe, Ph.D.
Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies

__________________________________
Date
Politics, Gender and the Art of Religious Authority in North Africa:
Moroccan Women’s Henna Practice

By

Amanda E. Rogers
B.F.A., University of Kansas, 2005

Advisor: Sidney L. Kasfir, Ph.D.

An abstract of
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the
James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Art History

2013
Abstract

Politics, Gender and the Art of Religious Authority in North Africa:
Moroccan Women’s Henna Practice

By Amanda E. Rogers

Henna, a decorative dye, is applied to women’s hands and feet at religiously significant
occasions throughout North Africa—yet only in Morocco does this feminine art symbolize a
nationalized, tolerant Islam. How and why does a body adornment dismissed by scholars as
merely “cosmetic’ function, instead, as a powerful emblem uniquely within Morocco’s territorial
boundaries? I argue that the adornment’s significance is related to localized interpretations of
Islam, anchored in understandings of the material’s blessed nature through its association with
the Prophet Muhammad. Equally rooted in canonical text and popular tradition, Moroccan henna
serves as a potent local signifier for normative gender roles, female spirituality and monarchical
legitimacy. Involving comparative fieldwork and archival research across Morocco, France,
Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, this project ultimately yields a broader understanding of art
practice, gender, religious and political authority, and art in North African society.
Chapter 1 contextualizes the study’s primary setting, introducing the historical,
governmental and geographical specificities that render Morocco distinctive from its neighbors.
Chapter 2 evaluates predominant Moroccan body adornment traditions in conjunction with local
conceptions of the art forms’ respective importance. I argue that despite a shared iconography,
only henna retains its position of prominence in contemporary society, due to commonly
accepted religious ideas that define it as a material blessed by association with the Prophet.
Chapter 3 examines the intersection of henna’s religious value with cultural codes of appropriate
gender behavior. Here, I analyze the ways in which henna inscribes normative values of
gendered spiritual behavior on the flesh of men and women, and functions as a religious practice
outside the space of the mosque. Chapter 4 traces the history of henna’s politicization in post-
colonial history and discusses it appropriation as an icon of cultural memory for nationalist
artists in the search for a uniquely Moroccan identity. Chapter 5 analyzes the State’s
conscientious appropriation of henna in times of political crisis to signify a monarchically-
promoted “Moroccan Islamic” brand, from the 2003 Casablanca bombings through
demonstrations of the 2011 Arab Spring.
Politics, Gender and the Art of Religious Authority in North Africa:
Moroccan Women’s Henna Practice

By

Amanda E. Rogers
B.F.A., University of Kansas, 2005

Advisor: Sidney L. Kasfir, Ph.D.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the
James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Art History

2013
Acknowledgements

The preparation of acknowledgements for a dissertation is a humbling experience. No student
completes the process of graduate school without enormous support from multiple areas,
including mentors, colleagues, friends and family. The list of debts is, indeed, a long one.
I have been lucky to have the support of my adviser Dr. Sidney L. Kasfir, who has given
me the best gift a graduate student could receive: encouragement of independent thought and
creativity in allowing me to pursue creative research “against the grain.” I am also honored to
have had the support of Dr. Vincent J. Cornell, whose intellectual mentorship, friendship and
encouragement will influence me for years to come.
I am also thankful for the support of faculty from a variety of institutions, including Dr.
Walter Melion, Dr. Roxani Margariti, Dr. Bruce Hayes, Dr. Gitti Salami, Dr. Rkia Cornell, Dr.
Devin Stewart and Dr. Gordon Newby, Dr. Corinne Kratz, Dr. Ivan Karp, Dr. Jessica
Stephenson, Dr. Fatima Sadiqi and Dr. John Thabiti Willis. I am especially grateful for the staff
and faculty at the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies for providing me a
home away from home, as well as those in Art History and the Laney Graduate School, including
Nick Fabian, Tarje Lacey, Juana McGhee, Becky Baldwin, Frank Jackson, Kathleen Carroll,
Dorothy Fletcher, Virginia Plummer, Rosemary Hynes, and Virginia Shadron.
No less critical to thank are my colleagues and friends, from Morocco to the United Arab
Emirates, who have read endless drafts, debated ideas and provided lifelines in times of need—
academic or otherwise: Delinda Collier, Amanda Hellman, Ahmed Khanani, Angelina Lucento,
Clare Fitzgerald, Summy Jafri, Andrea Turpin, Abbas Barzegar, Tiffany Hodge, Debjani
Bhattacharyya, Meera Ashar, Jessica Gerschultz, Nahrain al-Moussawi, Mohammed el
Yahyiaoui, Ian Hartshorn, Bukky Gbadegesi, Megan MacDonald, Amir Naim, Daoud Casewit,
Sarah Eltantawi, Sara Salem (a.k.a “Peanut”), Mariam Elhadri, Danya Bashir, Paul Stucky, Fadil
El Mansour, Beth McGilley, Fatima Zahra Blila, Safaa Blila, Maureen Warren, Fanny Gillet,
Abdulla Darrat, Mourad Krinah, Sofiane Zouggar, Justine Liepkalns, Yassin Gaber, Rhonda
Geraci, Peter Rescinti, Safa Samiezade-Yazd, Liz Cummins, Melissa Sexton, Kathi Fair, Sakina
Cornell, Sarahh Scher, Said Auzou, Debra Spencer, Maria Nur, Manuela Ceballos and Jordan
Chambers.
I have been extraordinarily lucky to enjoy the support of my family, both by birth and by
luck, including Saadia Maski, Bradley Robertson, Isabel Paltan, Cecilia Paltan, Jennifer
Manganello, and the entire Syed family: Mama, Abu, Zain, Sherry, Chand—and especially
Annie. Tye Tavaras and Nabil Taha have more than earned their place in this section (and I
really should listen to them more often). A thousand thanks would be inadequate.
Finally, special gratitude is owed to my students, who continually remind me why this all
is necessary. A complete list of those to whom I am indebted would most likely exceed the
length of this dissertation. All errors are mine alone.
Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..1

