Document Type
Article
Abstract
This paper explores possible routes of reflecting on non-Western forms of social organization. Taking Morocco as its central site of study, the paper argues that fixed conceptual interpretations cannot provide a constructive understanding of a societal organization in a state of flux. The geographical position of Morocco at the tip of the Mediterranean rim and the country's geopolitical role as a mediator between the West and the Orient create a push and pull social dynamics which has generated conflicts, contradictions but also openings and possibilities. The paper proposes the concept "post-tradition" as a possible theoretical and methodological framework within and through which to think Moroccan society. The paper also argues that the notion of the "barzakh," as articulated by Moroccan philosopher and critical theorist Taieb Belghazi, stands as a viable conceptual tool to approach post-traditional society. While the paper documents sites of barzakh instances in culture, society and politics, the primary objective is to rehearse theoretical and methodological routes of thinking otherwise about post-traditional societies.
Repository Citation
Graiouid, Said. "From Postmodernism to Post-Tradition: The End of Theory in the Age of Global Conservatism." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 7, no. 4, 2007, pp. 1–22. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol7/iss4/3