Essays on Identity and Belonging by theolivewriters

Curated by: Haytham Chhilif

On Identity and Belonging Essays by Young Moroccan Writers

On Identity and Belonging: Essays by Young Moroccan Writers Copyright ÂŠ 2020 by The Olive Writers.

Editor: Haytham Chhilif Assistant Editors: Doha El Jerrari/ Hodna Bentali Gharsallah Nuernberg English Copy-editor: Haytham Chhilif/ Hodna Bentali Gharsallah Nuernberg Arabic Copy-editor: Abdellatif El Mourabit Cover Design: Hiba Bachiri.

For information contact: information@olivewriters.org www.olivewriters.org

This book is dedicated to Loubna Arrach, Rachel Holskin, and Richard Martin. We are very grateful for your unflagging support.

Foreword

This collection of essays seeks to answer the big question: What does it mean to be Moroccan? Morocco is a multicultural country in which a plethora of questions are raised about identity and belonging. As such, defining a specifically â&#x20AC;&#x153;Moroccan Identityâ&#x20AC;? is a daunting task. Ultimately, there are as many Moroccan identities as there are Moroccans. Youths in Morocco constitute 34 percent of the population and make up an increasingly growing segment of the society. Yet, they are among the most excluded group. It is important now more than ever to listen to what young people have to say, to understand them and give them a chance to contribute. The Olive Writers aims to give these youths a chance to be heard, to write about their personal lives, to tackle the exclusion and injustice they suffer, to understand and come to terms with their society and to nurture their own individual identities. Youth are the future, and by giving them their rights, we guarantee a peaceful future that serves us all. To explore the topic, we asked our Summer Camp applicants to write personal essays about identity. We wanted to know which identity groups do Moroccan youth belong to and what that belonging means to them. The essays we received were beautiful, powerful and very eye-opening. They left us enthralled by the diverse array of ideas and stories the young writers incorporated into their essays. When given the opportunity, these young Moroccans eagerly and incisively questioned their past and present, researched the topic, critically considered the groups they identify with and rewrote their narratives in all

sincerity. These essays are thoughtful accounts of the struggle to belong and the destructive effects of feeling out of place. In short, this essay collection offers great insights into the complexities of being a young adult Moroccan. We truly hope these essays will encourage our readers to think about their identity and to understand the extent to which identification is important in creating comfort and security, in turn, allowing individuals to know who they really are, how they fit in with other groups and the true meaning of the shared values that we all stand for.

Mohammed El Wahabi, Founder/Director

TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: ENGLISH ESSAYS ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Abdessamad Aadoui, Marrakech ...................................................................................................................... 8 Ayman Dahhan, Salé .............................................................................................................................................11 Brahim Hassini, Ouarzazate ............................................................................................................................. 13 Imane Elbacha, Rabat ..........................................................................................................................................15 Ezzahra Benlahoussine, Fes .............................................................................................................................. 20 Hiba Bachiri, Salé ...................................................................................................................................................27 Meriem Gamar, Agadir ........................................................................................................................................29 Fatima Ezzahra Ougami, Mohammedia .....................................................................................................36 Oumaima Bouchan, Agadir ............................................................................................................................... 39 Rihab Boutadghart, Rabat .................................................................................................................................48 Wafa Bassiouni, Marrakech .............................................................................................................................. 51 Yasmine Elkhamkhami, Tetouan ....................................................................................................................54 Yousra Mrabti, Rissani .........................................................................................................................................58 Zineb Laadioui, Casablanca .............................................................................................................................. 61 PART 2: ARABIC ESSAYS .................................................................................................................................... 66

‫ الدار البيضاء‬،‫ ايمن لطفي‬................................................................................................................................................67 ‫ طنجة‬،‫ دعاء أخريف‬.......................................................................................................................................................69 ‫ الدار البيضاء‬،‫ غيتا رشدي‬...............................................................................................................................................71 ‫ ميدلت‬،‫ هدى المرواني‬.....................................................................................................................................................74 ‫ أحفير‬،‫ هدى قضاض‬........................................................................................................................................................76 ‫ اكادير‬،‫ خولة بوعشرة‬......................................................................................................................................................79 ‫ القصر الكبير‬،‫ منال الغافقي‬..............................................................................................................................................82 ‫ الدار البيضاء‬،‫ نسرين الوركي‬.........................................................................................................................................83 ‫ الدار البيضاء‬،‫ سلوى التاقي‬.............................................................................................................................................86 ‫ تيزنيت‬،‫ زكرياء أمصنار‬.................................................................................................................................................88

Part 1: English Essays

Abdessamad Aadoui, Marrakech La Familia Es Todo Right at this exact moment as you’re reading this, babies are being born world-wide. Their parents or, rather, the mother, in or out of wedlock, intentionally or not brought them into this world. These babies weren’t asked for their permission to be here with us nor were they resented with a plethora of options of parents, ways of being born, countries, cultures, religions, social classes, races or genders to pick from. They were just made by random people who will influence their every thought and action from now on. Frankly, it’s a numbers game. If a baby is as lucky as Buster Douglas was when fighting Mike Tyson, he or she is going to be born into a rich family with educated parents, a loving sister, a protective brother, and wise grandparents in a developed country where peace dwells in every atom and the culture is open-minded. If you’re as unlucky as an African-American character in a horror movie, seeing as how they always end up dying first, you’re more likely to be born into a poor family in an under-developed country where conflicts break out more than acne on a teenager’s face and to live alongside extremist parents and a conservative culture. All of those factors shape our identity, but it all starts with family. We are literally created by our families. Family is everything. I personally consider family to be the zenith of my identity. They gave birth to me, gave me a name, a home, a religion and chose a school for me. I wouldn’t be who I am today without them. The moment I opened my eyes in the cold of reality after leaving my mother’s warm womb, I was face to face with Moroccan parents. This provided me with Arabic and a bit of Tamazight as my first languages. My dad is a school administrator. This meant that I belonged to the

middle class. My parents are moderate when it comes to religion and openminded when it comes to culture. This provided me with a bit more freedom than other kids in this country. My parents are introverts. This caused me social problems. My parents didn’t know much about bringing up a child. This caused me some personality disorders. My parents actually care about me and try as hard as they can. This made me feel safe and calmed me during tough times. My family is full of artists. This rubbed off on me and heightened my artistic senses. My family’s contrasting traits molded my current identity like a classic movie made by a drunk director or a masterpiece made by a rock star on LSD. I’m a shy, artsy, open-minded, sophisticated, and troubled person on his journey to break out of his shell and be more social, as well as make a lucrative career out of art; that’s what I consider my identity, and it came from my family. It means a lot to me to be born into this family; it’s not a perfect one by any means, but I’m grateful for it. I used to squander my energy on wishing it was better. Thankfully, I abandoned that whiny-brat’s ungrateful attitude while growing up, as I experienced more of life and became wiser. In fact, today I’m extremely proud to belong to my bloodline. It could’ve been a lot worse. I could’ve easily been born into an extremely religious home that bans music or sets my curfew at 4:00 p.m., a home where the dad is an alcoholic who beats his wife and children every other night or a home of idiots who need a “NOT EDIBLE” warning sticker on their shampoo. But in general, I don’t like to be “seen” as a member of a particular identity group other than my family. I don’t like labels. I’m not a jar or someone’s lunch in the company refrigerator. I don’t like it when people label me as Moroccan, Arab, Muslim, a supporter of “x” party, a feminist or the like. First of all, some of

those labels and the ideas people have about which identity groups I belong to are totally inaccurate. I don’t like the accurate ones either. I am a human being before being anything else. I belong to the human species of Homo sapiens; that’s the label I covet, a human! I am a human. Any other label does nothing but build a beautiful Trump wall between me and other people and create unnecessary tension between us. My family-inspired identity influences my craft—creative writing as well as music—in major ways. As previously stated, my family is full of artists. My dad is a poet, an unpublished author, and a painter. My sister is a poet. My four uncles are poets, singers, musicians, songwriters, painters, and comedians. I’ve been blessed with an art gene, and all of my artistic endeavors are met with support. This has influenced my writing tremendously. Support alone can do magic, and having poets and authors at your disposal for advice and inspiration is even more magical. Being an introvert because of them helped my craft as well. It gave me more time to work on my art and gave me a free ticket to go on an extremely exciting journey to learn how to be more social and break out of my shell. And with each new experience I go through when putting myself out there, I get a new idea for a poem, a short story or a song. In a word, our families play the role of gods in our lives from the moment we are born. They pull all the strings—our identities are just puppets in their hands. They created us. Family is everything.

Ayman Dahhan, Salé One’s identity is a question that can be seen as vague, hard or even impossible to answer, all of which is due to the number of aspects that blend into each person’s identity. However, I believe that some aspects of myself are without a doubt the strongest and most central ones. As a Muslim, I consider my religion to be the number one aspect of my identity. It is my pride and joy, and it is with other Muslims that I truly feel connected and truly among my people. This does not mean that I cannot interact or reach a common understanding with people from other religions. On the contrary, my religion always pushes me to be kinder and more open to others, and it is merely a matter of degrees. One other aspect is my country, the place where I was born and where I feel the most comfortable. The phrase “there is no place like home” is not unfounded, as we humans tend to have a strange magnet between ourselves and our countries. No matter how far we may be separated from it, it always attracts back, but perhaps that can be explained by the next aspect of our identities. Family is the first institution we open our eyes to, headed by our parents who pass on not only our biological genes but also our earliest values, morals, and views of the world. Our families contribute a huge amount to our identity, and like I mentioned before, they can also play a huge role in developing the attachment we have, or lack thereof, to our home countries. I consider the most important aspect and the most central axis of one’s identity to be their ethnicity. The state of belonging to a certain group that is

culturally and nationally distinct from others attributes to the state of existence of the human being. Being part of a specific culture, practicing the traditions of your ethnicity and identifying with your nationality, in addition to all the traits that a person is born with and born into, is important in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. When a person possesses these aspects, he or she feels seen and becomes a part of a larger group that considers him their own. These traits enable a person to lead a life, to study, to work, to have a family to whom he or she will pass on these attributes. These aspects of his or her identity allows for a reproduction of these values and beliefs by passing them down to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s off-spring and thus to succeeding generations. Such is done not only to survive but also to keep these traditions and cultures alive. These aspects keep the human race rich in cultural diversity, and as these ethnicities may mix between each other, they continue to produce more and more ethnicities that give others their own sense of identity as well, creating a vast pool of cultural values and a freedom of identity. Sometimes, the image does not reflect the truth, as we can see today. For example, it is a common stereotype that Muslims are mostly seen as terrorists and are even banned from entering certain countries as was the case with the Trump ban of travel to and from seven mainly Muslim countries. This example shows how one bad apple can ruin the whole basket. I believe that even if I belong to particular identity groups, I do not speak for all of the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members, and no matter how many similarities we may have, each person is his own person and no amount of influence from the group can change that. On another topic, as strange as it may seem, I believe my identity has little to no influence on my writing. This is due to the fact that I like to keep my

writing creative. I like to be able to write about anything and everything and to write about both what I know and what I do not know. For me, that is the charm of creative writing. Hence, many aspects go into the making of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity and whether it has an influence on his or her writings is, in my opinion, up to the person.

Brahim Hassini, Ouarzazate I believe that the most central aspects of identity are my nationality, my ideas, and my dignity. First, I am Moroccan, and this is a big part of who I am, mainly because I’ve lived here my whole life and I admire the ideology of my people and their beliefs. Second, the ideas I have animate my life. I spend most of my days thinking about ideas, coming up with new ones, analyzing those of others, and so forth. Additionally, dignity is the basis and source for humans in terms of respect and pleasure. Dignity also promotes gender equality, mutual effort and respect, while denouncing discrimination on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, religion, property, disability, or mental illness. For me, identity groups refer to social influence within a bunch of people. This influence can be based on the interpersonal interaction among these people, for example, if we consider the case of a group of writers in The Olive writers program, the participants share one thing, the pleasure of writing. This, in turn, produces a strong identification based on a social category. On the other hand, participants can identify with a group created to conduct experiments in a poetry course by working closely together on a literary competition, for instance. Participants may come to identify with their poetry group (“We finally finished our poem, and I bet it ranks among the best in the class!”). Although group identification is not always based on competition, identification is based on social comparison. These examples serve as clear illustrations of the “us versus them” experience that sometimes accompanies the identification process in intergroup situations. Therefore Group identification means helping the group reach its objectives. As members share the same code of conduct, the group’s norms

dictate the responsibilities and obligations of each member. This combination of choices, decisions, and behaviors generally fosters a harmoniously functioning among group members as well as internal group cohesion. Furthermore, norms indicate what attitude members should adopt in various circumstances. They may, for instance, help members settle a conflict by providing them with possible resolutions. As a result, misunderstandings can be avoided and harmonious relationships among members may be preserved. Moreover, members may gain a better understanding of their experience by suggesting or prescribing acceptable and unacceptable attitudes or behaviors, as well as the roles and functions of each group member. As such, norms can enable members to better understand the behaviors of their co-members as much as they allow for the identification of those who do not respect the rules enforced within the group. If we had family, friends, or teachers encouraging us, maybe we would start down the writing path earlier in life than we would have otherwise. On the other hand, if we had others discouraging us, maybe we would have delayed our entrance to the writing world or, conversely, we might have begun writing anyway. However, our experiences are likely to influence what we write in various ways. We might write in the genre we prefer to read or we might write in a trendy genre with a goal of income generation due to financial need. That is the way my identity influences my creative writing.

Imane Elbacha, Rabat Identity is the most important part of the building of one’s personality. It allows you to describe who you are and to define your roots, your beliefs, and your mentality. It has a strong influence on your perception of life and living. At first sight, family has a great impact on identity – identity may even depend on it. Both of my parents are from Errachidia, a wonderful place that I had the chance to visit once. We live in a medium-sized house in Temara, a calm place with very little security in a working-class neighborhood, where people care for each other, worry about each other and make sacrifices in the name of love, humanity, and fraternity. My mom, Maryam Bounana, is the treasurer of my school, High-tech. She is a great person and a hard worker. She taught me that loyalty and honesty are the principals of a peaceful life. My dad, Mustapha Elbacha, the head of RabatSalé-Kenitra Valencia center, is an intelligent man. He studied law because his dream job was to be a lawyer. I also have two younger brothers. The older one is named Ilyas Lhabib. He is 10 years old, and he has always been the best student in his class since the first year he went to school. The younger one, Youssef, is almost 3 years old. He is a little genius and an angel with his little demons. I love my family even if I’m not the best at expressing it. I’m a very ambitious person; I spend most of my time alone working on my personal projects, which takes a considerable amount of my time. One’s environment, teachers and, most of all, friends also contribute to one’s identity. Actually, I don’t believe in friendship, not because it doesn’t exist but because it’s rare. Friendship is like demons: it grows under pressure. I have a

few classmates whom I consider as friends: firstly, my best friend Malak, a very creative mind, a lady full of life and freshness; secondly, Basma, my math companion with whom I share my mathematic “discoveries” and admire science and astronomy. We’re the future Newton and Leibniz; finally, my psychologist, Imane. She’s the one with whom I share my hardest experiences. She’s a really good listener. The truth is I’ve never met anyone from whom I didn’t learn something, so I’m always open to meeting new people and sharing experiences and knowledge. In addition to that, I do a lot of volunteering. I like to interact with different people who have different needs and to discover their challenges, their dreams, and their stories. I participate in two associations: AMSAT, a Moroccan association for the support and assistance of people with Down’s syndrome, and Lueur d’espoir, a very active association that organizes several events to help people with disabilities. The most important event was a series of Ramadan ftours. We shared our tables with old women and men from the Al Amal retirement home in Rabat. I discovered another side of our society: people with no families who only have each other. Despite the bad conditions of the center, they do their best to build up their happiness, and we work to help them. We also shared our ftours with homeless people and others who were suffering from cancer in the Suiss. It was an amazing educational experience that had a huge impact on my perception of living in a group. A professional life that builds responsibility and autonomy is also a major contributor to one’s identity. I worked for two summers between 2014, 2015 and 2016, at Maple Bear, a summer camp in Canada. My mission was the entertainment and teaching of six and seven-year-old children. Over a period of

two months, I improved my English and met people from different countries, including Canada, Spain, France, China, South Africa, and Italy, which created an amazing opportunity for cultural exchange. The other thing I gained was knowledge of how important it is to take responsibility, the dangers of working with young children, and how to feed your creativity to surprise yourself and your team. In addition, I learned to work in a group, to share ideas, and to devise tasks that provide the best results in achieving our common goals. Throughout my life, I tried to discover all the aspects of my identity by challenging myself and setting my life on a strong foundation. The greatest tool to complete this journey has been reading. As I’m a bookworm, I spend most of my time reading. I love philosophy and science books. They have the ability to change your view of life, enlarge your horizons and make you a greater mind. Two years ago, I adopted Descartes’ strategy and set a tabula rasa, questioning everything I’ve ever known – my existence, my beliefs, and my knowledge – with the main goal of finding the absolute truth in a big illusion and awaking my consciousness to build my dreams. On my journey to discover myself, I knew I was a feminist. In our modern world, women are still treated disrespectfully, their potential is underestimated, and they are given fewer chances in the work market and lower salaries. Women’s rights still need to be demanded, especially in third world countries like Morocco, where young girls are obliged to get married at a very young age with old men and where girls work as housemaids in big cities like Rabat and Casablanca instead of going to school. On the other hand, being a feminist implies fighting stereotypes and social restrictions and asking for personal freedom after assuring a good living for every individual. This latter includes

education, health, work, and eradicating poverty and hunger by building major infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water, and by establishing schools, universities and hospitals, as well as ensuring industrial development and organizing training programs for teachers, doctors, engineers, and other workers. Descartes’ strategy didn’t only influence my political opinion but also my religious beliefs. As a Moroccan citizen, I was considered as part of the Islamic community from the moment I was born. I was taught not to question my beliefs simply because the community believes that they are an absolute truth, which is a huge mistake. The biggest proof is the history of religions. From the moment humans started to discover the universe and to study their environment, they were searching for things to worship, from rocks to God. This is part of human nature: We tend to escape from reality and to avoid taking on responsibilities, not to mention our fear of the unknown, by imagining other universes and creatures with the power that we’re seeking and the perfection that we lack, but science came to establish the real image of our existence through facts written in mathematic language, or general truths. Identity isn’t only related to our origins but also to our personal experiences, the obstacles and difficulties that we have faced during our lifetimes, not to mention the crucial importance of the knowledge that we gain. Yet, creativity remains the central matrix of identity molding. Reciprocally, our identities influence our creativity. Writing indirectly translates one’s thoughts and opinions, taking in consideration past experiences, daily life problems, and social issues related to our environment and origins.

