AIMS Conferences

TALIM has hosted more than 23 conferences including the following:

The Worlds of Ibn Khaldun:

TALIM hosted its seventh American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS) conference at the Legation, June 8-10, 906 by Dr. Ron Messier. 30 scholars from North Africa and the U.S. presented papers under the theme “The Worlds of Ibn Khaldun.” In addition to administrative support TALM organized a reception and an excursion to Tetouan for the participants

Head of Moroccan delegation, Professor Ennahid at the podium and

AIMS President Ken Perkins and conference organizer, Ron Messier, seated

There were six sessions dealing with the following themes:

I. The world of Ibn Khaldum: paradigms, dichotomies and nuances

II. Religions, authority, and the law of Ibn Khaldun

III. Conflicts and tensions in the world of Ibn Khaldun

IV. Art in the world of Ibn Khaldun

V. Ibn Khaldun and the Berbers

VI The World of Ibn Khaldun: an ongoing process

Rethinking Jewsish Culture and Society in North Africa

In June 2004 TALIM hosted a four day AIMS conference on “Rethinking Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa” organized by Professor Daniel Schroeter from the University of California at Irvine and Dr. Emily Gottreich, University of California at Berkeley. This was the largest AIMS conference held in Tangier with presentations by 32 scholars from:

Algeria

Israel

(two),

Morocco

Tunisia

, and the

U.S.

The keynote speaker at the conference was Royal Counselor Andre Azoulay who spoke eloquently on the challenges to tolerance and diversity in today’s polarized world. Edmond El Maleh, the eminent Moroccan writer and intellectual, also spoke to the group.

Through the cooperation of the Moroccan Ministry of Culture in Rabat, TALIM borrowed from the Ministry Sarah Levin’s photographic exhibit “Jews Among The Berbers.”. The 50 stunning photographs taken by Elias Harrus mostly in the 1950s and 60s depict the daily lives of Jews in Southern Morocco. This exhibit was first shown in Morocco in 1999 and in Tel Aviv the same year

Professor Daniel Schroeter, Royal Counselor Andre Azoulay, and Edmond El Maleh

Languages in North Africa

TALIM hosted a four day academic confrerence in Tangier, May 23-27, 2001 under the auspices of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS) The teme for the conference was Languages in North Africa: Multiple Practices, Multiple Identities, and Multiple Ideologies. Dr. Keith Walters, Associate Professor at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, organized the conference and invited delegations from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and the United States.

AIMS Conference on Languages in North Africa 2001

The Living Medina: The walled Arab City in Literature, Architecture, and History

The Living Medina conference was held at TALIM June 1996 and organized by Dr. Susan Slyomovics from BrownUniversity. 26 scholars participated in the conference including American scholars from Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, College of William and Mary, Indiana University University of Arizona, and SwarthmoreCollege. AIMS Vice President, Dr. Susan Gilson Miller, Associate Director of Harvard’s Center for Arab Studies, led the group on a walking tour of historic/religious sites in the Tangier medina. At the suggestion of Moroccan Ambassador to the United States, Mohamed BenAissa, the participants visited his hometown of Asilah where he is mayor.