Laboratoire BABEL

EA 2649
Langages, littératures, civilisations et sociétés

Conférence sur « GendeRevolution and Cultural Ambivalence in the Contemporary Morocco » de Badr Guennoun. Journée du 1er Février 2018

Such an ‘R’ that differentiates the two words Evolution and Revolution, closely conformable, yet they are always used as antagonistic in their political and social sense. Evolution, as a word, has always been concieved as the gradual development and change in norms and thought. Revolution, on the other hand, has been fearfully used to mean the abrupt and unpeaceful change leading to misfortune and calamity.
Accordingly, this paper sheds light on the construct of cultural ambivalence in the contemporary Morocco and how it favors a wide range of revolutionary gender performances that emphasize the cultural paradigm between dominant culture and subculture. The present paper locates itself within the fields of critical sociology and gender studies as it provides an ethnographical and critical investigation of different, sometimes problematic, dynamics of young femininities and masculinities within their respective contemporary subcultural scenes.
We argue that youth in their subcultural scenes resist the social and cultural norms found in the dominant culture by acting revolutionary as well as troubling performances that undo gender. Their undoing of gender is believed to be not only a revolutionary tool to subvert and question the socio-cultural systems of the dominant culture but also an opportunity to evolve a new and viable life[1] .

[1]Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing gender. New York: Routledge.

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