Ezzahra Benlahoussine, Fez Lost Visions of the Self!

Since the very first day I set my feet on the grounds of this city, I felt that there were more mysterious and charming things deep in its heart that it was begging me to dig up and expose to my eager mind. I wanted to unveil and explore the lost beauties of a city that once flourished and is again flourishing: Fez, the city of the soul and knowledge. At the national level, this city used to be associated with knowledge. “It is the city of knowledge,” I explained to the taxi driver who, in a fatherly manner, reproached me for coming here instead of going to another city like Rabat. He said: “Ach jabek a bniti l’hena, khliti Rabat o jiti l’Fez! Fez is no longer the city of knowledge. The city of knowledge is dead with its people. This is a waste land.” I didn’t know who he meant when he said “its people.” Was he referring to people like Fatima Al Fihria, who was the founder of Al Qarawiyin, the first Muslim university in the world? I wanted to ask him, but I thought it would be more relevant if I ask one of my professors instead. I gave the driver a friendly smile. Looking at the rearview mirror, I silently muttered these words to myself: Fez is the city of knowledge. That’s how I used to see it and that’s how I want to see it… In the medina, I came across a man who wanted to sell me a leather bag. While he was showing me bags with different designs, I noticed that he was studying my features. Suddenly he asked whether I was Amazigh, a question I was used to by then! I laughed, deeply conscious that his assumption was as

superficial as that made by one of my classmates last week. I was sad, not just because I always had to explain the different parts of my identity, but also because it confirmed the idea that we were still in a society in which women are objects, not just sexual objects, but also objects labeled with an identity that reveal an ideology and speak a whole nation’s story… The man’s assumption, like my classmate’s, was based on a merely superficial observation of my physical appearance (identity). I was wearing a pair of Amazigh silver earrings with an Amazigh symbol on them! Is that enough? Is it enough to wear a pair of Amazigh earrings to be called an Amazigh woman? Throwing myself precipitately into the heart of that city, I started to realize how strongly I was connected with that place and how strangely maddening it would be for me not to be entirely accepted by it… One of my former professors once commented on some of my journals, saying that my love for Fez owed to the ancient, mystic, and romantic personality I have developed from reading fiction. “I guess you are breathing that aroma, not the air it actually exhales,” he speculated. I remember that I did not answer him then – not because I did not have a reply to his speculation but because I was not sure of it. Also, I did not want to brood over it. However reality, unwelcome in my present time as it was, had blundered against his speculation. I came to see with open eyes how this city of the soul was in a state of decay. I came to understand that most of the assumptions I had about Fez were only the result of imagination, my own troubled imagination. Even more, I came to accept my professor’s speculation.

Yesterday, I went to the IPDF association in Batha, but they asked me to come back on Tuesday and bring a signed document addressed to the person in charge there. After that I decided to go visit the Moulay Idriss shrine, thinking I would be able to find someone there who could help me find other associations in the old medina. However, to my ultimate surprise, I immediately arrived at a huge gate whose entrance was crammed full with homeless women and men. Reluctantly, I entered the gate absentmindedly, as if I was saying to myself, “Zahra, please don’t go in there.” Deep inside, there was a voice, that of Fez’s ardent lover, she was pulling me back and, surprisingly, she was the same, the very same voice that had woke me up this morning at 6:30, asking me to bring her here. Before stepping inside the shrine, there were two men, each one of them offering me a different service. One handed me a cup of water and muttered, “Allah izawjek a khti b’fares ahlamek,” (“May Allah marry you to the hero of your dreams”) and the other took hold of my hand, ushering me into the interior of the shrine. For a moment, I felt I must have been mistaken. That could not have been the shrine – not that I had a history with shrines, but that just was not the way I had imagined it in my head. Inside, there were different crowds of people. An elderly emerged from one of the crowds and came up to me. I noticed that the other two men who were following me immediately disappeared when they saw him coming toward me. The scenario reminded me of Casablanca’s Ouled Ziane bus station, where random men block your way to offer you tickets at different prices and to different destinations. Here this man, by murmuring some Quranic verses, seemed to be promising me a ticket to heaven. The first thing that struck me as

being strange were the unveiled women walking freely inside the shrine even while being surrounded by men. I asked the man if there were separate places for men and women, and his reply struck me as even more surprising. He said, “Daba l’malik atakom hoquqkom hta wahd mabqa ihder maa lmra temchi fin ma baghat.” While I was in a deep conversation with that man, a woman came to me. Holding a cigarette in one hand, she offered me a candle with the other and suggested that I go with her to the place where I was supposed to light my candle and make a wish. Later on, I discovered that the woman was one the granddaughters of Moulay Idriss, a fact that I could not believe at first. Of course, I was not against of the idea of women smoking cigarettes, but there! The daughter of the noble man of the city was smoking in the heart of his sacred shrine. After lighting my candle, I wanted to strike up a conversation with her about the primary reasons why I was there and to ask her to tell me where I could find women’s associations in the medina. Listening to my question, she closed her eyes for a little while, deep in thought, as if she were afraid to open them again. When she opened her eyes, she gave me a blurry look that made me doubt my own existence and my being there with her in that very moment. She started to tell me that going there was a useless thing because in the medina there were not any women’s associations. I started to feel a sense of guilt as it seemed my question had disturbed her because she started to make fun of me. She called random men around her to come and see what the little girl was saying.

“Khoya wach kaynin hna f’lmedina chi jaam’aya nisa’ya,” she asked the men. “If we had those associations here, you would not see this woman begging people in the streets for few dirhams,” she added, pointing to a homeless woman who was standing in front of the shrine’s door. Indeed, it took a glimpse at those women standing in front of me to realize how that their sense of inferiority was made so palpable and contagious. “Even those associations downtown are of no use for us,” she continued. She described a single mother who discovered her pregnancy late, and when she went to them, they said that they could not help her. At the end of the story, she revealed to me that she had been that single mother! Later that night, I could not sleep. I failed to control the strife of the thoughts inside my head. While I was trying to gather my thoughts into a single concise sentence, I felt something walking across my back. At first, I was reluctant to touch that little object and discover its nature. It was an intruder indeed, but it rescued me from the pangs of my thoughts. Its steps against my skin gave my back a little tickle. There was some soothing, yet threateningly silent while I waited for that little thing to come into sight and announce itself. I sat in place, motionless, unable to decide, then a strong pulse of curiosity struck my veins. I was afraid that thing might be a devilish creature trying to crack my back open. For a moment, a whole scenario of my blood gushing on the floor, my brains hovering around the ceiling and my body belonging to me no more constructed itself in my mind. I stretched my first finger onto my back and got hold of it. It was a minute insect, a tiny ant. I could almost feel her heart beating fast and her heavy breaths in my palm. In her eyes I saw many indistinguishable

things, and beyond them loomed the horror of my shade. She moaned and cried out, and then she summoned her strength to beg my pardon. I tried to pat her in a soothing sisterly manner, but I stopped myself because I thought that would rather harm her. Like me, two different forces were working on her mind, one pulling her against the other. She was looking for something. When I relinquished her, she went reeling in different directions, staggering and wobbling against my papers. I tried to trap her in my palm again, but I couldn’t. She was confused, just as I was. Like me, she had gotten trapped in a place where she could not feel her sense of self. Maybe she had gotten in there by mistake, too. Like all women who are still pained with a yearning for lost visions of the self, cherishing their inward wounds, abandoning wishes that are outside themselves but unable to kill the devil who keeps enacting them. Eventually, the tiny ant escaped from my view and there was an utterly excruciating pain, one that my memory shall never forget. The ant had made me reminisce about my mother’s evening tales. She used to tell me that women were like ants; they are safe as long as they stay inside their homes. Once they are outside, they must be ready to be smashed by unmerciful, misogynistic men. Now I think of how difficult it was for my mother to bring me into this world. I thought of how she had not wanted me in the first place because her doctor had told her that she had an increased chance of health problems. She was definitely growing weaker and weaker as time passed. She said that she was going crazy. “I was hysterical,” she recounted. Petrified and in agony, at one stage, she wanted to leave my father and go to my grandfather’s house. “At least they would not let me die,” she continued. I also thought of my beloved father who

stopped her from having an abortion because, he says, he loved and wanted me more than anything else. On the day of her delivery, she said she saw death. Her feeling of resentment toward me reached its peak at the moment when the doctor asked her to give me one last push, to thrust me into life and hear my outrageous cry, which would have been her greatest victory then. Her body would finally be independent and free, but she could not find the strength to do it. Truly, a womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body has always reminded me of a colonized country, once the invader is there, he is there forever. And even when he is kicked out, he always leaves some incurable scars behind. It was in that moment that my mother wanted most to get rid of me just in order to possess me again, here on the outside, alive and free. They made a big hole on her private parts, one for which she still blames me, because I was suffocating. I was suffocating because I was almost three weeks late. It was summer and my mother told me that it was the first time she had seen my father sweating like a big fat dog. My father named me Zahra because he believed it was by maktub and good luck that I made it into this world. My mother says that she regrets hating me. She even refuses to talk about it anymore. Recently, I tried to get her talk about it. She looked at me with her wide eyes and said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You proved to be a special and strong-headed thing since your very first days.â&#x20AC;?

Hiba Bachiri, Salé Philosophers have long argued about what the most important aspect of a person’s identity is. It goes without saying that restricting human identity to one aspect is impossible, for humans are complex entities of existence with all their elements intertwined together in a web-like structure with a few knots that may look more distinct than others. As individuals we certainly struggle to identify ourselves within our society (personal identity) as well as the world (group identity); therefore, one may ask, “What are these big knots? What do we think of our identity? And to what extent does our identity influence us as individuals?” The strongest central aspect of one’s identity is still not clear to me. I might say that it should be religion, but for those who don’t believe in god, surely that does not mean they have no identity. So, I think that the combination of gender, religion, and social status are the major points of identity and are the center of attention and focus in the world at the moment. Social status is the basis and the starting point of an individual. If one starts out poor he or she can become rich and the other way around, too. People seek wealth and can fall into materialism or develop the greedy, lustful, and prideful identity that is so often associated with the rich. In that case, religion serves as the salvation of one’s soul from his or her sins, regardless of gender. Religion is almost an innate thing to humans, as we are born into this world and raised to understand the fact that there is a power greater than us. However, people now choose to either believe or deny its existence. Religion has become a sort of controversial topic. People usually take religion seriously and identify with it just as strongly and passionately as ever. It represents their

essence of existence and what is beyond that. As such, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s safe to say that religion is one of the central aspects of identity. Gender identity has also risen to the center of attention recently, and all that we knew about gender and sexuality has been put to question and people have begun doubting themselves and who they are. It started making people obsess over their identity even more, which gave birth to several new theories and even more studies directed towards this field. Gender has become more categorized than its former merely binary state, so with time, people started to identify themselves in broader ways. This makes gender identity another central aspect of the overall human identity; for me to belong to where I am from means having a home and a place to go to where I can be understood and supported. The warm environment that I was raised in and was taught in will always be engraved in me as part of my identity. I will not forget the teachings of my parents, my religion, and my school. It is the feeling that I belong somewhere that gives me an identity. It means that no matter where I go or where I get lost in the vastness of this world, I will always have a place I can go back to, a place where I belong, a home that represents my roots. Also, as a person who belongs to the larger Muslim Arab community, I see that part of my identity as core and central. The traditions and teachings passed down to me from my parents are what shaped me as they were based on and extracted from religion and traditions; For example, I was taught to seek knowledge and to be pious, to be good and to believe in God. As long as I have these standards to live by, my identity becomes linked to my roots and I can channel it out via the way I behave.

My identity as a Muslim Moroccan woman who belongs to the middle class plays a major a role in moving my life forward. The path traced by these innate circumstances made me who I am today and undoubtedly shaped my identity. And just like it influenced my upbringing, it will also influence my writing in many ways. My heritage, feelings, culture, and surroundings will inevitably seep through my hands and pour onto my work, whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s writing or drawing or anything else. I grew up in Morocco and, therefore, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m more acquainted with the people and with their habits. As such, I am more able to write about it and include it however I like, unlike a person of foreign origin. Moreover, by being a woman, I better understand my own gender, allowing me to express it freely because my point of view corresponds with the subject of my writing. Even now as I am writing, my identity influences how I write. My knowledge, background, and opinions are derived from who I am, and the way I express myself is an indicator of my identity and upbringing. Be it bold or reserved, my identity will show in my creative writing as a proof of my beliefs.

Mariam Gamar, Agadir Our identities play a major role in shaping who we are and how we identify or see ourselves but also how we perceive our world and think of it. The notion of labels has always tended to perplex me, for I thought that, on the one hand, it is due to labels that we have wars, separation, hatred, and self-constraints. But on the other hand, these labels are what helped me to satisfy the burning curiosity of who I am as a person. Furthermore, it has given me a sense of belonging for I believe humankind’s purpose is to create communication. And belonging to the same group helps to engage people. In addition, these labels often give people a case to fight for, and I think this makes life less dull and more enjoyable. To answer the first question, I find that the most dominant aspects of my identity are my gender and Sufism. First, being a woman in a patriarchal society is hard. Since a very young age, I noticed how I was treated differently from my brothers and other men only to discover later that it was due to the fact that I was a woman. Since then a rebellious side within me was brought out to life because I couldn’t tolerate such injustice and discrimination. I did not conform to social expectations of me as a woman. Instead of cooking and paying so much attention to my chances of marrying a husband in the future, I decided to feed my brain with books and knowledge. From the age of five I knew that education was both essential and a privilege that women hadn’t had in the past. I also came to the conclusion that women were dominated and unemployed because they did not have access to school. Since then I began to read daily and almost in an obsessive way. One language wasn’t sufficient for me: I wanted to have more access to the world of books, so I decided to learn English. My parents’ financial

status didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help me in this, so I decided to learn it by myself. I tried everything, from cheap books I borrowed to thrown-out pages of English magazines I found on the street. Therefore, my determination helped me to succeed. This vital language opened unimaginable doors for me. I began reading books by talented women like Virginia Woolf, Simon de Beauvoir, Jane Austen, and many others. I met people from higher social classes and was able to discover the world of science. After I gained all of this knowledge I decided it was time to make it tangible, thus, I became an activist in my own way. I wrote articles on Facebook groups to spread awareness about the Importance of gender equality and tolerance toward minorities. In addition, I started to take part in public events, and I attended workshops at the Heinrich BĂśll Foundation and at the association of which I am a member. In fact, I decided to join this association since I consider it my first leap into the field of politics and into taking part in making decisions, specifically those which concern women. At the start of my teenage years, I became a feminist because I knew that every womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cause was mine and that this movement would be the beginning of the liberation of women in the MENA region. I began to seek inspiration from powerful women in all domains. I took them as an example, and I am now a hard-working young woman thanks to these inspiring ladies, whom I consider as the pillars of hope for every girl in the world. I have always doubted the existence of God, and seeing all the wars, terrors, hostilities, and killings in the name of religion made me question if what I used to worship existed or not and whether or not they were deserving of my servitude. I first settled on agnosticism until I discovered Sufism through the

writings of Jalal Eddine El Rumi. It was love at first glance and a lost fraction of my spiritual being was discovered. I loved how God, the universe and I melded into one entity. This aspect of me found beauty in the most of imperceptible things. As an agnostic Sufi, I always preach peace, calm, and balance. This aspect has changed how I treat myself and others. I have gone from apathetic and cynical to embodying ultimate kindness and sympathy because I am the manifestation of God, and for us Sufis, God is but the definition of love. As for the second question, being a member of an identity group gives me a sense of belonging. I find communicating easier and more comfortable with members of the same community. It also helps me open up and make connections. But it has also been a mind-opening experience because when my identity group is criticized, I find myself often searching for answers and connecting with people outside of the community to strengthen my arguments and critical thinking skills. In contrast, I also dislike it. Being a member of a certain identity group is constraining and sometimes causes quarrels and isolation from others since the notion of humanity is unified, but labels disperse people. I may conform to a certain identity group, but I remain subtly indifferent to it. Instead I turn my concern to how the group I identify with may peacefully and respectfully live among others as a whole. Then again, belonging to these communities enriches our cultures and highlights our differences and the magnificent diversity between each human being. Sadly, the groups with which I identify right now are considered to be minorities and are not very welcomed in a conservative society. This causes me to be more discreet about who I am and more careful and considerate in my

approaches. Nonetheless, I love the sense of defiance and adventure it creates. Identifying with all of those identity groups has built my character. I had to be bold and strong against all types of bullying, I had to be patient and resilient, moreover, I learned to observe and understand othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; opinions in order to survive! To the third question, my identity as whole affects my writings drastically. For example, the numerous obstacles and challenges I had as a girl were one of the primary reasons I started to write. I wanted my male friends, my parents and the world to see the ridiculous, unjustified, and meaningless horror we are facing. I hoped that my writings would, perhaps, make girls aware of the disadvantages, hurdles, and oppression they shall face. In addition to that, my writing broke all of the traditional barriers and took a forbidden path. I did this in hopes of creating a shock that would shake my society from the depths of its slumber. I decided to focus exclusively on the female body because I noticed how the media and commercial writing objectified women and shaped their bodies in an unrealistic way. As a result, my poems started to describe women in a sexual but also romantic way, even in a homosexual manner. Sexuality is often absent in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s writing, thus I decided to take a courageous stand and write in defiance of the social expectations about female sexuality in all its diversity, from heterosexual to the queer. My words became a pure manifestation of female desire, thoughts, wishes, and hopes. Another example is that being a member of a lower social class in society made me equally sensitive and strong. Growing up poor is never easy, and I had to shoulder difficult responsibilities from a very young age. While growing up, I learned it was hard to thrive in a world where it is difficult to survive.