Chapter 1: Territorial Settings: “Exceptional” Morocco as Historical Contact
Zone ………………………………………………………………………….15

Chapter 2: The Matter of Medium / Medium Matters……………………………40

Chapter 3: Henna in Ritual: the Embodied Terrain of Moroccan Islam………..90

Chapter 4: Marketing the Postcolonial State: Henna Nationalisms from Fine
Arts to Tourism……………………………………………………………...142

Chapter 5: Warding off Terrorism and Revolution: Moroccan Religious Pluralism,
National Identity and the Politics of Visual Culture……………………...181

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………218

Image Appendices……………………………………………………………………222

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….264
Figures

Chapter 1

1.1 Map of Moroccan territory

1.2 Map of Morocco, showing internationally-recognized borders

1.3 Map of Morocco, showing Moroccan annexation of the Western Sahara

1.4 Map displaying the various regions of Berber dialects across Northern Africa

Chapter 2

2.1 Janine Antoni, Gnaw (1992). Brooklyn Museum, New York.

2.2 A bride from the capital city of Rabat poses advance of her henna adornment ceremony.

2.3 Engraving: Muslim bride from the city of Sale wearing ḥarqūṣ cosmetic adornment.

2.4 Female urban dweller of Tetouan, Morocco, wearing the distinctive regional caftan.

2.5 North African prostitute displaying her tattoos for colonial scholars.

2.6 Veiled woman in Fes photographed by colonial-era scholars.

2.7 Colonial-era photographs of Tamazight-speaking women with tattooed chins.

2.8 Colonial-era photographs of Tamazight-speaking women with tattooed chins.

2.9 Colonial-era engraving of Moroccan women with cross tattooed on her hand.

2.10 An advertisement soliciting help for impoverished regions.

2.11 Bismillah (In the Name of God) tattooed on an anonymous man’s back.

2.12 Moroccan market catering to women, featuring cosmetic products such as henna.

2.13 Dried henna leaves for sale in the Fes henna market, along with syringes and stencils.

2.14 Fine greenish powder produced from harvested and dried leaves.

2.15 A mud-like paste formed from dried leaves and water is applied to the skin.
2.16 As the paste dries, it begins to flake away—leaving a crimson stain beneath.

2.17 Women applying henna at a ceremony for Diaspora Moroccans studying in Rabat.

Chapter 3

3.1 Media coverage of the al-Qasr al-Kabir “gay wedding” featured henna hands.

3.2 A woman from southern Morocco displays hennaed hands and feet.

3.3 Hennaed feet of a married woman.

3.4 Leather painting of a stylized “footprint of the Prophet.”

3.5 Calligraphic text in the shape of the Prophet’s footprint.

3.6 Women hastening the process of henna drying by using a portable heater.

3.7 Colonial photograph showing a stencil-like method of henna application.

3.8 French colonial postcard depicting henna, labeled “Arab manicure.”

3.9 Organic form of henna typical of Gulf henna patterns.

3.10 Drawing of hennaed foot, with typically Moroccan geometric forms.

3.11 Drawing of hennaed hand, with typically Moroccan geometric forms.

3.12 Tapestry dyed with henna.

3.13 Drawing of hennaed foot, with typically Moroccan geometric forms.

3.14 A woman from southern Morocco displays hennaed hands and feet.

3.15 Cover of Moroccan book of cures for magic.

3.16 Spell pattern from magic books sold in open-air markets throughout Morocco.

3.17 Spell pattern from magic books sold in open-air markets throughout Morocco.

3.18 Spell pattern from magic books sold in open-air markets throughout Morocco.

3.19 Spell pattern from magic books sold in open-air markets throughout Morocco.

3.20 Drawing of hennaed hand, with typically Moroccan geometric forms.