Imlil A Moroccan Mountain Community In Change
This monograph, a study in social geography, presents a portrait of the Ait Mizane of Imlil, ";a group of people whose sense of self and place is one" (p. 5). Living in relative isolation in the mountain valleys of the central High Atlas, south of Marrakesh, they "move in concert" (p. 24) with their bled, or homeplace, largely staying put in preference to leaving their "secure anchor" (p. 23) and their tie to all that is known and predictable. The paradox is that while "tethered in place," they are yet "moving in change" (p. 28). Caught in the grip of the Annalist's longue duree, they nevertheless undergo a series of nearly imperceptible transformations in a setting where government is aloof and planned developments are unlikely. Like shifting patterns of terrace cultivation, the changes that do occur take place always "inside the same frame" (p. 142). Most Imlilis are conservative, and among them only a few individuals take the risks necessary to initiate change. If, as in the case of all the labor migrant, one leaves the bled, it is only in order to return to it better off than before. -- From http://www.jstor.org (Sep. 16, 2016).