Nonetheless, a lack of money did not restrain me, and I decided it was possible to make of my passion a career through journalism and that I could be a voice for the voiceless. Seeing the horrors of poverty made me sympathetic towards others, and my writings reflected that image of simplicity and compassion between the characters. I began to write from an existentialist perspective and my words staged human suffering. Sometimes they question the existence of God due to its absence and indifference to the agonies of these people. My writings became revolutionary and consistently demanded social justice and the triumph of the people against the ruling tyranny. After I developed my writing, I began writing about the simplicity of poor peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives, even attempting to locate beauty in such very simple moments. In addition, I took a great interest in the world of workers because I worked in fish factories every summer since I turned 15. I wanted to show the ugliness of the suffering and sacrifice workers endure daily, so I started to write about their tumultuous internal cries, their exhausted and scarred bodies, their recurrent financial crisis, and their hopelessness and loss of desire towards life. In addition to this, my Sufism added a tender motherly touch to my words, tingeing my paragraphs with tolerance and universal love. I noticed how often I unconsciously repeated the words love and harmony in my writing and how I adopted an intimately personified and forbidden dialogue with God. My spiritual being unfolded itself on paper and went beyond materialism and reason to the world of fantasy and the euphoric zeal of loving God from our own understanding. My writings unfolded a salutation to all of my siblings in humanity and became filled with pleas for peace and the restoration of human kindness and

care. The impact was great and added a balance between the stoic harshness of my description to reality and my everlasting belief in love, simple happiness and humanity. Every letter since my discovery of Sufism has begun to defy the grey somber and apostate texts with vibrant colors and a zealous love of the divine; that is how my words lost their ego and settled for relativity and a reconsideration of every notion I used to note as an absolute truth. It sometimes reached the extent of omitting periods and replacing them with a comma because I started to think that every thought is endless and a sentence is continuous road with no end.

Fatima Ezzahra Ouhami, Mohammedia I am a Muslim Arab girl, and being all these three is mostly a curse since under these conditions freedom is more limited. As a Muslim, I’m somehow not accepted in the embrace of the rest of the world. People of different religions and atheists both associate Islam with terrorism, so they have prejudices that I must be a terrorist. For this reason, I gave up a once-in-a-lifetime traineeship opportunity in France because we would have been forced to take off our hijabs and not to openly perform any religious acts. As an Arab, I have always been underappreciated. This has manifested on many occasions, such as the number of Arabs accepted for a certain program. I’d even speak to people from foreign countries, and they’d act all surprised and shocked to see how good my English is or to hear the things I’d tell them about Morocco, and even occasionally about the fact that I have internet access. As a girl, society considers me weak or as less of a person compared to boys. And though I tried to be a better human, to be the best student in my class, to master languages, and to write, I was never good enough in the eyes of the elders. Even my parents would deprive me of certain liberties on the pretext of my gender and that they were afraid for my well-being and my sake. I never understood why I couldn’t go out anytime and anywhere I wanted or why I couldn’t wander the streets at night under a layer of stars. And so, imagine being all of those three things at once in a time when Islamophobia, racism, and sexism are well-exchanged currencies. But I consider those things to be my strongest aspects, simply because they push me to better myself and challenge all the limits both society and the world has set for me. From the worst conditions, hope is born. From ashes, life rises. And from my

entourage, I want to shine. It’s hard to fight what runs in your blood, what was born with you. It feels like there are chains on my hands and legs, though this has never put me down. It has forever been my ultimate motivation. Maybe I don’t know exactly what I’m doing and I don’t know where I’m going, but I know that I want to meet people and do great things, and whenever I find an obstacle, it makes me even more determined and motivated. This is how weaknesses turn into strengths. This doesn’t mean that I’m unhappy being who I am. I’m aware that my life would be completely turned upside down if the slightest aspects of my identity were to change, and for that I’m grateful because I love who I am now, with my achievements and mistakes, memories and ambitions, the good and the bad parts that form me. I’m completely convinced of my religion, and without it I’d be lost. I’m fond of my Arabic culture, which I find so rich and beautiful. Last but not least, women are powerful and strong, and I can’t be anything except proud of being one. Being a member of my society with these fragments as part of my identity is both a blessing and a curse. A curse for all the reasons mentioned above and a blessing because of how rich it is and because of all the possibilities it offers, especially in fields like writing. Many famous writers are Muslim Arabs, like Mahmoud Darwish, for example. Not only authors but scientists, too – but that’s another story. Lately, we have observed the rise of Arab women authors, like Athir Abdallah Al Nashimi or Khawla Hamadi, whom I consider my role models in this ocean of words, since even despite their young ages and other constraints, they stayed strong and hopeful until they made their dreams come true.

I would be lying if I said that my identity does not influence me as a writer. It is felt within the lines I write and the stories I seek to share. The ideas I discuss and the subjects I talk about can give an outsider a simple idea about who I am, as the writer puts a piece of his soul within every phrase. I find myself indirectly avoiding subjects that are considered taboo and evoking others that have something to do either with the history or the demands we, as Arab Muslims, wish to fulfill. Or I simply find myself describing my everyday life. And so, a writer can never shed the underlying skin of his or her identity.

Oumaima Bouchane, Agadir There are a lot of things that can make a person Moroccan. For me, my family played a big role in my becoming the person I am today. To be specific, my grandmother has always been my inspiration. She was a strong, independent woman and a working mother. My mother was a working mother herself, so my grandmother played a major role in my upbringing. She taught me that honesty is always the best policy and that with honesty comes integrity, confidence, compassion, and kindness. My society is different. It is deceiving, dark, and filled with hatred and lies. To this day, I fail to understand the reason why people are so hateful toward each other even when they represent the same country. Concerning Arabs and Berbers, I have heard many stereotypes from both sides. While there is always some truth in them, stereotypes still fail miserably to represent the various personalities on both sides. I, on the other hand, don’t see Arabs or Berbers; I see Moroccans hating each other for the small differences between them, differences that, in fact, make them unique and lovable. Maybe it is fear that drives people to behave the way they do. Perhaps it’s the way they were brought up at home, but how interesting would the world be if we were all the same? We don’t understand each other, but instead of trying to understand, we just draw a line, stay on the “safe” side and consider the other side the “bad” side. Once that takes place, it’s a matter of pointing fingers and playing the blame game, even if both sides were to blame for the consequences. To me, ethnicity and race are one of the many ways through which people validate their discrimination and make excuses, like claiming that one race is superior to the other or that one group is not civilized.

Being a Muslim woman, I am treated with discrimination by other people who don’t know me as a person. They give themselves a green light to treat me badly because of my religion as a result of misconceptions they heard on TV or read in an article online. But I am only a small example: Hundreds and thousands of people are treated the same way because of their skin color, their religion or their way of thinking. If you think about it, it is a vicious cycle that continues on and on because we don’t do anything to change it. The people who do try to change things are disregarded as liars. The thing is that people don’t have one face for all. People behave the way they see fit for the situation they are in. Scientific research has proved that people are heavily influenced by others. For example, if they see a group of people behaving a certain way, then they too will demonstrate that behavior, which they will see as normal even if it wasn’t. This two-facedness is most visible when you see how people behave around their friends versus how they behave around their families. They seem to be freer, open, and more confident with friends than they are with their families. Perhaps this is because there is a sense of domination from the parents or by their older siblings when they are around their family. Or perhaps it’s because they do not trust their parents as much as they trust their friends because their parents might be overprotective or too judgmental. There are many reasons as to why we behave differently in different situations, but I fail in doing that. My grandmother taught me to be true to myself despite everything. If you’re true to yourself, then others will be true to you. She taught me what both my schooling and my society had failed to teach me. You don’t need to fit in to be happy, and you don’t need to play by the rules. The greatest people were outcasts in their societies, but they still became great against all the odds. She taught me that nothing worth doing or having is easy.

She had made sure I knew and understood that by hard work and determination I could do anything I set my mind to. She was right, and her words still echo in my head, even though I had lost her almost eight years ago. She was and will always be the reason I write. I write not only to express my thoughts but also to change minds. She made me the person I am today, a person who cares about the world. That is who I am as a person: someone who wishes to at least stir up some questions in the minds of my readers through my writing and someone who wants to share joy and sadness with other people. A fictional work is all made up, but it is through the work’s carefully chosen words that you can make it come alive. It becomes more than just a story when you, as the writer, voice the characters, bring out their thoughts, and make it reality, even if just for a short while. That, to me, is truly magical. The greatest part is that even though I am only a student, I have the support of my family, my friends, and even of strangers who have only known me for a short while. I can say that I am luckier than many other writers, activists, and peace-lovers. The experiences I have had in my life and the hardships and abuse I have witnessed my society go through have made me want to write. I want to write to enlighten people. Life is not all sunshine and rainbows, but it is still worth living, and it is still worth fighting for – especially if we are to fight for it together. That is what it means for me to be a part of my society as a Muslim Arab Moroccan woman. My ideologies and principles fail to fit the mold that is Moroccan society, and it brings me pain that I am somehow an outcast from my society, but that doesn’t mean I am wrong. It doesn’t mean I should give it all up,

and it certainly doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean that I should follow mindlessly like others. The story I shared with you shows some of my thoughts on the main character that is my humble self. However, sometimes I do feel that my voice is not strong enough or loud enough to make a difference. But what I have realized is that if I succeed in changing the mind of only one person, then I have succeeded. I mustnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t burden myself with the mistakes of other people or with their pessimistic thoughts. Darkness indeed spreads faster and takes over peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s minds and hearts more quickly. If one allows it to enter, one will be infected with hatred and anger. So I, being the overly optimistic person that I am, have decided to ignore such pessimistic thoughts and to stay hopeful that one day my message will reach people.

Samya Rgana, Rabat In our daily encounters with people, we often use a myriad of identifiers to refer to ourselves. The chosen attributes differ depending on the context we are in, the people we are with, and the topic being discussed. I asked a number of people I know about identity, and most of them replied with the basic answer I had already expected, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Identity is who I am and what makes me myself.â&#x20AC;? This definition is an oversimplification of a complex and deep, yet interesting, concept. So, what is my identity? Is it my religion, my nationality or my ethnicity? Is it based on the values I choose to incorporate in my life? Or maybe itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s simply about the clothes I wear? In the midst of all of these questions storming in my brain, there was one ultimate question: Who am I? Three simple words formed a big question that I failed to answer in my first attempts. Thus, I found myself doing research, asking here and there about identity, and trying to find my own. I soon realized that the quest for identity is an ongoing process that starts from the womb. I also realized that throughout my life, I had had a variety of perspectives on who I was and that my perspectives had changed depending on the life phase I was going through. I recalled a lesson we had in my philosophy class last year; A class I had thought would only be theoretical proved to be a lot more practical, and I thanked myself for having listening closely to the teacher (which also got me thinking whether my active listening was a part of my identity!). We discussed identity in that lesson, and we saw that it comprises two categories: the constant and the variable. Taking this information into consideration, I linked it to my life and what I discovered amazed me. The constant part of my identity was pretty clear: I am a Muslim Moroccan Amazigh girl. But the centrality of

these markers changed depending on the situation. For instance, when watching the Olympics, the most central one would be my nationality, but when there’s a religious celebration, the most central one would be my Muslim background. And again, when gathering with my family to celebrate a wedding, the most central aspect would be our Amazigh ethnicity. The variable part of my identity, however, was a lot more dynamic. I traced how I chose to identify myself starting from secondary school. Back then, my identity was based on the music genre I listened to and the fandoms I belonged to. As I grew up a little bit more and began attending high school, I was naturally more aware of my surroundings and my identity became stronger as it was impacted by several people and situations. I identified as a dreamer, writer, and a bookaholic. As a dreamer because I had – and still have – a lot of dreams I want to fulfill, as a writer because I was truly immersed in the world of creative writing, and as a bookaholic, obviously, because I love reading books. I came to the conclusion that identities change and evolve and that identity is a journey. If the 15-year-old me identified as a One Direction fan and considered that to be the strongest aspect of her identity (no matter how childish it might sound), the 19-year-old that I am today won’t let her existence be scaled down to labels. I have decided that my ambitions, dreams, and goals are the only things that will define me, apart from the aspects that I was born into and can’t change about myself and that are a source of pride for me. Being part of these identity groups means that I hold a series of religious and ethnic values that represented these communities for centuries. Being a Muslim means that I am related to millions of people who share similar values of love and tolerance and who practicing the same rituals and celebrate the same

events. Being a Moroccan means that I am a part of a colorful mosaic that is culturally so old and rich, from delicious food and mint tea to beautiful clothes and amazing carpets. Being Amazigh never fails to amaze me, and having the blood of the indigenous people of North Africa running in my veins is a source of pride. I definitely am proud of my religion, my nationality, and my ethnicity. Being part of a community gives a feeling of security and belonging. It goes further to include a feeling of being surrounded, loved, welcomed, and appreciated, for we all blend in one big bowl, connected by something bigger than mere kinship. With this sense of pride comes a responsibility: the responsibility of representing the identity groups I belong to. What I love most about creative writing is that there are no rules or boundaries. Each individual is free to write the way he or she wants, making his or her own rules, and setting his or her own limits. Naturally, identity influences each individual’s writing. My creative writing is impacted by the struggles I have faced in my life as a young Moroccan girl struggling to achieve my dreams, and the people I meet and the stories I hear serve as the setting for my stories. I want to share those stories so that people who face the same problems know that they are not alone and that someone has been through it and made it out. As a Muslim, I tend to make sure to stick to Islamic rules even when I write. I always look at things from an Islamic perspective, considering what is halal and what is haram – in other words, what is allowed and what is not. I assume that people from different upbringings and different religious backgrounds would be more open talking about topics I would generally avoid. For example, I wouldn’t describe a sex scene; I would probably not even talk about it but rather just make an allusion to it and move on. If confronted by an argument, I would refer to the Quran or the Prophet Muhammad’s sayings to back up my point of view.

My religious background is not the only source of my conservativeness toward some topics. Being a Moroccan, there are some behaviors that are culturally unacceptable, just like in any other culture. Thus, I have to take these behaviors into consideration when writing, assuming that I agree with those rules and do not think of them as among the rules society has set but that we need to change. On a positive note, I find immense joy in using words from Darija, the Moroccan dialect, in my writing, especially words that have no equivalent in English. I make sure to explain the word I have used, which serves to facilitate the communication between me and the reader but also as information that the reader can add to his or her reserve of foreign words. Another aspect of my nationality’s influence on my writing is its frequent reference to the customs and traditions of the country. Morocco is extremely rich in cultural terms. There isn’t a single cultural aspect that I couldn’t take up to ten pages or more if described in detail, and I say that with all neutrality. Architecture, clothes, food, tea… All these and more give me immense pleasure when I mention and describe them in a piece of writing – even the smallest detail of a building or the thread used to sew a caftan or the delicious smell of a tajine or the feeling of the hot mint tea crossing the tongue and all the way to the stomach! The way Moroccan society functions is strongly stated in my writings, and since I have lived here my whole life, I can give an insight of the Moroccan society and add my point of view. I also tend to mention historical sites and to describe and praise the cities I have visited so as to serve as advertisement for tourism, but I also criticize the flaws of the society and the struggles citizens face in their daily lives, and especially the struggles that girls face. Constructing a plot

based on a historical event that occurred sometime in the past is also an example of the impact my identity leaves on my creative writing. This serves as both a way to express how proud I am of our history, as well as to present more information about the country. Unlike my religion and nationality, my ethnicity does not really contribute to my creative writing. I am an Amazigh from the Souss region by origin, but I was born and raised in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, where different ethnicities blend together, and I have only visited our hometown twice in my life. Thus, the only contact I keep with my ethnicity is through the Amazigh language, which my whole family speaks, and the marriages I have attended, which strengthened my knowledge of Amazigh traditions, clothes, and songs. I consider creative writing as a scream for freedom and as a platform where I can voice my opinion and bring attention to global and local issues. My writing reflects who I am as a person â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a Muslim Moroccan girl working to achieve her dreams and to contribute to the development of this world toward a better future. Overall, what really matters is that I promote freedom, coexistence, and most importantly, acceptance of all faiths, nationalities, races, ethnicities, skin colors, and sexual orientations. My ultimate message is to forget about our differences and to focus on our commonalities. In the end, we are all human and we all want to live happily, so letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contribute to that despite our differences of identity.

Rihab Boutadghart, Rabat Between family, friends, religion, politics, tribe, class, gender, race, and work, I decided, with my eyes closed, to talk about friendship. You have every right to ask me why, and here’s my answer: Friends are the family you choose for yourself. Friends are the people you’re comfortable discussing religion and politics with and with whom you’re never worried about being judged. Friends are the ones who don’t care about which tribe you belong to. Friends are the ones who ignore all the nonsense about social classes and love you both when you are at your richest and when there’s not a single cent in your pocket. Friends are never sexist, and they support you no matter what society thinks girls should not do or what boys should do. They don’t mind seeing their male friends crying and their female friends choosing to be a scientist instead of a princess. Friends are never racist, and they cherish acceptance and diversity, especially when your friends are international. When that is the case, your heart becomes a hundred puzzle pieces. Each piece has its own culture, so your identity becomes a mesmerizing mixture of different beautiful things. When it comes to work, friends are the supportive team in your professional life. They were there since day one, from your freshman year with all its struggles and sleepless nights to your graduation day, when they’re all dressed up in suits or elegant dresses, all of them there sharing the joy of your success and waiting for you to say that the meal is on you today. Let me now talk about some very personal reasons why my friends mean the world to me. My friends are the people life threw at me all of a sudden, and now I find myself blessed with sources of light in the darkest of nights and sources of

strength in the weakest of days. You know, they are the ones I can’t leave behind even when I’m in the worst of moods. If they need me to stay up all night talking about betrayals and why life can be so rude, even if I’m the kind of person who is normally sleep by 10 p.m., I’ll do it. If they need me to eat doublechocolate ice-cream at 12 a.m. while talking shit about their exes and how they can’t manage to forget all the things they’ve been through together, I’ll risk the extra calories and ruin my diet for them. If they need me to pay for their food because they are broke, even if I’m poor and even broker, I’ll look for a part-time job or a summer job, I’d freelance, clean houses, babysit, work as a waitress in a restaurant, work at the university’s library or make coffee at Starbucks for the one and only purpose of never disappointing them, and I’d pay for their food. I’d give anything to keep my friends around. I can’t be more thankful and grateful for their existence, especially some male ones. Yes! Let me talk about my favorite male friend for a second. I am just going to say it this way: I wonder why girls often say, “No, he’s just my male friend!” No, he is not just a male friend – stop including that “just” in your sentence as if your friendship means nothing or as if you’re having a better time with the dumb guy you like than with your friend. Your friend is the one who has your back whenever you need him or vice versa. He is the one you can travel with and feel safe. He’s the one you can sing the most nonsensical music ever invented in front of without ever being judged. And he’s the one who listens to your lamest jokes and tells you how much you suck. He’s the one you go shopping with, and he’ll just start playing your husband in front of everyone for the simple reason of embarrassing and humiliating you publicly. Isn’t he the one who listens to how your day was

without ever getting bored and even asks for details? Isn’t he the one who gives you love advice even if he’s single? Yes, he’s the one who texts back within seconds, never leaves you on read, and never thinks twice about insulting you. He’s the one you can hang out with for an eternity and never wish you’d stayed home instead, not even for a second. And he’s the one who takes you out when you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom and buys you food even if he barely has any money All I’m looking for in this life is to keep that beautiful person and to always be thankful I have him around because I’m pretty sure that friendship break-ups are way harder than relationship break-ups.

