Disorienting Encounters Travels Moroccan 1845 1846

In December of 1845, Muhammad as-Saffar was sent by the reigning Moroccan sultan on a particular diplomatic mission to Paris. During the journey, as-Saffar took careful notes and upon his return he hurriedly wrote this travel account.
Why was the sultan, descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, and head of a dynasty that had ruled Morocco for more than two hundred years, so eager to read this account? Perhaps he thought it would illumine a heap of troubling matters: how the French acquired their power and their mastery over nature; how they led their every day lives, educated their children, treated their women and servants. In short, the sultan wanted to recognise the condition of French civilization and why it differed from his. As-Saffar provided the answers.
Moreover, as we read the account, Muhammad as-Saffar comes alive for us. We see him reflecting on the beauty of women, contorting for the duration of his ritual ablutions, and suffering from boredom at endless dinners. His views and ideas infuse each page. For him the journeying was more than a catalog of curiosities; it was a transforming experience. Given our very fixed psychological result of perception learning and reasoning of the time and the absence of other voices that speak with equivalent clarity, this travel account enlarges our understanding of the kinship amongst nineteenth-century Morocco and France.

Language NotesText: English (translation)
Original Language: Arabic

About the AuthorSusan Gilson Miller is Lecturer in History and Director of Moroccan Studies in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University.

Disorienting Encounters Travels Moroccan 1845 1846 Picture

Disorienting Encounters Travels Moroccan 1845 1846 Image

Disorienting Encounters Travels Moroccan 1845 1846 Photo

Disorienting Encounters Travels Moroccan 1845 1846 Image