We’ve been lucky this week to have the chance to host Said Ennahid, Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Al Akhawayne University in Ifrane, Morocco. The week after spring break sometimes involves a slow ramp up to the full speed of college work (we can blame it on the long break and the revelry of I.S. Monday). We can thank Dr. Ennahid for giving us a bit of a spark in this first week back to campus.
The centerpiece of his visit was his lecture last night on the art and architecture of the North African madrasa (the traditional religious school). It was a lovely excursion through medieval urban history — he explained the development of the city of Fes — and through the structure and decoration of these beautiful schools which date to the 15th or 16th century (ok, don’t hold me to the details). My understanding from his talk is that nearly all of these medieval madrasas have closed as schools and been reopened as cultural heritage sites. He also took a few detours to explain some legacies of French colonial architecture and developments in contemporary Moroccan architecture. All in all, a fascinating evening.
In addition to his evening lecture, Dr. Ennahid has given talks in classes and met with students and faculty. He’s meeting with History and Philosophy students this morning at 11 in fact. We have kept him busy.
Dr. Ennahid is a specialist on the archaeology and history of the medieval Maghreb (North Africa, from Mauritania to Libya) — his first book treats the economy and the built environment in medieval Morocco. He’s also worked extensively on the digitization of early Islamic texts, on urban history, on Islamic architecture and art history.
We should also add that his visit is part of an ongoing GLCA initiative to build connections and share resources in a global alliance of schools that embrace the liberal arts — in fact, the program is called the GLCA Global Alliance. The hope is to build a network to support faculty exchanges, student exchanges, and more. It was with the help of this program that Ibra Sene, our own Assistant Professor of African History, spent a few weeks in Morocco at Al Akhawayne University this past summer. We can only hope that these kinds of exchanges will continue.