Wafa Bassiouni, Marrakech We may consider ourselves lucky. Compared to other countries, Morocco certainly deals well with matters of women’s rights. We can drive, we can go out unveiled, and we can speak to men in public places. But despite all of this, our identity is still badly massacred and violently torn apart. Women get beaten, physically and mentally abused, despised, and always mistreated. Everywhere, women are harassed and insulted. And no matter how hard our country tries to defend women’s rights, injustice, cruelty, and harshness toward them remain. Many riots, protests, and mutinies took place, but none have ever changed our poor destiny, which is doomed to failure. We do not ask for money or riches or authority; all we want is that no filthy words, no lustful gazes, and no ridiculous gestures continue to pursue us wherever we go. We want girls to be educated and not to be sent away for an early marital grave. All we want is justice. Being born in an Arab country, I consider that being a woman is one of the strongest, most central aspects of my identity. You would ask me why – it is just a matter of gender, so how could that ever impose any particular behavior on me within my society? Well, because had I been born elsewhere, I would never feel uncomfortable passing by a group of boys, who wouldn’t even notice me. Whereas here, when a woman is seen walking down the street, it is like they see another creature instead of a normal human being. All over the world, gender differences have become outdated, but here we are still fighting over whether or not a woman’s veil should cover the entirely of her face or only a lesser part of it. We don’t need simple reforms; we need a revolution, an intellectual revolution that will allow plenty of young girls to attend school, a revolution that will enable them to build their own careers

instead of depending on the unbearable support of a man who doesn’t even care. I must be thankful, however, that I was brought up in an environment that encouraged education, literature, and thinking. I was blessed with parents who understood that a woman’s success comes from her hard work and career, not from marriage. Nevertheless, I have some relatives who see the contrary and believe in the inferiority of women. That’s why I must adjust my behavior according to their wishes and try to please them as much as I can. For example, I have to do all the housework and stay in the kitchen to do all the cleaning and cooking. And if I ever happened to be in the living room with men, they start nagging and yelling at me. It may seem like a weak argument, but don’t you think this must be called injustice? Believing that the only suitable place for poor creatures like us is the kitchen? And that all she must do is serve the men? There is also that common belief in Moroccan families that the happiness of a lady comes from marriage and that if she doesn’t get herself a man before reaching a certain age, she will be called all sort of bad words. Actually, a funny thing happened to me recently that again proved how much authority men have over us women. I was talking with my uncle’s wife and she was telling me the story of a friend of hers who lives happily with her wealthy husband. She told me that this woman could have whatever she wanted, whenever and wherever she liked it. She then prayed for me and all the young lasses to be blessed with such a man, a wealthy one who would provide for our needs and give us anything we wanted. I found myself obliged to answer her prayer with a joyful phrase, but meanwhile I was thinking how mistaken she was to believe that happiness could only come from men and that being married

with a rich fellow would bring me a great deal of contentment. But it does not have to always be the case. A woman can build herself a good future, and not necessarily with a man’s support. If she could only go to school, learn to depend on herself, and get herself a decent job, certainly she wouldn’t need to get married at an early age. I am not trying to prevent women from getting married; I am only encouraging them to believe in their own hidden capacities, which could make them much stronger than they believe they are. Besides, it is this hidden strength that I mainly try to showcase in my stories. That’s why I never tire of defending the female identity in my writing. That’s where I find a crucial way of reopening this fold that has been ignored for years, a fold in which women are suffering and need to be healed as soon as possible. As you might notice, even my previous story defends this cause. In it, I tried hard to describe how men treat women and how they must react to this treatment. So, this identity has really influenced my writing and I will always defend it, if not with my deeds, then with my pen, which has been – and will still be – the strongest means to defend any cause. To sum it all up, I wish to address a final statement, or rather a question, to men: Why do you see us as weak creatures? Why do you still believe that you are superior to us? We are equal, we are both human beings. The only difference that I know is that instead of being born with a Y, we were born with an X. And as far as I know, letters have never been a standard for claiming more or less power.

Yasmine Elkhamkhami, Tetouan Art, music, fiction, and poetry are all various ways that serve the same purpose: expressing oneself. Throughout our whole lives, finding, shaping, and then expressing our identities remains our sole purpose. The moment awareness of your existence strikes you, a bitter taste lingers and a great urge to fill the void overtakes your soul and pushes you to understand yourself and the world around you. The first observation of yourself will lead you to the realization that you are very much like your parents, and you’ll come to understand that both heredity and education play a big part in this. As you start to make new connections outside your family, you won’t fail to notice how easily a trend, a trait or a joke could start with one or two friends before engulfing the whole group afterward. As you continue to grow up, you’ll start to notice that no matter how you try to sift through the socialization you went through your whole life, its legacy still affects your thoughts, behavior, and feelings. This will lead you to the conclusion that you are a combination, an outcome of your environment. Your family, friends, ethnic group, and religion are all different aspects that make you yourself, which is why we often find ourselves obliged to change the way we handle things from situation to another. Even during the most basic actions and reactions in our daily life, our minds take into consideration the norms each encounter imposes, whether concerning familial, religious or cultural norms. Growing up in a very supportive household and with quite a close relationship to both my parents – my father being at that time the ideal I set for my future husband and my mother being my own role model – I would say that my family has had the most important impact on the construction of my identity.

So often do I act a certain way only to be shocked by how much it echoes the image I’ve made of my parents, and so often do I hear myself speak a certain way only to realize that it is from my parents’ tongues that I’ve learned it. This is, of course, absolutely normal since we consider our parents to be our very first examples of social behavior. However, I often wonder if my parents, along with every other parent, could have been the root not only of the good but also of the bad in me, which is quite possible. As highly as I like to think of them, they remain human, capable of both good and bad and of right and wrong. Thus, having spent my most important stage of psychological and social development in their care, their imperfections, deceptions, and frustrations have found a way to rub off on me as well. Furthermore, I believe that my region has had a great impact on making my identity as well. Coming from a small city in the northern region where the same limited pattern of thinking is the most common, I find myself more and more fascinated by the concept of individuality. Before I had embraced my ability as a human being to think for myself and form my own opinions, my region had affected my identity by sucking me into its whirlpool and managing to make me adopt its norms and judgments – both the logical and the illogical ones – as my very own. Now, it affects my identity in a totally different way. Through what I like and what I do not like about the ideal image of a person my region defined for me, I slowly but surely formed my own judgments and built my own personality. In my opinion, being part of a particular identity group means, in a way, that you agree to obey to the norms and rules of that group. Not only does it grant you social acceptance, but it also makes you a respectful and considerate

person. However, it does not mean that you should let your voice fade amongst that of the group. It does not mean that you should blindly obey everything that is imposed on you. Instead, you should sift through those norms and cross off everything that doesn’t correspond with your common sense. It simply means that you should seek a balance between respecting your group’s boundaries and your own. On the other hand, I can say that my identity is both the cause and the effect of my creative writing. Because I am me, whoever that is, I live to write. Therefore, each and every piece of writing adds another detail to me as a whole. My writing is nothing other than a reflection of my identity in words and metaphors. It isn’t hard to see fragments and segments of myself in my poetry and fiction. The plot varies, as do the characters, dates, and places. However the core remains the same, and there is always a little bit of me. There is always a little touch of the topics that interest me, such as psychology and philosophy generally speaking, and more specifically; the intensity of human emotions, the absolute confusion of existence, the complexion of human interactions whether they are of a romantic or friendly nature, and female empowerment. Mostly I find myself trying to answer through my writings the questions that truly puzzle and distress me at night. In conclusion, we come to the realization that our environment plays a huge role in forming our identity which in turn affects our creations. And as satisfactory as realizations often are, this will still leave you troubled. You’ve come to somewhat understand a bit about yourself, why you act the way you do, why you say the things you say, why you think the way you think, and why you feel the way you feel. However all of your answers so far contradict with

your need as a human being to feel special and be acknowledged as special. If you are just “one” in an “all,” an outcome of your environment that would mean that you’re nothing more than the collateral of life, a casualty. And while that speaks a bit of truth, it isn’t entirely correct. You are, indeed, a product of your surroundings and everything you have touched and that has touched you from the moment of your beginning all the way to your end. That will leave you with the misconception that you could be easily replaced with any other being, but it goes much deeper than just that. If you consider time, place, people, events, genes, and all of those variables in the equation of yourself, then the chance that there could be another being who would be able to replace you comes out to zero. There is absolutely not the slightest chance that another person could have had the same variables manifest in his or her existence in the same way, and that slight difference is what makes your difference. It is what makes you yourself and what gives you the ability to make an impact on life, just as life makes an impact on you and in a way that is different to what any other being could do.

Yousra Mrabti, Rissani Due to its strategic geographical position, Morocco has always been a mixture of civilizations and influenced by several cultures. Its citizens are known for their openness to the entire world and their facility for integrating into even the most different of societies. However, Moroccans have their own customs and traditions and come from diverse social backgrounds that make them different from other people around the world. The strongest and the most central aspects of Moroccan identity can be summarized by its dominant religion, traditions, and hospitality. Moroccan identity is influenced by the fact that Morocco, as an Arabic and Muslim country, is ruled by Islamic law and each individual tries to respect them. This is demonstrated by the strong link that most Moroccans have with their families and the respect they show to their relatives. By way of illustration, young people and children show respect to the people who are older than them. These elders are first to be greeted and their hands are kissed by their kids, especially during special occasions and feasts. The reason behind this is that, in Morocco, there is a certain insistence on respecting old people and obeying their orders, which is claimed to be founded on the basis of Islam. As such, they are following Islamic regulations. Arabic traditions are strongly present in the daily life of most of Moroccans and respected by almost everyone. This can be a central aspect that differentiates Moroccans from other people. Family is important to Moroccans; therefore, extended families gather for meals or tea and visit each other, especially on Friday. The latter is considered to be the day of the Muslimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; feast. Most Moroccans do not work on Fridays, and it is the day when women prepare

a famous and yummy dish called couscous. It is eaten after the Jumu’ah prayer. Often, Moroccans of both genders wear traditional clothes on this special day. For example, they might wear a djellaba, or a long hooded robe worn over clothes. For special occasions, a caftan replaces the djellaba. The main difference between the two is that a caftan is made of more expensive fabric and does not include the traditional hood. A sense of hospitality and generosity are also parts of the identity of a Moroccan. Moroccans are known for their sense of hospitality and kindness. A Moroccan, after having just met you, might invite you to his or her home for a feast that included everything they have to offer, even if they are of meager means. They value building personal relationships and want to help others for the sake of it and not for their own personal gain. In the Tafilalt region, if you are welcomed into somebody’s home, they might serve you a famous dish called madfoun, a special Moroccan-style pizza filled with diced meat, various spices, parsley, and other ingredients. Everything we encounter, despite its simplicity, can be engaged in the circle of identity. The ways we dress, speak, and behave as we adjust a particular situation determine which ethnic group, region or tribe, and even the religious denomination an individual belongs to. For instance, the izar, a piece of black cloth worn by women in the small city I grew up in – and which I sometimes wear when I am in rush to pick something up outside – means that I and those who wear it in other places belong to this region of Tafilalt. It shows a kind of respect and valorization of the things our grandparents used to use. In addition, the speech patterns we use while communicating with our neighbors are completely different from the ones we use with our mates at

school or work; it is all about a sort of familiarity and strangeness. For example, the way we speak with our classmates is not the same as the way we speak with our boss at work. By way of illustration, a friend of mine might say, “Hey, you! Where have you been?” without even mentioning my first name! On the contrary, we address our superiors in a formal and very polite way using “Sir” or “Ma’am” and so on. Moroccans are not only known for their kindness, but for their sense of solidarity also. This solidarity is clearly shown between neighbors or tribes when one of them endures harsh moments or in case of losing one of their family members.. To illustrate, a gathering automatically occurs when someone dies. All the members belonging to the tribe and the neighbors help each other and mourn the deceased family members. They offer them what they need for the funeral and bring them everything need – except, of course, the one who died! No one can do that but Allah. Some of the aspects mentioned above can strongly influence the way we write and the things we talk about as well. Belonging to the region of Tafilalt means that I write about topics that are considered to be respectful, and I am always conscious of this when I am writing.. In other words, our identity allows us to be creative in our writing, so long as they do not resemble texts like For Bread Alone by Mohamed Choukri, which is characterized by its extreme audacity. Even if it concerns a taboo, it would be rejected, although it is creative. Creative writers are in one way or another affected by their identity.

Zineb Laadioui, Casablanca I naturally notice everything around me, from small details to big ones, and they all do me great favors in my writing. Therefore, I give the greatest credit to my country Morocco (besides my friends, family and gender, which I will discuss shortly) for providing me with enough issues and details to deal with in my works of art. I personally don’t think I’d be who I am today if I hadn’t been born here, as a helpless Moroccan teenager with massive dreams and unaccomplished goals, which furnish me with an extraordinary power to fight for what I want. My story began when I realized that I would never be spoon-fed because success wouldn’t wait for me around the corner nor knock on my door. Morocco taught me life hacks and tricks that I wouldn’t understand if I were somewhere else. I already possessed a sense of responsibility at an early age, along with team spirit. All that helped me to develop myself, my behaviors, and my perspectives. I began identifying as a literary activist who writes about social, political, religious, and sexual problems that are considered taboo in our society. I also tried to open up about many “prohibited” topics that people refuse to mention, such as homosexuality, irreligion, sexual harassment of both genders, rape, individual freedom, legalization of prostitution in other countries, medical care, and the educational system. Most of these things are seen as the hardest topics to discuss with either experts in the given fields or with laypeople. And all of these factors affected my points of view and made me set my priorities right. I’ve always thought about what this country has given me and how different it is from what other countries give to their inhabitants, starting with culture – and the list goes on, of course. I opened my eyes to poverty, almost

non-existent opportunities, insecurities, and self-consciousness. I was quite certain that I would never make it out alive, but all the suffering made me understand that without rain, I would never be able to witness the beauty of the rainbow and the lushness of nature. I failed too many times; however, I picked myself up and never surrendered under any circumstance. Instead of doing so pointlessly every time I am knocked down, I’ve decided to take advantage of the whole process and include my failures in my list of inspirations in order to write about the things that lift me up and prevent me from giving up at the last minute. I’m an honest person, and I despise sugarcoating my reality so as to seem quite satisfied and pleased with it. I am not. I won’t lie, I hated this place and I blamed my parents for my miserable life that happened to be a concrete prison of my very own discrete thoughts. I didn’t have enough tools to live the life I always wanted to live. I grew up that way, and I wished I would outgrow it, but it was very difficult for me. I blamed Morocco for my insecurities, my suicidal thoughts, my eating disorder, my nightmares, and whatnot. I thought the fact that I was born here was the main reason why I suffered every day, knowing that I would never be good enough. But it was all in my head – not to mention that I was very young and I didn’t know who or what to blame, except for the people and things that contributed to my existence: my parents and my motherland. Yet, I make a plain comparison between my life and others’ lives; then I hated mine even more out of the injustice of nature. All of the previous feelings cooperated well with my current feelings and created an invincible energy that helped me through my writing career, and I became stronger. As I dedicated the greatest credit to my country, I bestow

another great credit to my family and friends, who played huge roles in my personal life and writing career. As I said in the beginning, I notice everything and I get inspired by what I notice by dint of my wide imagination, which captures scenes and automatically turns them into artistic pieces. My family, above all, has had a gigantic effect on me, given that I spent the largest parts of my life with them. My mother was a writer too, and I enjoyed reading what she offered me. She inspired me to write my very first poem, yet I discovered that I’m able to write not only by virtue of descending from a gifted mother but also by nature. My father is an educated person, and I spent a lot of time discussing political topics with him. However, I wasn’t allowed to discuss those topics with anyone else. I’ve been always told that politics can take me places where I wouldn’t like to go (this is a simple example of Morocco’s policy of repression, which I utterly loathed when I was young). That is one of the reasons why I write about what I used to fear and why I revolt against what my parents told me not to open up about. It is also why they inspired me more when I was a stubborn and curious girl seeking knowledge of everything under a metaphorical curfew. My sister is five years older than me. She’s been preachy about many things in my life. Her behavior and her way of thinking inspired me to choose her as a model for one of my fictional characters. The first thing I do when I meet new people is to try to analyze their thoughts, ideas, way of speaking, and everything related to their mental universe. To write is to possess visions and references. In spite of the difficulty of finding people who may mark my memory, I always try to take advantage from their flaws and the things I’d like them to stop doing.

