Really Old Rocks

Today we traveled from Chefchaouen to see the ancient Roman ruins of the city Volubilis, which was built centuries ago when Morocco was colonized by the Roman empire. The ruins were recovered by archeologists and reconstructed to their original form. The ruins were scattered over a massive landscape with a beautiful view of the mountains in the distance. It was amazing to walk around and see structures from hundreds of years ago still standing today, and I thought it was interesting to learn that this city that existed centuries ago shares similarities with American cities such as New York City and Chicago, as they were all constructed in a grid format. After seeing the Roman ruins, we all got back into the bus and drove to Fez where we will be staying for the next two nights. We had the opportunity to take a a calligraphy class here in Fez, and got to both learn about the practice of calligraphy in Morocco and try it out for ourselves.

During my time here in Morocco I have been able to dive deeper into my research project and learn more information about my topic from speaking with Mbarek, our guide. The topic that I am currently researching for Global Studies is the younger generation in Morocco, specifically focusing on young people’s engagement in politics. Something that our guide Mbarek told me that was very relevant to my topic was that many young people choose to participate in politics through protests and other public ways of expressing their voices, rather than through political parties. He said the reason for this is because it is often unclear exactly what the political parties are supporting and trying to get people to vote for. He also mentioned was that young people are getting more involved in politics now than previous generations ever have before, as young people are more educated now in Morocco. As the lack of opportunity for education is still an issue here in Morocco, I want to learn more about how education is changing the perspectives of young people and the impact that is having on the government and the monarchy itself. Mbarek also mentioned how the leader of these protests, a man named Nasser Zafzafi, was imprisoned by the authorities for his actions against the government. I am curious to learn more about this situation and if Zafzafi’s imprisonment has fueled the fire even more for these protests, or has caused the protests to lose momentum without him at the head of the movement.

- Liv