CAES Morocco: Advanced Leadership Theories, Ethics, and Culture

            Whether you believe it or not we have been treated like royalty here. We have experienced luxuries that are not afforded to everyone or even few.  To start, we have the resources to do a study abroad and fly to Morocco. We have spent nights in hotels, we have professors translating and co-creating knowledge with us and let’s not forget the luxury tent and showers in the Sahara Desert. We sit in an air conditioned bus writing blog post and responses with internet access, learning from top notch tour guides that want nothing more than to share their country and cultures of their country while keeping the our safety in the forefront.   Constantly counting our heads and exclaiming “The blonde, the blonde…I can’t leave the blonde in the desert it will be the end of me” as Katie and Hayley wrapped up a grocery excursion. Truly this list could go on but no matter how much of a financial strain this trip is on you or your family, we are exhibiting a social status that many envy and

       Something we didn’t spend a lot of time discussing but I wished to pull in more information on is the social status of the indigenous people of Morocco. We heard bits and pieces about the Berber culture but never from the Berber people themselves and the context of our exposure was often the commodification of their traditions. The beautiful heritage displayed in the art pieces, rugs, garments, and music tell a story of people and the Atlas Mountains. A way of life that has been torn away piece by piece in the pursuit of a modern profitable Morocco. As we heard at Zineb’s extension learning farm for Berber women, their people have been pushed to abandon their nomadic pastoralist way of life for a sedentary farming life at a time where the conditions are unprecedented in climate and water accessibility.       According to the article I pulled for this blog post, the tension between the ethnic groups in Morocco still very much exists. The Berbers claim uncleared lands in the Middl