In conclusion, everything in one’s personality can be useful to me. And that’s what friends are for, right? Friends are meant to stick by your side and help you through bitter and sweet, sickness and health. That’s exactly what my friends did. I grew up, met different strangers, and accept their friendship unthinkingly, which was a turning point for me. I learned what I couldn’t learn at home, and I’ve seen things I wouldn’t have seen if I had stayed at home my whole life. The policy of repression I mentioned earlier lessens a bit when I’m with my friends. We talk about everything fearlessly, and this is one of the things that I can’t do with just anyone, so that’s why I really believe that selecting people who understand me and understand where I’m coming from help me build up my personality and can sustain me. Both my family and friends have influenced my identity in terms of my behaviors, thoughts, how I perceive life, and how I manage to simultaneously predict and handle life’s distractions, which may strengthen my character as a friend, daughter, and writer. Luckily, I make the most of negative and positive things in order not to expect a rose-colored life all the time. Even bad people can inspire me, and I might depict them as villains in my writing. Sometimes I analyze their bad behaviors and come up with great conclusions that can also do me good in many ways. Being a girl in a patriarchal society is like having water in your lungs. However, I have managed to breathe and grow flowers with this water. Was it hard? It surely was. It is historically noted that women in the Arab world weren’t supposed to work or contribute anything artistic; this is apparent in the way

women’s achievements have been overlooked for a long time until recent revisions of history. They weren’t even able to go out and see how beautiful the nature was. All of these facts led me to fight for my buried rights and to do things no girl in my particular family would do. Knowing that most of them were obsessed with getting married at an early age, I became obsessed with poetry and art in general. I already stated that I call myself a literary activist, a term that I embraced because it spoke to me, for me, and about me. I know plenty of great women who fought stereotypes and made me superbly proud of being a woman, and I am here to continue what they started, to fearlessly shout out my womanhood and my femininity. As a strong Moroccan, good daughter, loyal friend, and proud woman, I truly appreciate being a member of the groups that built me, affecting me and everything in me, including writing and making art. Talent is like modeling clay, and I was my own sculptor, breathing life into everything and using society’s issues and my issues as tools. I’m also determined to continue what I’ve begun, no matter what it takes, because this is what I live for: art and knowledge. I am honestly planning to share the things I’ve created with people who cultivated my urge to create; this will be one of the last steps in my journey in order to feel fully complete and to show my genuine appreciation. And in the end, no matter how much I disliked a few things in my life, I have to acknowledge that without those particular things, I wouldn’t be writing or even aware of the fact that there’s a specific way to express feelings. I’m jubilant that there’s peace after war, laughter after tears, and dessert after the main course.

Part 2: Arabic Essays ‫النصوص العربية‬

‫ايمن لطفي‪ ،‬الدار البيضاء‬

‫الهوية مفهوم فلسفي باألصالة يجعل المرء حائرا بين هيهات األنا والغير‪ ،‬غارقا في مستنقع الدهشة‬ ‫والسؤال‪ ،‬لكنها في األساس هي حقيقة الشيء المطلقة والتي تشتمل على صفاته الجوهرية التي تميزه عن‬ ‫غيره‪ ،‬كما نعلم أن الهوية ترتبط ارتباطا وثيقا بعدة محددات مثل الجنس‪ ،‬والعرق‪ ،‬واالنتماء لدولة أو كيان‪،‬‬ ‫والدين‪ ،‬والعائلة‪ ،‬فالذات كصخرة حديثة التكوين تنخرها األمواج والرياح التي تمثل تلك المحددات‪ ،‬لتشكل‬ ‫تلك الصورة الفريدة التي تمثل مجموع عوالم اإلنسان االجتماعية والثقافية والروحية والنفسية‪ ،‬كما تفيد‬ ‫داللة الهوية باألساس بداية ما يكون الشيء نفسه‪ ،‬وتدل الهوية بذلك على الميزة الثابتة في الذات‪ ،‬ويجعل‬ ‫منها متطابقة مع ذاتها‪ ،‬ونجد أن للهوية تاريخا إبستمولوجيا عريقا؛ إذ تناوب على دراستها تلة من الفالسفة‬ ‫المثاليين والوجوديين على حد السواء‪ ،‬فمنهم من اعتبرها قانونا ميتافيزيقيا ومنهم من جعلها دليال صريحا‬ ‫على إنكار الوجود اإلنساني‪.‬‬ ‫ونجد أن هناك تداخال وتمفصال بين مفهومي الهوية والماهية‪ ،‬وينتسب المفهومان إلى جذر معنوي‬ ‫واحد‪ ،‬وليس جذرا لغويا‪ ،‬بل إلى مفهوم األصل‪ .‬فمفهوما "الماهية" و"الهوية" مشتقين لغويين من الجذر‬ ‫"هو" لكن معناهما مختلف‪ ،‬فالماهية هي الجوهر واللب‪ ،‬هي الشيء الغالي والنفيس في اإلنسان‪ ،‬هي الروح‬ ‫التي تحركه‪ ،‬التي تميزه عن اآلخر‪ ،‬التي تتحكم في وجوده‪ .‬أما الهوية خاصة باإلنسان والمجتمع الفرد‬ ‫والجماعة‪ ،‬هي موضوع إنساني خالص وكما قال أحد الفالسفة‪" :‬الهوية إمكانية قد توجد وقد ال توجد‪ ،‬إن‬ ‫وجدت فالوجود الذاتي‪ .‬وإن غابت فاالغتراب " ‪ .‬مما يدل على أهمية الهوية‪ ،‬فمن فقد هويته فمرحبا به في‬ ‫فلك الالوجود إذ فقد ذاته وكينونته‪ .‬أما بالنسبة لمحددات الهوية ومدى تأثيرها على سلوكنا وخطابنا‬ ‫وتفكيرنا‪ ،‬فهذا الموضوع شائك وذو شجون‪ ،‬لكن لنتناوله بطريقة سلسة انطالقا من تجارب حياتنا اليومية‪،‬‬ ‫نأخذ كمثال صريح عندما يظهر جنين في رحم أمه‪ ،‬وما زال لم يستكشف هذا العالم الذي سيحل فيه يكون‬ ‫محايدا؛ ال دين وال عرق وال انتماء حزبي أو سياسي‪ .‬تكون هويته الوحيدة هي إنسانيته‪ ،‬وما أن يرى‬ ‫إشراق الشمس في كبد السماء وما أن تطأ قدماه األرض حتى تبدأ تلك المحددات في استيطان قلبه وعقله‪،‬‬ ‫فأختفي أنا ويظهر هو اآلخر ‪.‬فكأنما يلج متتالية من األبواب‪ ،‬كل باب منها يضيق عليه الخناق أكثر مما قبله‬ ‫ومعه الهوية‪ ،‬وكما قال أحد الكتاب‪" :‬هل هناك كلمة واحدة مني فيما أقول؟ ال ليس لي صوت إلى حد اآلن‬ ‫ليس لي صوت‪.‬‬

‫‪67‬‬

‫وأما بالنسبة لما هو أكثر مركزية‪ ،‬فأجد أن كل المحددات تجتمع تلة واحدة لتحدد من أنت من تكون‪،‬‬ ‫وال يمكن التمييز بينها؛ ألن مدى تأثيرها يختلف من شخص آلخر‪ ،‬لكن هناك شيء واحد يحددني‪ ،‬يجمع‬ ‫بين الماهية والهوية‪ ،‬بين الماضي والحاضر‪ ،‬بين الحاضر والمستقبل‪ ،‬بين أنا والال أنا‪ ،‬إنها اإلنسانية‪،‬‬ ‫اإلنسانية التي تحددني أنا وانت‪ ،‬هو وهي‪ ،‬تكون ذاتي كطين خام فتجعلها اإلنسانية ذلك التمثال البديع‪ ،‬ذلك‬ ‫الشكل المتناسق الذي يسر الناظرين‪ .‬وكما أرى أن محددات الهوية الكالسيكية تسبب فرقة في المجتمع‪،‬‬ ‫حيث أنها تشكل أداة فعالة لخلق التشنجات والتوترات بين أفراده‪ ،‬وخير مثال على ذلك هو كوننا نعيش‬ ‫وسط دوامة من الصراعات والحروب التي يعتبر سببها الجوهري هو التعصب والميز العنصري ضد‬ ‫اآلخر الذي يختلف عني‪ .‬وأما بالنسبة لكوني عضوا في مجموعات هوية محددة فهذا يعني أنني سفير لها في‬ ‫كل مكان أشغره وفي كل زمان أمتطيه‪ ،‬أنقل أفكارها وأيديولوجياتها‪ ،‬أنقلها في شخصي‪ ،‬أحملها في كل‬ ‫لحظة‪ ،‬أضمها في روحي وفي قلبي وعقلي‪ .‬لكنني موجود رغم عنها ألن إنسانيتي هي التي تحكمني‪ ،‬هذه‬ ‫األخيرة التي تدخل في صراع طاحن مسرحه العقل ضد كل ما ينتهك حرمتها‪ ،‬فإن كنت مسلما أو يهوديا ال‬ ‫حقوق األمازيغ الطبيعية (الحرية‪ ،‬أعادي النصارى‪ ،‬ألن اإلنسانية تجمعنا‪ ،‬وان كنت عربيا فال أنتهك‬ ‫المساواة‪ ،‬العدل‪ ).‬لكون ذلك يخالف أبسط القوانين اإلنسانية الصريحة‪ .‬فاإلنسانية قانون كوني يفرض نفسه‬ ‫على كل ذات واعية في الوجود‪.‬‬ ‫و من الجدير بالذكر أن الهوية تؤثر تأثيرا صريحا وواضحا على سلوكنا وخطابنا وتفكيرنا‪ ،‬وال تسلم‬ ‫كتاباتنا اإلبداعية هي األخرى من ذلك‪ ،‬فهي مرآة هويتي ومتنفس للتعبير عن أفكاري ومعتقداتي‪ ،‬هي‬ ‫بصمتي في الوجود ألظهر أنني موجود‪ ،‬هي نسخة طبق األصل مني ألظهر من أنا ومن أكون‪ ،‬وبالتالي‬ ‫فكل ما أكتبه يكون بقلمها فهي مصدر إلهامي وينبوع ثقافتي‪.‬‬

‫‪68‬‬

‫دعاء أخريف‪ ،‬طنجة‬ ‫كل إنسان في هذا العالم‪ ،‬وكل فرد في المجتمع ( أي مجتمع كان) يتأثر بكل ما حوله من أحداث‬ ‫وعوامل وثقافات‪...‬إلخ‪ ،‬وإن كان هذا الفرد كاتبا فإن كتاباته (سواء بوعي منه أو دون وعي منه) تساير‬ ‫أوضاعه وانتماءاته بحيث تعكس األفكار التي نشأ عليها‪ ،‬إما يؤيدها أو يعارضها‪ ،‬فيجب على الكاتب أن‬ ‫يكون ملتحما مع قضايا محيطه ومطلعا عليها حتى يتمكن من إنتاج كتابة إبداعية ناجحة‪ ،‬ويصوغ األحداث‬ ‫كما يجب‪ ،‬فكل ما يحيط بالكاتب هو ما يُنشئ شخصيته وأفكاره‪ ،‬ثم إن المجتمع هو الموجه األول واألخير‬ ‫لكل كاتب‪.‬‬ ‫فإذا اطلعنا مثال على كتابات أدباء كبار سنجدهم يستلهمون شخصياتهم وأحداثهم من أناس عرفوهم‬ ‫وأحداث عاشوها من قبل‪ ،‬فإرنست همنغواي مثال كانت معظم شخصيات وأحداث رواياته حقيقية‪ ،‬فقط مع‬ ‫تغييرات بسيطة (وذلك إلنشاء نص أدبي متكامل) كذلك األمر مع باولو كويلو الذي نجد في أغلب رواياته‬ ‫عادات وحكايات من الثقافة العربية اإلسالمية‪ ،‬وذلك ألنه لطالما كان يميل لهذه الثقافة بالذات ‪ ،‬حتى وإن لم‬ ‫يكن من أبنائها فإنه تأثر بها منذ الطفولة وأثارت مخيلته على حد قوله‪ .‬أما بالنسبة إلي ككاتبة ناشئة الزالت‬ ‫تخطو خطواتها األولى‪ ،‬وكأي ابنة بيئتها‪ ،‬فإن هويتي الجغرافية والثقافية والمعرفية تطغى على كتاباتي‬ ‫وتٌشكل أفكاري‪ ،‬وتصقل شخصيتي‪ ،‬فتقاليد وعادات مجتمعي هي مصدر اإللهام بالنسبة إلي‪ ،‬سواء اتفقت‬ ‫معها أو عارضتها وانتقدتها‪.‬‬ ‫حين أصف شخصياتي أستوحي طباعها وسماتها من الناس حولي‪ ،‬كالعائلة‪ ،‬واألصدقاء‪،‬‬ ‫والمعارف‪...‬إلخ‪ ،‬وحين أرتب األحداث إلنشاء حبكة درامية فإني أس ْْتل ِه ُم من كل ما يحصل في وطني‪،‬‬ ‫مدينتي‪ ،‬وحيي وكل ما شهدته في حياتي أو سمعت به‪ ،‬أما حين أبدأ بطرح األفكار إليصال رسالة معينة فإن‬ ‫جنسي وديني ومعتقداتي هي ما يقودني‪ ،‬وأنا كذلك لطالما كنت أتساءل كيف و ِل َم آخذ هذا المكان بالذات في‬ ‫خضم األمور‪ ،‬لكن بدل التساؤل أخذتُ أرى األمور من زاوية أخرى‪ ،‬وأقَوم كل جديد في حياتي بشكل آخر‪،‬‬ ‫أصبحتُ أؤمن أن ال شيء يحدث صدفة‪ ،‬وأخذتُ كل ما يظهر في طريقي ‪ -‬سواء كان إيجابيا أو سلبيا‪ -‬على‬ ‫محمل الجد‪ ،‬وأصبحت أرى األحداث على أنها موضوع يستحق الكتابة‪ ،‬إلرسال رسالة معينة‪ ،‬فلربما أجد‬ ‫أجوبة ألسئلتي وأنا أكتب‪ ،‬ألني كلما أمسكت قلمي وبدأت أكتب حول موضوع معين‪ ،‬تبدأ األفكار باالنسياب‬ ‫وتبر ُز حقائق وحلول ربما لم تكن لتبرزَ دون كتابة‪ ،‬فمحيط الكاتب يقدم له األساس واألدوات ثم يبقى‬ ‫علي‬ ‫َ‬ ‫األمر بيده ليبدع أفكارا جديدة‪ ،‬أما عن أكثر شيء أهمية في هويتي فهو الدين والمعتقدات‪ ،‬ألن الدين بالنسبة‬

‫‪69‬‬

‫إلي هو ال ِقيم والمبادئ‪ ،‬ال يهم إن كان المسيحية أو اليهودية أو اإلسالم أو البوذية طالما أنه مبني على أسس‬ ‫الهمجية فتطهر روحه وتملئها تسامحا ً وسالماً‪ .‬ومبادئ ترقى باإلنسان عن طبيعته البدائية‪.‬‬

‫‪70‬‬

‫غيثة رشدي‪ ،‬الدار البيضاء‬ ‫سنكون مخطئين إذا اعتبرنا أن مجتمع اإلنسان‪ ،‬محيطه‪ ،‬و إيديولوجيات بيئته ال تؤثر عليه و على‬ ‫أفكاره و تصرفاته‪ ،‬قد تحد من حرياته أو تجعلها مطلقة في بعض مناحي الحياة‪ ،‬قد تملي عليه طريقة معينة‬ ‫في الحوار أو اللباس أو التحية‪ ،‬و قد يصل ذلك التأثير إلى تعويض ما له عالقة بمشاعر اإلنسان تجاه‬ ‫مجتمعه وأناس هذا المجتمع‪ ،‬بما هو منبثق من العادات و التقاليد‪ .‬تلعب عدة محددات دورا كبيرا في حياة‬ ‫كل إنسان على األرض‪ ،‬لكن إلى أين يصل تأثيرها؟‬ ‫أعتبر‪ ،‬شخصيا‪ ،‬أن التأثير كبير‪ ،‬لكن هذا التأثير ال بد منه الستكشاف الذات و ما حولها‪ .‬فتعايشي مع‬ ‫محددات كثيرة جعلني أعيش من خالل شخصيات مختلفة‪ ،‬فالمواضيع التي كنت أحدث أصدقائي األجانب‬ ‫عنها‪ ،‬لم أكن ألجرؤ و أتحدث عنها أمام جدي‪ ،‬أو عائلتي المجتمعة حول المائدة يوم العيد‪ .‬و أيضا ال‬ ‫أعرف كيف يمكنني أن أصرخ كل يوم بقضية أن المرأة يجب أن تساوي الرجل في كل شيء‪ ،‬و لكنني كنت‬ ‫أجد نفسي متلذذة إذا تم تصغير قيمة الرجل و تمت مناداته بامرأة‪ .‬الزلت أحارب ما طبعه المجتمع في‪ ،‬و‬ ‫كيف جعلني أعد لكل شخص طريقة في الكالم و أختار بعناية المواضيع التي يمكن أن أستعرضها‪ ،‬لكن ال‬ ‫يمكنني أن أكذب و أقول أن مجموعة من مبادئي و قيمي استخرجت من هذه التجربة العسيرة‪ ،‬فلقد عرفت‬ ‫ما يسمح به كل مقام و ما ال يسمح به‪ ،‬و قارنت األفكار‪ ،‬بحثت‪ ،‬و استفسرت ألقتنع بكل فكرة راودتني‪ ،‬و‬ ‫ال أظن أنه كان باإلمكان لي أن أصنع شخصية متفردة لي حاليا إن لم أكن قد مررت من هذا التحدي‪.‬‬ ‫لم أختر أن أولد أنثى مغربية‪ ،‬سمراء من عائلتين بقناعات مختلفة‪ ،‬لم أشأ أن أخلق في مدينة كبيرة‪،‬‬ ‫في حي شعبي‪ ،‬أو أنشأ في مجتمع ديني‪ ،‬و كذلك الزال يعترف بكل ما هو قَ َب ِلي‪ ،‬لكن مع ذلك‪ ،‬أنا ممتنة لكل‬ ‫هذا‪ ،‬فبدون هذه األشياء‪ ،‬سأكون بال هوية‪ ،‬جعلتني ما أنا عليه اليوم‪ .‬و الهوية ليست سوى تلك الكلمة التي‬ ‫تربطني بماضي و حاضري و مستقبلي‪ ،‬بكل ما حدث ونتجت عنه‪ ،‬و بكل ما أفعله وسيؤثر ذلك على ما هو‬ ‫آتٍ‪ .‬و من أهم ما تتميز به هويتي هو االنفتاح و تقبل االختالف‪ ،‬و لعل كل شخص يشاركني بيئتي‪،‬‬ ‫مجتمعي‪ ،‬بلدي‪ ،‬أو حتى الحي الذي كبرت فيه‪ ،‬هو شخص منفتح أمام جميع األفكار‪ ،‬و متقبل لكل‬ ‫االختالفات داخل نطاق االحترام‪ .‬نفتح عقولنا للمعرفة‪ ،‬وقلوبنا لإلحساس‪ .‬ال أقول أننا نتقبل كل اختالف‬ ‫برحابة صدر و نعانقه‪ ،‬بل نحترم اختالف الغريب‪ ،‬و نحافظ على أصالتنا و تقاليدنا‪ .‬من أهم مميزات‬ ‫هويتي‪ ،‬أنني أتذوق االختالف بطعم تقليدي مغربي عربي أمازيغي‪ ،‬و لعل هذا من أهم الدالئل على ما قلته‬ ‫سابقا‪ .‬فشمال افريقيا منطقة امازيغية بامتياز‪ ،‬و قد عرفت هذا الشعب مسوطنا لها منذ سنوات عديدة‪ ،‬لكن‬ ‫ساكنيه تطعمه بالفينيقيين‪ ،‬ثم الرومان‪ ،‬ثم العرب لم يفقده أصله‪ ،‬بل جعله زاخرا بعدة مقومات جديدة‪ ،‬و علم‬

