Sources of Authority in Moroccan Culture

Abstract

I will never forget my first day at school. A memorable day it was … The picture of my father, my brother, and me at the entrance of Sidi Ali Tamkart school in the northeastern town of Nador is still vivid in my memory. I remember the little skinny girt I was at six, I remember the awe, the joy-apprehension mix, and the enthusiasm. We were two weeks late because we had to move from another town and I was scared at the thought of losing the opportunity. My father used to speak of school as a life-changing thing. In his military suit on that day, my father looked huge and impressive and my brother was like me: apprehensive and expectant. We were wearing our best clothes. My father went straight to an elderly man as he saw him approaching the school gate. The man (whom I came to call Ami Brahim—Uncle Brahim) was the school keeper and seemed to hold authority in the place. My father informed him that he wanted to register my brother (eighteen months younger than me) in tahdiri (preparatory year) and me in libtidaʔi lʔawwal (the first year of the primary school) because I was older and because he thought I knew the Arabic and French alphabets (which he had taught me at home).