Gabbi Goes to Morocco

My trip to Morocco was an impeccable experience for a multitude of reasons. Not only was it the first time I have been outside of North America, but it also pushed me out of my comfort zone and showed me a world that I never knew about.  One of the main things that I would like future me to take away from this experience is what we learned about Islam. Today, many Americans have many misconceptions about what Islam is and the basic beliefs of the religion. While the media largely perpetuates this idea, many Americans do not bother to actually look into the facts or go to Muslim countries and experience the culture. From the very first lectures we had in Morocco in addition to reading  Dreams of Trespass , we learned that the media is incredibly inaccurate in its portrayals of Islam. In fact, not only are there Sunni and Shia Muslims, but there are also many different schools within Islam that can determine one’s individual views and beliefs. For example, Morocco follows the Mali

Geopolitics , or the study of politics as influenced by geographical factors, impacts the day-to-day struggles of Moroccans in a multitude of ways.  Morocco  ( See image below )  can be divided up into seven different regions. Each region has their own climate with the Atlas Mountains extending down from Fes to the South of Morocco. In having a mountain range within a country, it can make travel very difficult for its citizens; affecting how Moroccans travel within the country. Furthermore, it can also protect the Western half of the country from the East.  Next, across North Africa and the Middle East (see image below ), Islam remains the dominant religion, with Morocco being included in this majority. As we saw throughout our trip, religion is connected to almost every aspect of Moroccans’ daily lives. This is reinforced by Morocco’s political system in which the King is the Commander of the Faithful and Islam remains Morocco’s official religion. In Fatima Mernissi’s book,  D