‫‪71‬‬

‫أهمية التقبل و التعايش و التضامن‪ ،‬و الزلنا إلى اآلن ننعم بالتآزر و الحب بيننا مهما زادت قوة الصور‬ ‫النمطية و تسمية الشخص بقبيلة كفت عن الوجود بنظامها القبلي منذ فترة طويلة‪ .‬و لهذا فإنني أشعر‬ ‫بتواصلي مع حضارات استنشقت الهواء على شمال افريقيا و التي ربما تميزت بالخصال التي ال نتميز بها‬ ‫نحن‪ ،‬فمثال‪ ،‬الزلنا اليوم نناقش مسؤولية المرأة و قدرتها على العمل و مساواتها بالرجل‪ ،‬بينما نقش يوبا‬ ‫الثاني على عملته وجهه من جهة‪ ،‬و وجه زوجته من جهة‪ ،‬منبها إلى أن البالد يقوم عليها حاكمان‬ ‫مسؤوالن‪ .‬و في شمال افريقيا كذلك آمن الناس بديهيا قائدة لتحميهم من بطش العدو‪ ،‬و لم تخيب آمالهم؛ فقد‬ ‫حاربت بجسارة من أجل إبقاء هويتها‪ ،‬و عاشت الهوية إلى اليوم‪ .‬و بالتالي فإن هويتنا تتسم أيضا بقدرتها‬ ‫على التكيف و العيش لوقت طويل‪ ،‬فالزالت هوية ديهيا تعيش معنا اليوم‪ ،‬فنحن الزلنا نعترف باللغة‬ ‫األمازيغية‪ ،‬والسنة األمازيغية‪ ،‬والفن األمازيغي‪ ،‬والتاريخ األمازيغي‪ ،‬وتقاليده‪ ،‬و أشخاصه‪ ،‬و مع ذلك‬ ‫نعترف بالعديد من األشياء الجديدة‪ ،‬فهويتنا أصيلة و قادرة على العيش بقوة لمدة طويلة‪ ،‬طويلة لدرجة أنني‬ ‫أتوهم أنها ستعيش لألبد‪ .‬الهوية هي شيء ال يتميز به شخص واحد وحيد‪ ،‬بل هي شيء مشترك ينعم به جمع‬ ‫األكثر من ذلك هو شيء يجعلني أحس بمفهوم االنتماء‪ ،‬و بوجود أناس آخرين يشاركونني في من الناس؟ و‬ ‫عدة قيم و خلفيات‪ ،‬يجعلني متأكدة أنني لست وحيدة‪ ،‬و هذا ما يحصل عندما أسافر إلى الخارج وأجد مثال‬ ‫شخصا يتكلم لغتي‪ ،‬أو يشاركني في انتمائي إلى وطني األم‪ ،‬فيساعدني على شراء تذكرة القطار‪ ،‬أو‬ ‫مساعدتنا في فهم ما يكتب على إشارات موقف السيارات‪ ،‬لكن أن تكون جز ًء من هذه الهوية‪ ،‬و ترى على‬ ‫أنك جز ٌء من مجموعة ما له بالنسبة إلي إيجابيات و سلبيات‪ ،‬فأما اإليجابيات‪ ،‬فتختزل في أنني أرى على‬ ‫أنني مركب إنساني ثقافي‪ ،‬يرى من خاللي مجتمعي و تاريخي و تقاليدي‪ ،‬و بالتالي تصنع لي هويتي صورة‬ ‫معينة أمام األجانب‪ ،‬و حتى هذه الصورة تدفعني إلى احترامها و محاولة تحسينها‪ ،‬و هذا هو الشيء الذي‬ ‫يدفعنا لعمل شيء تفخر به البالد واألمة والدين والعائلة‪ ،‬فالهوية أمام اآلخر هي دافع لتحقيق الذات و‬ ‫االجتهاد‪ ،‬بينما السلبيات تقطن في تبني الناس حول العالم مؤخرا للصور النمطية التي قد يروج لها اإلعالم‬ ‫و األنترنيت على حد سواء‪ ،‬أو كذلك رسائل الكراهية التي أصبحت منتشرة‪ ،‬و بالتالي تستهدف هوية‬ ‫الشخص بكاملها‪ ،‬و قد يستطيع اإلنسان حتى أن يتخلص منها إن استطاع‪ ،‬كما قامت بعض النساء إبان‬ ‫حجابهن خوفا على سالمتهن‪ .‬لكن حتى مع وجود هذا الخطر عمليات ارهابية تقنعت باسم اإلسالم‪ ،‬بنزع‬ ‫الذي يهدد التمسك بالهوية‪ ،‬يبقى وجودها مهما في تحديد حقيقة اإلنسان و تمسكه بالماضي و القريب ليفهم‬ ‫نفسه و حياته‪ .‬لذا باختصار‪ ،‬أُرى في الهوية الشجاعة و القوة للتمسك بالحياة و فهمها‪ ،‬يعني لي نبذ‬ ‫االختالف و التعصب و العنف‪ ،‬لكي يستطيع كل واحد منا أن يتمسك أشد تمسك بهويته‪ .‬هويتي تعني‬ ‫تقاليدي‪ ،‬ومجتمعي‪ ،‬وبيئتي‪ ،‬وتاريخي و تاريخ من حولي‪ ،‬و كذلك تاريخ األرض التي عشت فوقها‪ ،‬هويتي‬ ‫تعني أيضا قيمي‪ ،‬ديني‪ ،‬أفكاري‪ ،‬مبادئي المكتسبة من تعايشي مع المجتمع و ساكنته‪ ،‬هويتي هي تقبلي لكل‬

‫‪72‬‬

‫ما رزقت به دون أن أطلبه‪ ،‬اسمي‪ ،‬وجنسي‪ ،‬ولوني‪ ،‬وعائلتي‪ .‬هويتي هي أيضا الحب و الشغف الذي أؤتيه‬ ‫لكل ما حولي‪ .‬أ ليس الحب و الشغف من أهم األشياء التي قد تلهم اإلنسان ليبدع مستخرجا أجمل ما في‬ ‫خياله الجامح؟‬ ‫لقد اعتدت أن أبحث حولي لكي أحصل على اإللهام الذي يجعلني أبدع‪ ،‬أن أتخيل طرقا لحل مشاكل‬ ‫المجتمع‪ ،‬أو أن أغوص في التاريخ لكي أكتب عن ما ال يعرفه الناس‪ .‬لقد قرأت الحرب و السالم منذ مدة‪ ،‬و‬ ‫لم أستطع النوم ألسبوع دون أن أفكر في العمل الذي قام به تولستوي‪ ،‬لقد جمع بين اإلبداع و التاريخ‪ ،‬و‬ ‫كانت دقته كبيرة لدرجة أنه كان يعرف عن موسيقي تلك الفترة و كان يدقق في تواريخ حياتهم و موتهم و‬ ‫وجودهم في تلك الفترة بالضبط في روسيا القيصرية‪ .‬لم تكن الحرب و السالم واحدة من تلك القصص‬ ‫التاريخية الرومانسية العادية العشوائية‪ ،‬بل كانت رواية تحمل في طياتها أفكارا سياسية و إنسانية‪ ،‬و عند‬ ‫قراءتها فكرت أن المغرب يحتاج لرواية مماثلة‪ ،‬من الممكن أن يجد أي شخص أن كل ما ذكرته من قبل‬ ‫طريفا‪ ،‬فتاة هاوية تحاول الكتابة منذ سنين تقارن نفسها بتولستوي‪ ،‬لقد وجدت هذا األمر طريفا أيضا‪ ،‬لكنني‬ ‫لم أجد محاولتي كذلك‪ ،‬يمكنني أن أصفها بالشجاعة‪ .‬لقد قرأت الرواية منذ ثالث سنوات‪ ،‬و الزلت أجوب‬ ‫كتب تاريخ المغرب الحديث و المعاصر إلى يومنا هذا محاولة أن أجد ما أستند عليه استنادا كافيا ألطلق‬ ‫العنان إلبداعي‪ ،‬و بالتالي يمكنني القول أن هويتي ركيزة أساسية في إبداعي‪ ،‬إنها ملهمتي‪ ،‬و السبيل الذي‬ ‫لكلماتي وتعابيري‪ ،‬و تشبتي بالكتابة باللغة العربية و مدى تقديري و حبي لها كلغة أسلكه إلعطاء مصداقية‬ ‫هو خير دليل على هذا التشبث و التمسك‪.‬‬

‫‪73‬‬

‫هدى المرواني‪ ،‬ميدلت‬ ‫استيقظت فجرا رغبة في الذهاب إلى الحمام‪ ،‬و عند عودتي لمحت جسدا على سريري مغطى‬ ‫بمالءتي‪ ،‬رفعت عنه الغطاء فإذا هو نسخة مني‪ ،‬وجهي و مالبسي‪ ،‬صرخت صرخة دهشة صماء لم تحرك‬ ‫فيه ‪ -‬في‪ -‬شيئا‪ .‬لم أكن أستطيع الكالم وال التنفس‪ ,‬ال أجوع وال أتألم‪ ،‬كان شغلي الشاغل هو التفكير‪ ،‬أيقنت‬ ‫عندها أني العقل المفكر لشخصي‪ ،‬بقيت على حالي هذه أيام‪ ،‬أراقب تصرفات جسدي‪ ،‬و أخطط له‪ ،‬صراحة‬ ‫لم أكن قادرا على إعطاء األوامر‪ ،‬كنت العنصر المفكر‪ ،‬ما أفعل سوى ضخ األفكار‪ ،‬التحليل والتنسيق‪،‬‬ ‫ألعطي لصاحبنا أفكارا ناضجة مرتبة و مفهومة‪.‬‬ ‫كانت فترة االنفصال هذه فرصة انتبهت فيها إلى تغيرات في حركاتي‪ ،‬وكلماتي مع تغير المواقف‬ ‫واللقاءات فتزداد حدة التفكير وتتناقص‪ ،‬كان العامل األساسي في هذا التغيير واختالف المحيط؛ أي الناس‬ ‫والمكان والموضوع‪ .‬كنت أغير نوعية الخطاب في كل مرة للتوافق و المواقف‪ ،‬و بعد كل واحد من تلك‬ ‫المواقف كنت أجلس لنفسي ألناقش ما حصل وأعطي لنفسي نصائح عن ما سيعطيني قيمة أكبر في المرة‬ ‫المقبلة‪ ,‬كان واضحا أن تلك الجلسات مع النفس كانت تربيني وتقوي شخصيتي وتنضجني‪ ،‬إذ كنت أعالج‬ ‫نفسي طبقا لما أعرف واستنادا إلى المحددات التي تقنن حياتي وتعطيني المنهج والدستور الذي علي تتبعه‬ ‫وعدم تجاوزه‪ ،‬أي أن هذه المحددات قلصت دائرة حريتي و صنعت سقفا لتهوري وحمتني من األخطاء‬ ‫المفجعة‪ ،‬فانتمائي إلى الدين يعطيني أجوبة شافية عن تساؤالت محيرة‪ ،‬ويهبني موضعا ألجأ إليه عندما‬ ‫تضيق بي الحياة؛ فالضعف داخلي يحتاج إلها قويا يطعمه إيمانا‪ ،‬و انتمائي إلى عائلة و أصدقاء يعطيني‬ ‫رفاقا وأحباء‪ ،‬أي من يعطيني عند الطلب و يحميني حين الخوف‪ ،‬ومن يشاركني فرحتي ويخفف عني‬ ‫حزني؛ وكوني أنثى يعطيني و يسلب مني أشياء ألتميز عن الجنس اآلخر‪ ،‬و أيضا الطبقة االجتماعية تحدد‬ ‫في الكالم واللبس والحركة‪ ،‬تبعا لما تعلمته من محيطي ذي نفس الطبقة اإلجتماعية‪ .‬لي أسلوبا و طريقة‬ ‫تلك كانت أهم المحددات التي تأثرت بها هويتي و أوصلتني إلى هذا الحد من النضج‪.‬‬ ‫عدت لمراقبة نفسي ليالً‪ ،‬وقبل الخلود إلى النوم أخذت هاتفي بين يدي وشرعت في الكتابة‪:‬‬ ‫"الخالص‪ ،‬أن تبدل ذكرياتك أخريات‪ ،‬أن تبقى جالسا مكانك‪ ،‬أن تراقب حلمك يتساقط بوجه باسم ولو‬ ‫دمعت األعين‪ ،‬أن تبحث عن تلك الرائحة الغابرة في طيات الماضي‪ ،‬و تشم منها ما يكسر أحشائك ويعيد‬ ‫إصالحها‪ ،‬أن ترسم تلك المالمح المرسخة في دماغك على أوراق بيضاء ثم تمسحها وتعيد رسمها ثم‬ ‫تمسحها‪ ،‬إلى أن تختفي من دماغك وتملها بنان يدك ويكرهها الوعيك‪ .‬الخالص أال تخاف الصدفة‪ ،‬بل هو‬ ‫أن تبحث عنها لتعيشها ‪-‬بوجعها‪ -‬و تتخلص من هيجان المشاعر‪ ،‬ذلك ذو الدقائق اليتيمة‪ ،‬يأتي مرة في‬

‫‪74‬‬

‫العمر‪ ،‬فلنستنفدها بسرعة كأننا نأكل آخر حبة زيتون مرة في صحن الجارة ‪-‬الحياة‪ -‬التي لن يروقها أن ترى‬ ‫حبات الزيتون خاصتها في سلة القمامة‪ ،‬هي جارة سيئة الطبع‪ ،‬قد ترغمنا على تناول حبة الزيتون المعفنة‬ ‫تلك‪...‬‬ ‫إذًا ال ترموا بزيتون الجارة المر‪ ،‬علها تسقيكم عسال المرة القادمة‪...‬‬ ‫"الخالص‪ ،‬أن تبقى راسخا ها هنا في وجه الزمان‪ ،‬تحت لحية القدر‪ ،‬أن تسقط وحدك وتقف ومعك‬ ‫بعض الحجر ترميه في وجه الحياة و تبتسم‪ ،‬أن تؤمن بال'مكتوب' و أن ال ترضى للمؤمنين به أن يقنعوك‬ ‫أنه غير قابل للتغيير‪ ،‬أن تشبك يدك بيدي هللا الممتدة نحو وريدك منذ زمن‪ ،‬و لم تلحظ‪ ،‬أن تكون عبدا له‬ ‫وحده و أال تقدس أقرانك في العبودية‪ ...‬الخالص ها هنا‪ ،‬أال تهرب‪ ،‬أال تهرب‪ ،‬أال تترك يد هللا ‪"...‬‬ ‫بعد أن أنهيت ذلك‪ ،‬أعدت قراءة ما كتبت ألحلله و أفكر فيه‪ ,‬فوجدته خليطا مما كنت أدرب نفسي‬ ‫عليه بعد كل تلك المواقف في الفترة الخالية‪ .‬أي أن هويتي المتلبسة بتلك المحددات هي من تتحدث على‬ ‫الورق‪ ،‬مترجمة ما التصق من جديد بشخصيتي‪ ،‬لذا أالحظ االختالف بين الخاطرة واألخرى باختالف ما‬ ‫تطبعت به هويتي في تلك الفترة و ما ربيت عليه نفسي و درجة الوعي التي وصلت إليها‪.‬‬

