Maroon 303humankind. When I returned to Morocco in the summer of 2007, I again
heard such sentiments. At a rural wedding in the north of Morocco, for
example, a group of three elders in their sixties spoke at length about the
benefits of technology. As one man put it, “Technology helps us spread
Islam, and the more we spread Islam with technology, the more inven-
tions we will have for the future.” What adheres in this sentiment is a
moral framing of technology. The virtuous and thoughtful person is given
a gift of insight to invent something; such an invention if used well and
thoughtfully will yield the reward of additional inventions. Understood
as the fruit of reason, technology is power for any thinking and, by impli-
cation, moral person. This is important because it means that the tools
of invention can be claimed as “authentic” to Muslim Moroccan culture
rather than foreign or alien. In Morocco immoral behaviors are consid-
ered to be foreign traits. In the current Moroccan milieu, individuals are
not judged as cultural “traitors” for using new technologies.^11 Talking on
a mobile phone or using a computer is not deemed “acting French” or
“imitating Americans” in the way that eating coq au vin and wearing blue
jeans are.
uring the course of fieldwork in Casablanca, it became evident to D
me that technology is positioned in public opinion as a path to social and
economic growth in Morocco. Indeed technology was a key component
in people’s narratives of their nation’s future. As one interviewee put it:
“In Morocco, we invite modernization. This is because we are not afraid
of different ideas. We welcome invention. We welcome technology. We
appreciate this kind of changing, but there are also limits, and we under-
stand this as well.”^12 The people I interviewed characterized technology
as an industry through which Morocco could compete economically at a
global scale while retaining its unique cultural identity. This perspective
underscores the traction that the monarchy has gained in its project to
advance the social and economic role of ICT in Morocco. While other
reform projects that the Royaume has promoted have met with public
resistance, the campaign to promote technology has met with no measur-
able opposition. In the past, public resistance has effectively stalled or rad-
ically diminished the scope of other national projects (such as the reform
of the Family Law Act).^13