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Improvise, adapt, overcome: A quiet Friday in Fès Medina with global brands’ marketing collateral providing additional shade

Improvise, adapt, overcome: A quiet Friday in Fès Medina with global brands’ marketing collateral providing additional shade

1These days I am not convinced the trite saying of “Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life” is still valid, if it ever was. “Do research in tourism and you will never have a holiday without thinking about it”, however, seems more appropriate. Despite having done the research on Morocco diligently ahead of my first journey there a few years ago, I still found myself woefully ill-prepared for the experience. On my first night in Marrakech medina, I was half-way through a haggle before realising I was involved in one - a dress caught my eye; which in turn caught the vendor’s eye, and despite having no intention to acquire a takchita within the first few hours of landing, it still makes me chuckle every time I move it from one side of the closet to the other. The same dress planted a seed of love for this fascinating country and by the end of my first stay, I went from rehearsing a phone call to pulling a rug in the back of a souk to sit, hear a romanticised story from Sahara and tread through bangles, rings and shiny rocks; solving complex world issues with Petit Taxi drivers in French-Arabic - not very efficiently, but very loudly. That was the first reminder, on the importance of witnessing and the difference between secondary data and first-hand experience, a lesson that work in academia taught me a while ago.

2Following the years of pandemic and yearning for new experiences, the same work in academia allowed for a change of environment while preparing for the new semester. I found myself back in Morocco for the third time, but first time as a solo traveller staying for a month. "To see what it’s actually like to spend time immersed in life, rather than carry the rose tinted glasses of travel”, I told myself. “If I’m looking at the screen at home, I might as well do it in a beautiful riad”, I planned optimistically. “After all, if it becomes too much, I can always come back earlier”, I comforted my last-minute jitters. What followed was a month of characters from all walks of life, self-discovery in the way I’m exploring places new and old, but also building relationships and remembering the social codes of growing up in the Mediterranean particularly in relation to gender. It’s impossible not to appreciate the stark differences of Henri Prost’s plans for Fès’ Ville Nouvelle, Meknes and Rabat, the way areas in cities are ‘used’ or left behind, and the perennial centre vs. periphery dichotomy. The informal transport infrastructure that blossoms around places like Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, as well as the houses built on site bring to light some of the questions around the reality of UNESCO’s Tentative list of World Heritage Sites, lived places and who should be tasked to regulate these. With the successful organisation of Volubilis heritage site in close proximity, my thoughts went to the knowledge exchange potential, between Moroccan and my students back home… Finally, these inadvertent critical analyses, explorations, occasional swims, building the world’s most underwhelming series of photographs of majestic storks migrating south, and trying to hear all of the adhans reverberating across the rooftops also had to be negotiated with a never-ending work to-do list. 

3At the end of my month in Morocco, another reminder came through - how often the idea of ‘living like a local’ is rooted in privilege and difficult to truly attain. Walking late at night through Fes El Bali when souks are closed and yellow-lit streets become arenas for passionate football games for boys or, less often, corso for girls, both often stop to let the obvious tourist through and I am reminded of the hospitality warmer than the August sun, as well as the way I am perceived. It’s almost as if basic darija phrases, gnawa music evenings and khlea tagines are not enough for complete assimilation(!)! I am also reminded of a culinary allegory that came with a shepherd’s pie I made one evening for Fassi friends. A dish I considered unassuming but convenient for cultural exchange was met with slight apprehension, but with approval following shortly after. “It’s minced meat, potatoes, onions, carrots and peas - it’s just a different combination of what could have been a tagine!"

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List of illustrations

Title Improvise, adapt, overcome: A quiet Friday in Fès Medina with global brands’ marketing collateral providing additional shade
URL http://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/docannexe/image/9216/img-1.jpg
File image/jpeg, 4.0M
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References

Electronic reference

Maja Jović, « Maja Jović: A very Moroccan month », Via [Online], 22 | 2022, Online since 12 December 2022, connection on 16 February 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/9216 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/viatourism.9216

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About the author

Maja Jović

University of Westminster

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