The Berber Challenge

Abstract

Before I took an early retirement leave from my Fez university in June 2005 with the view of focusing more on my research and writing, I was fascinated by the students’ graffiti on the university lavatory walls. It all started when one of my students mentioned the importance of students’ graffiti in their political debates (the Fez campus is one of the most ideologically charged campuses in Morocco). During one of our class discussions, which happened to be on discourse analysis, the abovementioned student asserted that the nature of the students’ public political debates (that usually took place in the open courtyard of the faculty) were first set as graffiti on the walls of the university lavatories, especially men’s! The student added that one could wake up one day to find the façade of the university lavatories covered with phrases and images drawing attention to an issue, expressing an idea, or refuting another one. He ended by saying that lavatory graffiti in our university was the best tool to check the political “pulse” of students! Interesting! I thought and smart! Reflecting more on the student’s statements, I realized that indeed as a language of rebellion, graffiti was a proper way for students to express themselves. What I knew then was that theoretically, graffiti was rarely intended to slander or insult, and it often brought youth and public authority together. It created an otherwise “taboo” space.