‫‪75‬‬

‫هدى قضاض‪ ،‬أحفير‬ ‫إن اإلنسان أسمى وأعمق من أن يختزل مفهومه في كومة عظم يكسوه لحم‪ ،‬وإن ملكة العقل الذي‬ ‫أنعم عليه هللا تعالى بها لم تخلق من فراغ ولم تضع يوما ً زينة داخل قوقعة الجمجمة‪ .‬فالمرء منا مهما بلغ‬ ‫صغَر مقامه و َبسْط شأنه يبقى حلقة مهمة داخل سلسلة الحياة‪ ،‬تلك التي تسير بنا إلى المجهول‪ .‬في رحلتنا‬ ‫ِ‬ ‫نحو هذا العدم الغريب‪ ،‬سنذوق تارة ً نعيم الحياة الزائف ونفوق تارة ً أخرى من شرودنا بصفعاتها المفاجئة‪،‬‬ ‫لكن األكيد أننا سنقابل أناسا ً ونعايش ظروفا ً ونجرب أمورا ً مختلفة‪ .‬فالدروس في مدرسة الحياة تقتصر على‬ ‫الجانب العملي كتمهيد وعرض للخالصة‪.‬‬ ‫يجرؤ على إنساب إنجازاته وتراكم خبراته لنفسه البحتة‪ ،‬فالذات بصفة عام ٍة‬ ‫لهذا‪ ،‬فال أحد منا قد ُ‬ ‫عصارة تعليم ملقن من المحيط بمختلف أشكاله؛ بدءا ً بالوالدين‪ ،‬ثم المدرسة‪ ،‬فالشارع‪ ،‬والدولة وغيرهم‪،‬‬ ‫وإن المفهوم الذي يفرض نفسه هاهنا والذي البد من معالجته وتمحيصه توازيا ً مع فهم الكينونة الذاتية للفرد‬ ‫معنى داخل تاج العروس ولسان العرب واعتبر نفسه محور‬ ‫منا هو مفهوم "الهوية"‪ ،‬ذلك الذي اتخد لنفسه‬ ‫ً‬ ‫النفس البشرية التي تضمن لها ُوجودا ً وتوا ُجداً‪.‬‬ ‫إن هويتنا سواء الثقافية أو الوطنية أو غيرهما تتسم بخصائص مميزة لكل واح ٍد منا‪ ،‬تختلف باختالف‬ ‫تكوينه الذاتي وتفاعله داخل مجتمعه تماشيا ً مع مبدأ اجتماعية طبع االنسان‪ .‬وإنه لمن غير المنصف ترجيح‬ ‫تأثير فئة أو عنصر على حساب بقية العناصر دون أي تحليل لمجملها؛ فالوالدان يعتبران المصدر األول‬ ‫لتكوين هوية الفرد سواء بطريقة مباشرة من خالل تعاملهما وتربيبتهما أو بطريقة غير مباشرة تتمثل في‬ ‫التكوين الجيني الفيزيولوجي‪ .‬فهما – إن صح التعبير– يعتبران األداة األولى لتواصل الفرد – الطفل– مع‬ ‫بقية العناصر الخارجية‪ ،‬إذ يكفي أن هذا األخير يملك من البراءة في بداية نشأته ما يرغمه على تصديق‬ ‫الوالدين بشكل عفوي؛ يجعلهما مصدر الحقيقة‪ ،‬ومرجع الواقع‪ ،‬ومرآة الخارج بالنسبة إلبه‪ .‬بعدها يبدأ أول‬ ‫ينضاف عنصران آخران إلى فئة‬ ‫احتكاكٍ لهذا الفتى الطري مع المحيط من خالل المدرسة واألصدقاء‪ ،‬وهنا‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫يؤثِر ويؤثَ ُر‬ ‫تشكيل هوية هذا الفرد وتكوين شخصه وشخصيته‪ ،‬ويبدأ من خاللهما أن يصبح عنصرا ً فعاالً َ‬ ‫فيه‪ .‬ويجرب من خاللهما طعما ً مختلفا ً من التجارب تتوسطها مرحلة المراهقة وفترة التغير الشكلي وما قبل‬ ‫النضج العقلي‪ .‬بعد انتهاء الدراسة‪ ،‬تبدأ مرحلة مختلفة من حياة هذا الفرد‪ ،‬يفرغ خاللها ما تلقاه ألكثر من‬ ‫عشر سنوات‪ ،‬سواء في سوق الشغل أو سعيا ً لولوج هذا األخير‪ .‬فيصادف مشاكل الحياة الدورية ويجرب‬ ‫الرفض والطبقية واالحتقار ومختلف المواضع التي قد يجبر أو يختار المرور بها‪ .‬فيصل إلى لجة تشكيل‬ ‫هويته ليصبح بعدها بدوره مصدر تلقين ألبناءه مستقبالً‪ .‬إنها إذاً‪ ،‬دورة محكمة ينتقل فيها الفرد بين مرس ٍل‬

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‫ق حسب ما قد يستجد‪ ،‬يكتسب عبرها خاصية الزئبق التي تضمن له التأقلم مع كل األوضاع وحسن‬ ‫ومتل ٍ‬ ‫التصرف والتفاعل مع مختلف األفراد في مختلف المواقف‪.‬‬ ‫بعد كل ما قيل‪ ،‬يمكنني أن أستنتج‪ ،‬شخصياً‪ ،‬أن مركز الهوية – هويتي تحديدا ً– تحدد وتشكل وفقا ً‬ ‫فخر‪ ،‬أن والدي هما بؤرة تشكيلي وتكويني كشخص وفكر‪.‬‬ ‫لقاعدته األولى وملهمه األول‪ ،‬وإني َألُقِر‪ ،‬بكل ٍ‬ ‫فهما من ربياني على أني مؤمنة مسلمة تقبل الديانات أجمعها فلم يشكل الدين يوما ً بالنسبة إلي عائقا ً لتقبل‬ ‫احتقار أو رفض‪،‬‬ ‫اآلخر‪ ،‬وأخبراني أن لون البشرة إعجاز جسدي وهندسة وراثية فلم أحسبه يوما ً أداة‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫وجعالني أحتقر نفسي كلما شاهدت شخصا ً فاقدا ً للبصر يكتب بطريقة برايل‪ ،‬فأعجب به وأعتبره من ذوي‬ ‫القدرات المميزة بدل االحتياجات الخاصة‪ ،‬فأنافسه وأتعلم مثله أسرار تلك النقاط الست المرصوصة بدقة‬ ‫وجمال‪ ،‬أخبراني أن الحياة ترى بزوايا مختلفة‪ ،‬وأن نظرتي هي المحدد األول واألخير لشتات األمور‬ ‫ومتجلياتها‪ .‬لكنهما قطعا ً لم ينسيا أن يذكراني بصعوبة الغير والواقع‪ .‬ناقشا اختالفي معهما ومع اآلخر‪،‬‬ ‫وأحضرا لي من األوعية ما يكفيني دوما ً ألفرغ أفكاري وخواطري‪ .‬صاحباني وصارحاني بآرائهما‬ ‫وانتقادهما لتأثير بقية العناصر المحيطة بي من مدرسة وأصدقاء وجيران ‪ ...‬فمكانتهما وإن كانت تلهمهما‬ ‫حمايتي‪ ،‬فإنها تفرض علي االنصياع لهما بوعي ٍ وحكمة‪ .‬ال أنكر طبعا ً أن اكتشافي للعالم الخارجي‬ ‫واحتكاكي بمحيطي بات يتم بشك ٍل مستق ٍل يضمن لي اجتراء هنيهات حرية وتجريب شخصي‪ ،‬لكنهما كانا‬ ‫دائما السند الخفي لي‪ .‬لهذا‪ ،‬أظن أنني وجدت في والدي‪ ،‬منذ نشأتي‪ ،‬التربية الحسنة والفكر الواعي الذي لم‬ ‫يبخال أبدا ً بتزويدي به‪ ،‬فلم أحتج مذ ذلك إلى بديل أو مساعد‪ .‬محيطي‪ ،‬من جامعة وأصدقاء وأساتيذ ومجتمع‬ ‫مدني وسياسي‪ ،‬طور والزال يطور في نفسي الكثير‪ ،‬لكنني تشكلت على يد شخصين أحسنا صنعهما‬ ‫وسلماني للحياة مشروعا ً جاهزا ً لمواجهة مستجداتها واختالف هويات أفرادها‪.‬‬ ‫ق يختزل تشكيل الفرد‬ ‫إن االنتساب إلى مجموعة هوية محددة واقتصار رؤية هذا األخير في حيز ضي ٍ‬ ‫وتراكم خبراته يعد ظلما ً لذاته ال ُمكونة‪ ،‬فاإلنسان أسمى من أن يحجز فكره في قوقعة متحجزة متطرفة تحت‬ ‫مسمى اإلخالص لللون أو العرق أو الطبقة االجتماعية‪ .‬بل إن مجموعة الهوية الوحيدة التي يمكن أن يفتخر‬ ‫بانضمامه إليها هي هوية 'اإلنسانية"‪ ،‬تلك التي تجرد الفرد منا من كل القيود الوهمية التي اخترعها بنفسه‬ ‫ليجد لها عذرا ً في عدم تقبل االختالف والرأي المغاير‪ .‬لهذا‪ ،‬أرى أن الحياة‪ ،‬وإن كانت واحدة‪ ،‬فإن عيشها‬ ‫يتعدد بتقمص األدوار اليومية المطلوبة ومواكبة التطورات واالختالفات‪ ،‬وإن هوية األنا وقمة المعرفة‬ ‫الشخصية بالذات لن تحقق إال في ظل حرية الفكر وموضوعية الرسالة بعيدا ً عن أي تطرف جماعي أو‬ ‫انتماء عنصري‪ .‬ومع إكتمال الفكر ونضج الهوية‪ ،‬يبدأ الفرد منا بنشر عصارة ما استخلصه غصبا ً أو تعلمه‬

‫‪77‬‬

‫ودا ً من الحياة ومكوناتها‪ ،‬وإن اختلفت الوسيلة لذلك فتبقى الكتابة أفضل ما وقع عليه اختياري وأحب ما‬ ‫وجدت به مرادي‪ .‬فكلما داعبت سطوري السوداء بياض األوراق أمامي محاولةً أن أطلق العنان لمخيلتي‬ ‫وفكري أجدني أعود إلى واقعي وهويتي كأنها أبعد ما قد أصل إليه‪ .‬فاألحالم لطالما كانت وجه الواقع‬ ‫سال َح الكاتب المدافع‪ .‬إذ ال يمكن لهذا األخير‪ ،‬بأي شك ٍل من األشكال‪ ،‬أن يخط المستتر والقلم لطالما كان‬ ‫كلمةً ال تمثله وال تعنيه‪ ،‬فبركان أفكارنا وإن استمر في الغليان‪ ،‬لن يعبر بصهارة الكلمات فهوة تعبيرنا إال‬ ‫إن نحن أخضعناها لقانون هويتنا الطبيعية‪ .‬لهذا‪ ،‬فهذه األخيرة لطالما كانت محور حياتي وقاعدة كتاباتي‬ ‫األدبية‪ ،‬إذ لم أتمكن يوما ً أن أقول ما لم أقتنع به‪ ،‬أو أن أعبر عما لم أستطع تقبله‪ .‬لهذا‪ ،‬فمع بزوغ الذات‬ ‫تحت مسمى الهوية تكتمل صورة شخصية الفرد لتشكل أبعاده الخاصة وخطى توجهاته‪ ،‬أفكاره‪ ،‬هواياته‬ ‫وحتى قيمه‪.‬‬

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‫خولة بوعشرة‪ ،‬اكادير‬ ‫خولة بوعشرة‪ ،‬إبنة الستة عشرة عاما‪ ،‬فتاة ربما يخيل إليك حين تطالعها أنها عشرينية العمر من‬ ‫لباقتها وثقافتها وآرائها التىتتبناها وتدافع عنها بقوة مثل الكبار‪ ،‬وال عجب فطموحها وإصرارها هما من‬ ‫قاداها نحو ذلك‪ .‬ترعرعت فى عائلة صحراوية عربيةآل بوعشرة"‪ ،‬ونشأتها كانت بين أمازيغ سوس‪،‬‬ ‫الشيء الذي أكسبها هويتين ثقافيتين كل واحدة منهما كان لها الدور األساسي فيترسيخ القيم و المبادئ التى‬ ‫شكلت وأبدعت شخصيتها‪ ،‬من أب قدوة لها بما بناه فى حياته وفى شخصه؛ فهو مقاول و سياسي و قيادي‬ ‫فيحزب العدالة و التنمية والذى لطالما أفني عمره وفكره في النضال من أجل وطنه‪ ،‬قد يكون هذا عنصرا‬ ‫مهما في حب ابنته لمجااللسياسة فقد وجدت فيه مجاال جديرا بأن تشتغل فيه و تقدم ما عندها من شغف‬ ‫وعمل دؤوب إلصالح ذلك الوضع السياسي المعاش‪،‬فرغم أن والدها متشبعبالسياسة لكنه لم يكن يرغب قط‬ ‫في أن تدخل قرة عينه ذلك الغمار وهي كذلك ابتعدت عنه لتلقى روحها فياإلبداع و الكتابة و الخطابة فقد‬ ‫كان ذلك ملهما لها واكثر دافعا ألن تنمي قدراتها‪ ،‬وكان ذاك الوالد مشجعا لها وألخوتها و كان مؤمن بهمحد‬ ‫الثمالة أن يصيروا في المستقبل ذوى شأن عظيم يقتدى بهم من جميل صنعهم‪.‬‬ ‫ومع ذلك األب العظيم نشأت من أم ربة بيت‪ ،‬حكيمة رشيدة استطاعت أن تربي في أبنائها حس‬ ‫اإلبداع والرغبة في التميز واختراقالروتين العادي‪ ،‬هي األخرى كانت مؤمنة بهم و كسرت معظم حواجز‬ ‫األعراف التى تعرقل مبتغاهم من النجاح لتفسح لهم الطريق للتقدم؛فلطالما انتقد الناس طريقة تربيتها للبنت‬ ‫البكر كونهم نشأوا على أن تكون الفتاة بعيدا عن األنظار و بجانب أمها‪ ،‬ال تسافر و ال تحقق‬ ‫ذاتها‪ ،‬فقط ظل ألمها الغية شخصيتها وأهدافها‪ ،‬وبدال من الدراسة يفترض عليها أن تمتهن التدبير‬ ‫المنزلي‪.‬‬ ‫الغريب في األمر أن هذه الفتاة الناضجة فى فكرها قد اتخذت ممن هم أكبر منها سنا وتجاربا أصدقاء‬ ‫لها فجل أصدقائها كبار السنعليها بأشواط كثيرة‪ ،‬ألن مفهوم الصداقة عند خولة ال يقف عند الترفيه و تبادل‬ ‫األسرار والسمر وفقط‪ ،‬لكن في المواقف و االستفادة منالطرف اآلخر؛ فقد وجدت عند كل صديقة لها أو‬ ‫صديق سمة مميزة قد فتحت لها أفقا مختلفة للتفكير والنظر لألمور‪ .‬أما المنطقة التيترعرت فيها تقع جنوب‬ ‫غرب المملكة على الساحل الغربي‪ ،‬تأسست على يد البرتغاليين سنة ‪ 1500‬فحررها المغاربة سنة‬ ‫‪1526‬فغرسوا فيها العزة واإلصرار وعدم الخوف والقوة فى طلب الحق ودحض الباطل‪ .‬كانت شعبية لحد‬ ‫كبير معروف على سكانها االحتشاموالوقار لكنها ولدت األبطال و المبدعين‪.‬‬

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‫كما ذكر في السابق‪ ،‬فالعرق و األصل صحراوي بوعشراوي محض‪ ،‬لكن النشأة و التربية كانت‬ ‫سوسية أصيلة يغلب عليها طابع االحتشام والمحافظة كما هو مشترك عند أغلب المغاربة‪ ،‬فجمعت بين‬ ‫الثقافة واالطالع على ما هو جديد في هذا العصر مع الحفاظ والتأثرباألصل‪ .‬فالمغرب عموما يشتهر بتعدد‬ ‫الحضارات و تنوع الثقافات لهذا تجد في كل منطقة اختالفا كبيرا في التربية و اللغة و في كثير‬ ‫من األمور‪.‬‬ ‫هذه هي خولة التى جعلت من التضاد قوة وبأسا؛ فهى ذات طموح وإصرار فى تحقيق ما تريد‪ ،‬لكن‬ ‫عاطفتها تسير موازية لقوتها‪،‬تحب التعلم و المشاركة‪ ،‬ال تخترق المراحل كما يقال عنها‪ ،‬و لكنها توازي مع‬ ‫قانون الطبيعة الذي جعل منها طفلة بجسد امرأة جدالءتصارع األفكار المجتمعية اللقيطة التي ما فتئت‬ ‫تخدش في عزائمها‪ ..‬وتدافع من أجل إحياء عالم آخر لها و فقط‪ ،‬تنفرد فيه بسموها‪،‬وفى ختام القول "خولة"‬ ‫هى طفلة تحركها حكمة العقالء من الكبار ال يروقها الكثير من جيلها تعيش طفولتها على الطريقة التىتهواها‬ ‫طالما أنها لم تخدش حياء "خولة" وستظل منارة للقوة واإلصرار أينما حلت‬ ‫نسلم جميعا أن اإلنسان كائن اجتماعي بطبعه‪،‬هكذا إذن ال يمكن فصله عن محيطه‪ ،‬وكذا الهوية التي‬ ‫يحملهاهذا المحيط معنوية كانتمتمثلة في أنماط التفكير‪،‬أو مادية تتجلى في أساليب العيش‪،‬فمعنى أن يكون‬ ‫المرء عضوا داخل جماعة هو أن يكون حامال لهذه الهويةمما يجعله مندمجا مع األعضاء اآلخرين الذين‬ ‫يمثلون هذه الجماعة‪ ،‬فكل فرد منذ نعومة أظافره تعمل الجماعة على سقله و ترسيخمبادئها التي تشكل‬ ‫أساس الهوية الجماعية‪ ،‬لكي يصبح حامال و فاعال في المستقبل‪،‬و على حد تعبير إميل دركايهم "المجتمع‬ ‫يحيا فينا ويطغى علينا"‪ ،‬فال حياة سليمة دون هوية تشكل روح الفرد‪ ،‬من خاللها يعبر عن ذاته و‬ ‫جماعته‪،‬ويتخذ هذا التعبير عدة أشكال منها الكتابة‪.‬‬ ‫إن الكتابة اإلبداعية‪-‬قصة‪،‬شعر‪،‬نثر‪،‬رواية‪،‬مقالة‪ -...‬ما هي إال تعبير عن واقع ما‪ ،‬يخص مجال‬ ‫ما‪،‬فالكاتب ما هو إال لسان حاله أوبيئته‪،‬إذ أنه ال يمكن فصل الكاتب عن واقعه‪،‬إنه يجد ضالته في الكتابة‬ ‫لكي يعبر أوال عن هذا الواقع‪ ،‬ثم ثانيا موجها له حكما قيميا‪،‬قد يكوننقدا أو تثمينا له‪ ،‬و بهذا يتحول الكاتب‬ ‫من متلقي إلى مثقف عضوي‪ ،‬من متلقي سلبي داخل الجماعة إلى فاعل أساسي داخلها‪،‬يحمل همهويته أوال‪،‬‬ ‫ويسعى نحو تغيير المهترئ منها‪،‬الكتابة ماهي إال نتاج قلق حيال شيء ما يخص هويتنا‪ ،‬و قد نلمس هذا في‬ ‫أعمال محمود درويش الشعرية حيث شكلت الهوية الفلسطينية‪/‬العربية عمود فقرها‪.‬‬

‫‪80‬‬

‫ختاما يمكن القول أنه ال يمكن فصل هوية الكاتب عن امتداداتها‪ ،‬كل كاتب هو ذات فردية و‬ ‫جماعية‪،‬يتجاذبه ما هو قائم يعتبر روح هوية الجماعة‪ ،‬و ما ينبغي أن يكون أي ما يؤمن به‪.‬‬

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‫منال الغافقي‪ ،‬القصر الكبير‬ ‫تتشكل هوية الفرد من خالل مجموعة من المحددات كالعائلة والدين والعرق وغيرها‪ ،‬وتختلف درجة‬ ‫تأثير هذه المحددات من شخص آلخر‪ .‬فإلى أي حد تأثر الهوية في كتابات المبدع؟‬ ‫ال يمكن إنكار دور كل من الدين والعائلة في التأثير بطريقة مباشرة أو غير مباشرة في تشكل هوية‬ ‫الفرد وبالتالي التأثير على أسلوب ومواضيع كتاباته‪ ،‬فيجد نفسه مكبال بما تمليه عليه العائلة والقبيلة والطبقة‬ ‫االجتماعية‪ .‬وبذلك يضطر إلى تعديل سلوكه وأفكاره بشكل يتماشى مع كل مقام‪ .‬وإن حدث وحاول التمرد‬ ‫على كل هذا يجد نفسه مطرودا من رحمة الناس‪ ،‬ويحس حينئذ وكأنه اقترف جرما ال يغتفر‪ .‬وعلى رأس‬ ‫العائلة والمنطقة والقبيلة والطبقة االجتماعية والعرق نجد الدين‪ ،‬إذ تحس وكأنها سلسلة متشابكة‪ ،‬كل محدد‬ ‫مرتبط بالمحدد الذي يليه‪ ،‬فالعائلة بدورها شكلت هويتها انطالقا من الدين والعرق والمنطقة وكأنها ترث‬ ‫هذه الهوية من جيل آلخر‪ .‬ال يمكن بأي شكل من األشكال إنكار التغيرات التي تطرأ على هذا الميراث‪،‬‬ ‫لكنها تكون في الغالب تغيرات نسبة تحافظ باألساس على جوهر الهوية‪.‬‬ ‫في األخير‪ ،‬يفترض بهذه الهوية أن تكون "ما نرث ال ما يورث‪ ،‬ما نخترع ال ما نتذكر" كما قال‬ ‫محمود درويش‪ ،‬حتى يتسنى لنا أن نتحدث عن هوية خالصة متشكلة من تجارب وثقافة الفرد الشخصية‬ ‫بغض النظر عن دينه وعرقه وعائلته‪.‬‬

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‫نسرين الوركي‪ ،‬الدار البيضاء‬ ‫يتشرب كل منا منذ الصغر مجموعة من المحددات أو "الطقوس" التي ترنوا إلى خلق مجموعات‬ ‫بشرية منمطة يشعر المرء داخلها باإلنتماء‪ ،‬وبالتالي يحس بالفخر كلما تزايد عدد أعضاءها‪ .‬قد يرجع ذلك‬ ‫إلى تلك الشكوك التي ال تنطفئ إال إذا قوبلت بمن يشاطرها ‪ ،‬أو قد تكون محاولة إلخفاء فشل الذات في ذات‬ ‫أكبر‪ :‬الجماعة ‪ ،‬ألن التفرد و تجاوز ثرى اإلنتماء الذي أمسى مقدسا ‪ ،‬ليس بالمهمة البهيجة التي تنجز بخفة‬ ‫قلب‪ ،‬يقول "ليفي شتراوس" بما مفاده أن اإلرادة في فهم طريقة إشتغال بنية معينة (وطن ‪ ،‬دين‪،‬مجتمع‪)...‬‬ ‫و العالقات المنسوجة داخلها ‪ ،‬تستلزم خروج المرء من داخلها ‪ ،‬أي أن تنظر بتجرد إلى البنية من أعلى‪.‬‬ ‫هذه الرغبة في اإلنتماء تكشف عن استعصاء بناء فكر أو هوية مستقلين ؛ أي أنه يتم السعي إلى اعتبار كل‬ ‫تجمع بشري فوق رقعة جغرافية معينة ‪ ،‬كيان أحادي اإلنتماء و الهوية ‪ ،‬وهذا يرجع إلى اختزال خادع إذ‬ ‫يتم حصر مفهوم الهوية في رقصة أو أكلة أو مجموعة طقوس ‪ ،‬أو يتم اعتبارها مفهوما "عرقيا" أو ربطها‬ ‫باألرض ‪ ،‬فتصير هكذا مفهوما مصطبغا بصبغة الجمود ؛ أي معطى قبلي و جوهر متعالي ثابت سرعان ما‬ ‫يغدو مصدر تعصب الذي يكون سببا في ارتكاب العديد من األشخاص جرائم باسم هويتهم الدينية أوالوثنية‬ ‫أو القومية‪...‬‬ ‫يدفعنا هذا الطرح إلى التساؤل ‪ :‬ما الذي يعنيه حقا هذا المفهوم الشفاف‪/‬المخادع ؟‬ ‫الربط السطحي بين الهوية و العرق و الدين و الدم‪...‬هاته كلها أشياء قال بها غالة الفكر القومي من‬ ‫منظري اليمين المتطرف في أوربا ما قبل الحرب‪ .‬ال يصح الحديث عن عرق عربي أو أمازيغي أو غيره‬ ‫ألنه ال وجود إال لعرق واحد أال و هو "الهوموسابيانس" لسبب بسيط وهو أن البشر جنس حديث ( ‪ 4‬مليون‬ ‫سنة ) وهي مدة غير كافية لكي يتفرع عنه أعراق ذات اختالفات جنسية كبرى كالحيوانات ‪ ،‬و بالتالي ال‬ ‫يمكن الحديث عن هوية "عرقية‪.‬‬ ‫كما ال يجب ربطها – الهوية‪ -‬بالحامل اللساني أو الدم أو األرض‪...‬مثال إن اإلعتقاد بوجود هوية‬ ‫عربية صرفة أو أمازيغية محضة هو ضرب من الخيال وتصور سطحي لمفهوم الهوية و انتقالها عند‬ ‫األفراد و الجماعات ؛ يربط أصحاب التيار األمازيغي الهوية باألرض‪ ،‬أي أنك ما دمت فوق أرض كانوا‬ ‫هم السباقون "المتالكها" فأنت بالضرورة لك هوية أمازيغية ‪ ،‬في حين يذهب أصحاب التيار العُروبي إلى‬ ‫االعتقاد بالتصور البدوي ‪ ،‬القبلي ‪" ،‬المنوي" للهوية ‪ ،‬أي أن هذه األخيرة تنقل عن طريق الوراثة ‪ :‬جينيا‪.‬‬

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‫الهوية المغربية ال يمكن اختزالها في أي مما ذكر ألنها تجمع في كنفها عدة عناصر كالبعد‬ ‫العربوإسالمي ‪،‬األمازيغي ‪ ،‬اإلفريقي ‪ ،‬بل حتى الفرنسي و اإلسباني ‪..‬بدرجات متفاوتة‪ .‬الهوية إذن هي‬ ‫مجموع القيم و األفكار و العقائد و التصورات و األعراف التي تمتاز بها جماعة معينة‪ .‬إنها نسق ديناميكي‬ ‫رويني" مركب وغير ثابت‪ ،‬تتبدل و تتطور ووحده التاريخ من يصقلها‪ ،‬كما تدمج عناصر في بناءها و‬ ‫تنفي أخرى‪.‬‬ ‫هوية المغاربة اليوم ليست هوية "قريش" وال "ماسينيسا" و "يوبا" ‪،‬هي هوية قد تطورت عبر‬ ‫الزمن ‪ ،‬هوية متفردة و مركبة و منفتحة ‪ ،‬يدخل في بناءها عدة عناصر بيد اختالف الحامل اللساني‪ ،‬و كل‬ ‫هذا التبلور وحدها الدولة المغربية من كانت شاهدة عليه ‪ ،‬هذه األخيرة هي ما أراه األكثر مركزية و حجر‬ ‫زاوية هويتي‪ ،‬ألن تحت رايتها يُستدمج األمازيغي و العربي و اإلفريقي ليوجد المغربي‪.‬‬ ‫هي الدولة التي 'يكتشفها كل منا قبل أن يكتشف الحرية‪ ...‬هي الوجه الموضوعي القائم‪'...‬كما جاء‬ ‫في كتاب "مفهوم الدولة" لصاحبه عبد هللا العروي‪ .‬الدولة واقع كوني و قديم ‪ :‬المدينة اليونانية و‬ ‫الجمهورية الرومانية هي أشكال متقدمة لهذا الواقع‪.‬‬ ‫هي في اآلن عينه فكرة و فعل ‪ :‬تجرد و تنظيم‪ .‬ليس لها واقع ملموس ولكن حضورها محسوس في‬ ‫حياتنا اليومية‪..‬‬ ‫ظواهر زوال الدول كسقوط االمبراطوريات‪ ،‬أو ظواهر النشوء و التحول اإلقليمي كما هو الحال في‬ ‫نهاية االستعمار‪...‬تستوعب جيدا عندما نفهم بأن الدولة ال يمكن أن توجد أو تدوم إال في ظل تجمع مجموعة‬ ‫شروط ‪ :‬مجموعة من األفراد الذين يمارسون نشاطهم على إقليم جغرافي معين و يخضعون لتنظيم محدد‪.‬‬ ‫دورها إذن يتمثل في السعي إلى ضمان حرية من ينتمون لها في التعبير عن هوياتهم من خالل طرق‬ ‫شتى ‪ ،‬منها الكتابة ‪ :‬هويتي كمغربية تزخر بغنا عناصرها التي تمثل حقال مهما بتنوع ثقافاته يتكل عليه‬ ‫المرء للتعبير عما يدور في خلده ‪ ،‬مما يؤثر على الفرد بحكم أن غالبا ما تكون األفكار اإلبداعية وليدة الواقع‬ ‫المعاش ‪ ،‬فتأتي الهوية لتطل برأسها على كتاباته اإلبداعية و تطبع بصمتها‪.‬‬ ‫يلخص الشاعر محمود درويش كل هذا و ذاك في أبيات مقتضبة‬ ‫"إن الهوية بنت الوالدة‪ ،‬لكنها‬

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‫في النهاية إبداع صاحبها‪،‬‬ ‫ال وراثة ماض‪".‬‬

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‫سلوى التاقي‪ ،‬الدار البيضاء‬ ‫يولد اإلنسان فتولد معه هويته الخاصة والذاتية والتي هي مجموعة من السيمات التي يتميز بها كل‬ ‫واحد منا عن غيره ثم نبدأ بعد الوالدة في التجول بين أزقة الحياة محاولة بناء هوية صلبة ومحاولين‬ ‫استكشاف باقي الهويات من حولنا هويات اآلخرين والتعرف عليها من خالل عائالتنا أصحابنا ومجتمعنا‬ ‫كله وباقي المجتمعات اال خرى ومن كل ما يحيطنا من كل جانب والعائلة هي أول عامل يؤثر على بناء‬ ‫هويتنا كأفراد إذ ينتمي كل فرد منا إلى عائلة خاصة به ويعيش طفولته في كنفها وتعتبر الطفولة أول مرحلة‬ ‫واللبنة األولى من حياتنا نكتسب من خاللها مجموعة من المكتسبات ومن تم هاته األخيرة تحدد مصيرنا لكن‬ ‫ال يؤول الحال هكذا دائما فليست حياتنا مجرد عائلة وحسب فكلما عمرنا في الحياة كلما تعرفنا على مزيد‬ ‫من األشخاص وعلى محددات أخرى تعرفنا على أصدقاء ننتقل في بقاع األرض فنحن ال نلبث في البقعة‬ ‫التي ولدنا فيها إلى أبد األبدين وكلما انتقلنا صادفنا طبقات اجتماعية وطوائف وعقائد وألوانا من التفافات‬ ‫وأشكاال من األلسنة واألفكار وغيرها كلها محددات تعمل على بناء هويتنا أو تخريبها أو إضافة تحسينات‬ ‫عليها كلما انتقلنا صادفنا هويات أخرى قد تماثل هوياتنا أو تختلف عنها كليا قد نتأثر بهويات اآلخرين‬ ‫وقد نتمسك بهويتنا الذاتية فال نكاد نبعد عنها فننسلخ من هويتنا‪.‬‬ ‫وبالنسبة إلي فأنا أجد أن األصدقاء هم أكبر عامل مؤثر على هويتنا أما سلبا أو إيجابا ففي كل‬ ‫انتقاالت حياتنا نصادف أصدقا ًء منذ طفولتنا في الحضانة وريعاننا في حقول المدارس في العمل في كل‬ ‫مكان نذهب اليه نجد اناسا نصادفهم ثم نقوم بإقامة عالقة صداقة بينهم قد تكون عالقة ود أو مصلحة أو‬ ‫شيء آخر ال يهم لكنهم يؤثرون علينا على ثقافتنا وتفكيرنا وحتى طريقة لباسنا وكالمنا في كل شيء تقريبا‬ ‫في كل األحوال يصير لكل منا هويته الخاصة ضميره الذاتي وشخصيته الخاصة به التي شكلها لبنة لبنة من‬ ‫كل الطينات‪.‬‬ ‫وهذه الهوية ستكون المتحكم في حياتنا وطريقة عيشنا وتعاملنا وإنتاجيتنا وحتى على كتابتنا اإلبداعية‬ ‫فكيف أن أي شخص يقوم بالكتابة في أي موضوع وأي مجال يستند زاده من هويته الشخصية التي تتمرد‬ ‫عليه في كل مرة يحمل فيها القلم وتتحكم في طريقة كتابته لدرجة أن اي قارئ يقرأ لكتابات ذاك الكاتب‬ ‫سيجد ذلك واضحا‪.‬‬ ‫وانطالقا من تجربتي فأنا كباقي األشخاص لدي هويتي الخاصة وأقوم بالكتابة لكن ال أستطيع الكتابة‬ ‫دون تجسيد هويتي فمثال ال أستطيع الكتابة في المواضيع اإلباحية نظرا لهويتي الدينية األخالقية التي ال‬ ‫تسمح لي فأتخذ مجموعة من الحدود التي يجب عدم تجاوزها وطالما أنا اكتب فهويتي الفكرية تتحكم‬

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‫في افكاري فاألفكار التي اكتسبتها من قبل هي ما اكتب فيها وعنها وثقافتي التي جمعتها هي ما‬ ‫أقتبس منها زادي إذًا فالهوية حاضرة بالكتابة اإلبداعية حضور الروح بالجسد‪.‬‬

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‫زكرياء أمصنار‪ ،‬تيزنيت‬ ‫الهوية بأبسط تعاريفها هي ‪ :‬جملة السمات و الميزات( العقلية ‪ ،‬الفكرية ‪ ،‬االجتماعية و العقدية‪)..‬‬ ‫التي تخول لشخص ما أو جماعة تحقيق صفة التفرد عن الغير ‪ ،‬و انطالقا من هذا التعريف ‪ ،‬يتضح أن ما‬ ‫ذكر في اإلشكالية من ‪ :‬العائلة و الدين و األصدقاء و األحزاب السياسية الخ‪ ...‬تحضر كلها أو جلها ـ حسب‬ ‫الشخص ـ في تشكيل هويته و تحديد معالمها ‪ ،‬و ذلك بدرجات متفاوتة‪ ..‬بالنسبة لي فإني أرى بأن األهم و‬ ‫األكثر مركزية في هويتي هو ‪ :‬الدين ‪ ،‬لماذا ؟؟ ألنني أؤمن بأن الدين ـ و هو عندي اإلسالم ـ األساس الذي‬ ‫يعطيك الرؤية الصائبة لألمور ‪ ،‬كما أنه يوضح لك الصورة الصحيحة ‪ ،‬لكيف يجدر بعالقتك أن تكون مع‬ ‫باقي محددات هويتك ( العائلة ‪ ،‬الطبقة االجتماعية‪ ،)..‬و بالتالي تزنها الوزن المثالي و تتعامل معها كما‬ ‫يجب ‪ ،‬و يبقى االنتماء العقدي ‪ ،‬باعتباره انتماءا داخليا ( العقيدة )‪ ،‬أقوى و أوطد من باقي االنتماءات‬ ‫الخارجية المذكورة في اإلشكالية ‪ ..‬هذا رأيي و هللا أعلم‪.‬‬ ‫بالنسبة لالنتماء إلى مجموعات هوية محددة ‪ ،‬هو يعطي اإلنسان شعورا بعدم الوحدانية ‪ ،‬و يمد‬ ‫جسور العالقات بين المنتمين لهذه المجموعة ‪ ،‬بناءا على اشتراكهم في السمات و المميزات ‪ ،‬كما أنه قد‬ ‫يجد جماعة من البشر يحملون نفس همومه ‪ ،‬و قد يشترك معهم في تنزيل أفكار تلك المجموعة في إطار‬ ‫عمل جماعي منظم ‪ ،‬و لكن هذا ال يعني التسليم المطلق بما تؤمن به تلك المجموعة الهوياتية ‪ ،‬فعلى اإلنسان‬ ‫أن يراجع دائما ذاته و أفكاره فإن وجدها غير معقولة ‪ ،‬انسحب من تلك المجموعة بشكل تام أو نسبي و‬ ‫بحث عن أخرى ‪ ،‬فإن لم يجد تلك التي تنسجم معها أفكاره ‪ ،‬خلق هو مجموعة جديدة إن كان ذا عزم‪..‬‬ ‫أما عن سؤالكم ‪ :‬عن كيف تؤثر هويتي في كتابتي اإلبداعية ؟ فهو جلي ‪ ،‬و ال يعقل أن تجد كاتبا‬ ‫صادقا وحقيقيا ال تنعكس هويته الفكرية و الثقافية في كتاباته ‪ ،‬ألن الكتابة أول ما تكون هي وسيلة للتعبير‬ ‫عن األفكار و الرؤى ‪ ،‬فأنا كتاباتي و إن كنت أحيانا أتناول فيها أموري الذاتية فهي تأتي دائما في إطار‬ ‫أفكاري التي تساهم في تحديد هويتي ‪ ،‬بل حتى المواضيع التي أتطرق إليها في كتاباتي الشعرية و النثرية ‪،‬‬ ‫فقارؤها مطن الوهلة األولى سيدرك هويتي و انتمائي أو على األقل بعض مالمحها ‪ ،‬و لكن استحضار‬ ‫هويتي هذه ال يعني أني أكون متحيزا لها مئة بالمئة ‪ ،‬و إنما أكون معها ـ في شأن ما ـ إن وافقت الحق و‬ ‫الحقيقة ‪ ،‬بل أحيانا أتوجه لهذه الهوية بسهم المؤاخذة واالنتقاد‪.‬‬

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AN OLIVE WRITERS COLLABORATIVE WORK

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