A Tribal Market in the Spanish Zone of Morocco1

Walter Fogg

doi:10.2307/1155512

A Tribal Market in the Spanish Zone of Morocco1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2012

Walter Fogg

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As far as I am aware, no complete detailed study has been made before of any tribal market in North-West Africa (Barbary States), and certainly not of any in Morocco.

Ubach and Rackow give a few details of the organization and customs at such a market in Tódga (S.E. Morocco), and other workers such as Doutté, Michaux-Bellaire and Salmon, Montagne, Coon, and the anonymous contributors to the official French Government publication Villes et Tribus du Maroc give general descriptions and a few details. Further, Hanoteau and Letourneux, and Schurtz, make some generally applicable statements, while Westermarck gives accurate details of a considerable number of practices at, and beliefs concerning, different markets in different tribes of Morocco. But no previous worker has published a detailed study of any one market.

Type: Research Article
Information: Africa , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , October 1938 , pp. 428 - 458

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1155512 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © International African Institute 1938

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References

^{page 428 note 2} Ubach, E. und Rackow, E., ‘Sitte und Recht in Nordafrika’, Quellen zur ethnologischen Rechtsforschung von Nordafrika, Asien und Australien, 1 Band, Stuttgart, 1923Google Scholar.

^{page 428 note 3} Doutté, E., Merrâkech, Paris, 1905Google Scholar, and En Tribu, Paris, 1914Google Scholar.

^{page 428 note 4} Michaux-Bellaire, E., ‘Quelques tribus de montagne de la région du Habt’, vol. xvii, Archives Marocaines, publication de la Mission Scientifique du Maroc, Paris, 1911Google Scholar; Michaux-Bellaire, E. et Salmon, G.: ‘Les Tribus arabes de la Vallée du Lekkoûs’, vol. iv, no. i; vol. v, no. i; vol. vi, nos. iii-iv, Archives Marocaines, Paris, 1905-1906Google Scholar; Michaux-Bellaire, E., ‘Le Gharb’, vol. xx, Archives Marocaines, Paris, 1913Google Scholar.

^{page 428 note 5} Montagne, R., Les Berbères et le Makhzen dans le Sud du Maroc, Paris, 1930Google Scholar.

^{page 428 note 6} Coon, C. S., ‘Tribes of the Rif’, Harvard African Studies, vol. ix, Cambridge, U.S.A., 1931Google Scholar.

^{page 428 note 7} Villes et Tribus du Maroc, Documents et Renseignements publiés sous les auspices de la Résidence Générale par la Mission Scientifique du Maroc, Paris, 1915 onwards.

^{page 428 note 8} Hanoteau, et Letourneux, , La Kabylie et les Coutumes Kabyles, 3 vols., Paris, 1873Google Scholar.

^{page 428 note 9} Schurtz, Heinrich, ‘Das Bazarwesen als Wirtschaftsform’, Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft, ed. Prof. Julius Wolf, iv. Band, 3. Heft, Berlin, 1901Google Scholar.

^{page 428 note 10} Westermarck, , Ed., Ritual and Belief in Morocco, 2 vols., London, 1926Google Scholar.

^{page 429 note 1} The protectorate was established in 1912.

^{page 429 note 2} The outbreak of the Spanish civil war in July, 1936, just as I arrived in Morocco for a summer-vacation's work on this market, scotched my plans for camping near the market site, as the Spanish zone was closed immediately, and has not been reopened since. But I interrogated outside Tangier, during the summer vacation of 1936, and by the same method checked and amplified the results obtained then, during the summer vacation of 1937.

^{page 429 note 3} All Arabic words in the text and list are transliterated in accordance with the system used by Westermarck in Ritual and Belief in Morocco (vol. i, pp. ix-xi), and as far as I have been able to appreciate the sounds, are rendered as pronounced by scribes of North-West Morocco.

^{page 430 note 1} Pp. 189-91, Marruecos; Zona española, Alta comisária de la república española en Marruecos, Intervención y Fuerzas Jalifianas, Vademecum, Año 1931, Ceuta.

^{page 430 note 2} A férqặ (plur. fîrặq) is a division of a tribe which might be called a ‘quarter’ rather than a ‘clan’; there is no necessary blood relationship between its members.

