Resumen de Dutch Anthropologists in Morocco: from Exoticism to Islam at Home
Anthropologists from the Netherlands have been studying Moroccan society since the 1950s. From the 1970s their number has grown gradually. At present we have a substantial body of publications on Morocco by Dutch anthropologists. This article gives an overview of the coming into being of this new tradition, with special attention to the social conditions of knowledge production. The beginnings were linked to the decolonisation of Dutch anthropology. The main boost for research stemmed from immigration of Moroccan “guest workers” and their families into the Netherlands. This went together with the rise of a Mediterranean anthropology. From the 1980s onwards “Islam” became a focus of interest, which took a new turn with the “war on terror” at the beginning of the new millennium. The article concludes with a reflection on the social embeddedness of this Dutch anthropology of Morocco, and with a plea for more dialogue and exchange.
