MoroccoMasculinities · Masculinities, Youth and Violence in the Moroccan Underclass: Young Men and Their Future Selves.

Masculinities, Youth and Violence in the Moroccan Underclass: Young Men and Their Future Selves.

MoroccoMasculinities examined the construction of the masculinities of disadvantaged young men to understand how gender, class, space, and ethnicity (‘Urubis as opposed to long-standing urbanites) intersect in juvenile moral and cultural formations in today’s Morocco. The research project focused on the emergence of juvenile subcultures and especially on the masculine subculture called tcharmil. This culture created an important moral panic because of its specific aesthetic extolling assertive masculinity and violence. Confined to a minority, violence, however, does not define the whole cultural movement. This is one of the questions MoroccoMasculinities raised and responded to clearly. The tcharmil culture we observed is one mainly based on the display of non-observance of religious norms. The demonstration of alcohol consumption, premarital sex and tattoos are explicit and valued. The emphasis on this aspect, the most important one for this subculture, has allowed us to question the state of religiosity in a country where religious prescriptions were never challenged and opposed so clearly and openly in the public space and less by representants of the working classes. Therefore, one of the main goals and achievements of the MoroccoMasculinities project was to study and analyse the expression of opposition toward religion in a country that has been mainly understood these three last decades through the lens of social Islamisation. The expected final results will bring to light new evidence with regards to our common understanding of Muslim societies as societies only religious. MoroccoMasculinities opened a new direction in the sociology of Morocco’s society by looking at it as non-religious as much as religious by adopting an approach analysing the rise of “disenchantment of the world”. By focusing on the use of social networks - the main platforms for disseminating this youth culture of moral dissent - it was possible to show the extent of the digital impact on the lives of individuals and in the decline of religious practices (and beliefs ?). Such knowledge is primarily important for Morocco as it can highlight the diversity of a social landscape essentialised to its religion. As the fourth largest partner-country in the European Neighbourhood Policy, Morocco’s ongoing social changes are of high importance for the European Union. The Moroccan youth, which number reached its peak, and its transformations of norms in terms of sexuality, intimacy, gender relations, individual freedoms, etc., represent crucial challenges for the future of Europe and the Mediterranean. MoroccoMasculinities is enriching with new knowledge worldwide literature on youth cultures, gender and social class in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA).

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз