Producing Public Intellectuals: Shifting Scales in Moroccan Cinema (Top Poster in Popular Communication)

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session I
  In Interactive Paper Session: Popular Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This paper argues new Moroccan cinema cannot be understood in purely national terms anymore, that modes of production, distribution, and discourse show it to be an industry integrated into what I call a regional “EuroMed” mediascape. Using Kraidy’s conception of a “deterritorialized industry” and Curtin’s theory of “trajectories of creative migration”, I demonstrate a key dimension of the new Moroccan cinema is its situation within a new Moroccan mediascape that has shifted in scale from national cinema to something more regional in terms of distribution and global in terms of financing. In doing so I contend that cinema has become a transnational space for cultural activism by public intellectuals seeking more autonomy to challenge Morocco’s traditionally centralized media discourses, as well as well as an attempt to integrate political norms and participation with those of global civil society in a way that is inclusive of, yet not specific to, Morocco.

Author

• Annemarie Iddins, University of Michigan