^{page 433 note 1} This word is used very frequently in English in the form ‘sheikh’, but for uniformity in transliteration of Arabic words I have preferred to use the present form. The šéih was also known as the muūl s-sōq (master of the market).

^{page 433 note 2} This word is used currently in English in the form ‘pasha’, but I have preferred to use the present form for the sake of uniformity in transliteration of Arabic words. The báša of Azîla was also the qáid (governor) of the tribes mentioned; but for clarity I have used the term baša throughout the article.

^{page 434 note 1} The other two markets are sōq l-hamîs s-Sáhel and sōq l-ḥad l-Garbîya (see Fig. 2.)

^{page 435 note 1} i.e. two for each tribe.

^{page 435 note 2} But this was due to the conditions prevailing in the Moroccan country-side in the years just before the protectorate was established as, from 1881, after the Madrid Convention of 1880, a considerable number of commodities, including all animals, had been liable theoretically to tax at the markets of the tribes which were under the control of the máḫzen. (See Michaux-Bellaire, G., ‘Les Impôts Marocains’, Archives Marocaines, vol. i, Paris, 1904)Google Scholar.

^{page 436 note 1} He is also known as mūl s-sōq (master of the market), a description which, before the protectorate, was used only of the šéiḫ (see footnote, p. 433). The change in application of the term can be taken as a good indication of the change in relative importance at the market, as between pre- and post-protectorate times, of the ämîn and šéiḫ respectively.

^{page 436 note 2} See Vademecum, ibid., Año 1931, pp. 171-3, and Año 1930, table opposite p. 110.

^{page 437 note 1} The numbering of the items on the sketch-plans corresponds with that in the list.

^{page 437 note 2} In some parts of Morocco ráhba is used, and not mudá’ See Montagne, ibid., p. 250, and Ubach und Rackow, ibid., p. 128. Further, in other parts of the country ḥáuma seems to be used. See Villes et Tribus du Maroc, Casablanca et les Chaouia, tome 1, p. 218, Paris, 1915. But with the single exception of ráḥba d-zrặ’, used as an alternative to müḍặ’ the term müdặ’ exclusively is used at sōq t-tnîn d Sîdi l-Yemáni.

^{page 438 note 1} No longer permitted because the Spaniards consider them both indecent and a possible cause of disturbance, since they are an open incitement to pederastic indulgence and the possible ensuing play of jealousies.

^{page 438 note 2} Before the protectorate, however, it was considered shameful, and also un-wise, for young married women or married women in their prime, to be at the market. Consequently, apart from a few old women, the husbands or other men-folk of the family generally sold these goods at the market.

^{page 438 note 3} In some of the markets of some of the tribes of Morocco all the women traders are segregated in a specially reserved part (Montagne, ibid., p. 251, see also Hanoteau et Letourneux, ibid., vol. ii, p. 79), while in some parts of the country there are markets for women only, and to which it is forbidden for men to go. (Montagne, ibid., p. 252, Coon, ibid., p. 110, and Vademecum, ibid., Año 1931, p. 190).

^{page 439 note 1} e.g. Barber-bleeders ḥäjjâmä (26); shoeing-smiths sůmârä (25); foot-wear repairers ṭerrâfä (27).

Vendors of new foot-wear săbâbit (41) and (42); of reed mats ḥůsûr of Moorish sweets hálwi (63); of sugar, tea, &c. ‘aṭrîä (73); of dried fruits, &c. féqyä (71) of olive oil and kerosene zit^s’ ů l-gäz (72).

Buyers of eggs (86); of cattle (89); of bees-wax and skins (87). gerrâbä (22), ‘abâra (23). Numbers in brackets refer to items on sketch-plans and in list.

^{page 441 note 1} Young and immature leaf of Chamaerops humilis (dwarf-palm).

^{page 441 note 2} The accompanying sketch-plans (Figs. 3 and 4) represent average conditions at one season only, i.e. summer, but with a few additions (see notes accompanying some of items in list).

^{page 442 note 1} The primary function of a ḥájjäm (barber-bleeder) is scalp-shaving and beardtrimming of the men. But he also does much neck-bleeding of both men and women, especially in summer, and also applies leeches to other parts of the body and does teeth-extracting. Consequently there is always blood to dispose of.

^{page 445 note 2} To be published in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

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