What Some Moroccans Want You to Know About Moroccan Culture

            On Thursday night, my site mate and I ran a round table discussion with some of my more advanced students about the Peace Corps, why some Americans (like us) feel compelled to do it, how it benefits America, how it benefits the host countries, and its three goals (developmental assistance, spreading awareness of American culture abroad, and increasing American knowledge about other cultures). Depending on which PCV you ask, and when, anyone of these goals might be the most important. At different points in my service I’d have answered differently. My students universally felt that the cultural exchange elements of the second and third goal were far and away more important than the first goal. As such, to finish up the discussion I posed this question to them, “what is the one aspect of Moroccan culture you think it is most important that I share with other Americans when I go home?” Below are their answers.

Loubna said that honor and respect are central to Moroccan culture.

Yassin, Scherazade, and Aicha all think I need to teach people what I learned about Islam.

Youseph added that it is important to remind people that Morocco is primarily Muslim and that means that it is strongly anti-terrorist.

Kamal, who spoke first, said that I should teach people about Moroccan food, but he regretted his quick answer when he realized most of the other students were going to make more serious points.

Moustapha didn’t learn from Kamal’s mistake and later regretted that he’d used his answer to say I should teach Moroccan dance.

Nabil on the other hand did learn from them and said that I should talk about Moroccans deep love of peace.

One of the two Merriams said that I should talk about tea and the importance of drinking it in a group.

Nouhela said that I should teach about Moroccan holidays.

Abdelghani said that Morocco’s is a culture in flux, in the midst of developing into something new.

The other Merriam said that it is important to remember that Morocco doesn’t just have one culture; each city has its own.

Our next session with these students is Tuesday. If you have any suggestions of important aspects of American culture we should share back with the students leave them in the comments below, or, if any of my Moroccan readers want to add to this list feel free to do so in the comments.