The impact of the French protectorate on cultural heritage management in Morocco: The case of Marrakesh

This dissertation explores the impact of the French protectorate (1912-1956) on architecture and heritage management in Marrakesh, Morocco. It analyzes the changes adopted not only in architectural patterns and the way heritage is managed, but also the way space and heritage are perceived and conceptualized by their various users.;Rather than relying on the traditional binary dualities of colonialism vs. post-colonialism, and colonizer vs. colonized, that are usually used to describe the Moroccan historical experience and its contemporary consequences, this work instead seeks to open new lines of inquiry from historical, social, and spatial perspectives. It also introduces the voices of ordinary peoples that are not usually heard on the formal and official discursive level. The aim is to understand the changes wrought by the French on space and heritage management and, more importantly to understand the contemporary Marrakesh medina "from within" with all its nuances and complexity.;Marrakesh, like all colonial cities, was a hybrid and the management of its space and landscape occurred in a very complex context. The dissertation places the heritage management of the city within its socio-cultural, political and historical contexts in the pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial eras. The colonial context of the Marrakesh medina was not made of two completely separate societies, of colonizer and colonized, but rather came to be a single social and cultural field where all people---despite disparities of nationality, religious, class, and economic status---were linked, contributed in one way or another and interacted to form a integrated context for a specific (nonintegrated) spatial development.;By analyzing some of the critical social and historical conditions that have defined the particular trajectories of urban development and heritage management in the Marrakesh medina, the dissertation also attempts to address how Marrakeshi people make the medina a place in which they belong, while at the same time they explore possibilities of connection to the larger context of the city of Marrakesh, to Morocco, and the world.;The study sets a basis and offers a background for understanding contemporary postcolonial Marrakesh. It therefore contributes to a broader understanding of not only today's Moroccan cities but also other cities with similarly complex histories. The study demonstrates the ambivalence of the colonial discourse with respect to cultural heritage management and the medina space. On the one hand, the discourse supports the colonial agenda, but also and more importantly it reveals the ambivalence and hybridity of the contemporary users and mangers' conception and reception of it. The main challenge in defining a strategy for the Marrakesh medina's preservation is to reconcile its different users' needs and expectations in a way that strengthens the medina's urban character and architectural specificities and allows it to change, prosper and develop.;The findings of this dissertation can eventually help professionals---architects, planners and preservationists---to define and apply efficient strategies in relation to Moroccan cities and the preservation of their cultural heritage that are sensitive to their rich historic traditions and past and yet acknowledge the reality of modernity in the postcolonial present. Ultimately, such a strategy will improve the living conditions of their resident populations.