This seminar forms part of the Social Movements and Popular Mobilisation in the MENA Research Network.

In this talk, Soraya El Kahlaoui discusses the ongoing resistance to urban expansion in Rabat, focusing on the Guich Loudaya tribal lands. The Guich lands have today been entirely relinquished to private developers linked to Morocco’s ruling elite who have sought to erect in their place one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Rabat: Hay Ryad. Soraya analyses the forms of resistance used by the “urban subaltern” and argues that the rhetoric of modernity underpinning urban growth in Morocco represents a continuation of the colonial logic of land grabs and the privatisation of communal agricultural spaces.

* Please note that this is a discussion-based seminar. A paper will be circulated to those who register to attend and will be briefly presented at the start of the seminar, after which the floor will be open to questions and comments from the audience.

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Speaker: Soraya El Kahlaoui, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study.

Soraya El Kahlaoui (@Sorayakahlaoui) is currently a PhD candidate in sociology at the School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study in Paris. Soraya’s research focuses on public space re-appropriation in Morocco since 2011. In parallel to her research, Soraya is also a political activist working on several issues such land expropriation and human rights violation. She directed the documentary, “Landless Moroccans”, which tells the story of the Guich Loudaya’s resistance to land expropriation.

Image credit: Mark Walsh, Flickr.