Moroccan women's narratives of liberation: A passive revolution?

Feminist research often presents national and feminist historiographies as essential, static, ahistorical and isolated entities. The article examines Moroccan national historiography as a site of hegemonic struggle, in which various versions of the past continuously confront each other. First, feminist historiography is considered in the context of the political and social reality of the 1980s and the 1990s, a reality which enabled the visibility of women as historical subjects. Next it is shown how feminist thinkers used the struggle for national independence in the formation of an indigenous genealogy for Moroccan feminism, one which would legitimise their egalitarian ideology. Finally, it is examined how tension and dialogue between national and feminist historical narratives led to a transformation of national historiography and the incorporation of women within it; through this process, we can also see how the criticism embedded in feminist historiography was undermined by its inclusion in the dominant historiography.