Teachers as Cultural Intermediaries of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Morocco (c. 1900 - c. 1930)

This research project will explore marginalized or forgotten parts of the history of Alliance education in Morocco via its key protagonists - the teachers.

Even though Michael Laskier (1983) gives a good overview of the history of the Alliance and Moroccan Jewry, his main focus is on the Central Committee of the Alliance rather than on Alliance teachers or Alliance education.

More recently, historians have begun to examine Jewish education in Morocco with a particular focus on specific cities/regions like Marrakesh (Katz, 2011); however, leading members of the Alliance have attracted more academic attention than teachers working on the ground.

Although Jessica Marglin's research (2011) has shed fresh light on Jewish education in Morocco, her work focuses on Alliance students and mostly male alumni who became prominent figures in Morocco.

Although Susan Miller (2016) has depicted the life of Moïse Nahon (1870-1928), one of the prominent Alliance teachers working in Morocco, she focuses on him as an amateur ethnographer and amateur anthropologist rather than Alliance teacher.