WPI Class of 1879 Prize for Outstanding Projects in the Humanities - 2016 Winner By: Reynaldo Duran ('18) Abstract This essay investigates the art scene in Morocco to draw conclusions from research in the field about how its Islamic and colonial history and multi-continental neighbors influence the work that its artists produce. Research was done…
Given it's our last week, we're not compelled to go grocery shopping. Our tram passes expired a couple weeks ago so we've taken to walking everywhere in town. The weather's always nice for it anyway, as it's cooling down to a point where the sun is not so oppressive. We often head to the Café Carrion…
Saturday was our trip back to Bud Mezkida, the mountain we had hiked earlier in the week. We packed leftover lentils and rice for dinner, piled into the Land Rover, and headed to the mountain. On the way there we stopped at a small town where David and I got out to buy bread. At…
Our voyage to Sidi Ifni commences, with one man staying behind. Shady chose to remain to recuperate, prepare for a conference, and file job applications. With my bag stuffed until its seams were straining, I took the tram with my compatriots to the Rabat train station at 7:00 am. There we met with Professor Boudreau,…
Our bedroom in Tangier was haunted by a jinni that kept slamming the door every couple hours throughout the night. Each time it woke me I’d go shut it, just for it to soon open and close again. I woke up to a collection of new mosquito bites—a sure indication to the presence of mischievous spirits.…
I began our morning in Ouarzazate with a run through the neighborhood. About a mile from the hotel noticed three dogs across the street. This is very rare in the Arab world; cats can be seen on practically every street but seeing dogs seemed foreign even to me after all these weeks. See Alan's article…
Saturday morning. I woke up to the sound of footsteps and voices down the hall. Must be Alan waking up. Wait a sec...we have no hallway. My mind, in its groggy state, gradually pieced together that the noises, which sounded so close, were actually coming from the alleyway just outside our window, despite us being on the…
Originally we planned to head down to Casablanca on Saturday, but around 3:00am that morning we figured it best we go early on Sunday instead. So we got another pleasant sleep into noon on Saturday before waking up for some fried eggs and rice--props to Shady on knowing how to cook rice (hey, I'm still young,…
The first encounter we had with Moroccans foreshadowed the type of interactions we would be carrying out for the remainder of the week. Of primary interest is the language we were communicating in: me, in French, as I had studied it for 5 years, and my friend and fellow voyager Shady, in Arabic, as he's…
The Chronicles of El Rey in Morocco 2016 