MAPPING MEMORIES, CREATING HISTORY: THE TANGIER AMERICAN LEGATION

Abstract:

The Tangier American Legation hosted the U.S. Legation and Consulate for 140 years, and was the formal conduit for diplomatic and consular relations between the United States and Morocco. After the diplomatic move to Rabat after Morocco’s independence in 1956, the building operated as a Foreign Service Institute and, later, as a Peace Corps training center. In 1976, the Legation became home to a museum and cultural center managed by the non-profit Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). This thesis is a comprehensive cultural history of TALIM using interviews and archives — i.e., the first historiography of TALIM. It also adds to the study of cultural memory and agency through a demonstration of how memories are transmitted across generations, and what memory’s role is within oral history. Furthermore, this thesis illustrates the impetus behind maintaining TALIM as an institution. Ultimately, this cultural history of TALIM shows how memory affects oral history through its provision of both documented and perceived ideas of “what happened in history” — both of which are necessary in constructing a comprehensive account of any subject. 

Table of Contents:

Abstract 4

Acknowledgements 5

Introduction 6

CHAPTER ONE: What is TALIM? 10 

CHAPTER TWO: 1821 TO 1976: BEGINNINGS OF THE TANGIER AMERICAN LEGATION 22 

CHAPTER THREE: 1976 TO 2016: TALIM’S MANY FACES 32 

CHAPTER FOUR: THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF TALIM AS ETHNOGRAPHY 66

CHAPTER FIVE: ORAL HISTORY, HISTORIOGRAPHY, AND ANTHROPOLOGY 78 

CHAPTER SIX: MEMORY: ITS FORMS AND FUNCTIONS 94 

CONCLUSION: METHODS & REFLECTION 112 

Bibliography 116

Appendix A: Interview Transcripts 124 

Appendix B: Photos from the Legation 298 

Albrecht, Emily. “Mapping Memories, Creating History : the Tangier American Legation ”, 2016. A thesis submitted to the faculty of Dartmouth College 

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Department of Anthropology . Dale F. Eickelman, advisor. 

Emily Albrecht