THE PATH IS EASY AND THE BENEFITS LARGE: THE NĀS˙IRIYYA, SOCIAL NETWORKS AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN MOROCCO, 1640–1830

Abstract

This essay traces economic and social change in early modern Morocco from the perspective of the leaders and followers of the Nās˙iriyya, one of the largest sufi orders in North Africa. It suggests that people's social strategies for gaining access to productive resources acted as an important locus of change. Donations to the order provided clients access to mediation, protection, enforcement, credit, supernatural power and political influence, but also made them increasingly dependent on Nās˙iri leaders. Major shifts in Morocco's political economy, however, refocused strategies of resource access and social mobility. Growing international trade encouraged commercialization, specialization and competition between groups for access to markets, political favors and tax breaks.