Make-believe play among Amazigh

children of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas

Volume 2

SAHARAN AND NORTH AFRICAN

TOY AND PLAY CULTURES

Jean-Pierre Rossie
Khalija Jariaa
Boubaker Daoumani
Argyris Fassoulas

Foreword by Luisa Magalhães

Centre for Philosophical and Humanistic Studies

 Catholic University of Portugal
Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences

SAHARAN AND NORTH AFRICAN

TOY AND PLAY CULTURES

Make-believe play among Amazigh

children of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas
Volume 2
Jean-Pierre Rossie
Khalija Jariaa
Boubaker Daoumani
Argyris Fassoulas

Foreword by Luisa Magalhães

CEFH
Centre for Philosophical and Humanistic Studies

Braga
2021

532
Contents

Volume 2

Appendixes

1 The manufacture of clay toys in the Anti-Atlas region

by Argyris Fassoulas 534

2 Children as toy makers and toy users:

television relevance in Anti-Atlas rural child play 637

3 Videos on play and toys in the Anti-Atlas 656

4 Museums and associations who received toys of

Anti-Atlas children 705

5 Information on playing breastfeeding and caring

for babies by girls from the Anti-Atlas 707

6 Information on the multilingual situation in Amazigh families 709

7 Additional information on regions outside the Anti-Atlas 711

1 Children’s dolls and doll play 711

2 The animal world in play, games and toys 724
3 Domestic life in play, games and toys 726
List of illustrations of appendix 7 729
4 The night of the masks. The carnival of Goulmima 731
5 Children’s cultural heritage in the Rif and among the Jbala 733
6 Children’s play and toys in Tunisia 734

533
Appendix 1

Argyris Fassoulas

The manufacture of clay toys

in the Anti-Atlas region
By courtesy of the author, Argyris Fassoulas, and following the
recommendation of his thesis supervisor, Haris Procopiou, an
interdisciplinary analysis of the creation of clay toys by children of the
Anti-Atlas, described in the third part of the thesis From the fabrication to
the function of Neolithic figurines from Thessaly (p. 274-341), is made
available in this appendix. These data and photographs are included here
because they offer additional information on the playful culture of Amazigh
girls and sometimes Amazigh boys from these regions.

Fassoulas, A. (2017). De la fabrication à la fonction des figurines

néolithiques de la Thessalie. Thèse de doctorat, Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne,
soutenance de la thèse le 18 décembre 2017, 571 p., ill.

534
Contents

1 Crafted objects 537

1.1 The dolls 537
1.2 The animals 539
1.3 Utensils 540
1.4 Furniture, models, and devices 542
1.5 Toys inspired by modern technology 545

2 The making of toys 546

2.1 Choice of soil and preparation of the dough 546
2.2 Shaping 556
2.2.1 Shaping techniques and assembling
the constituent elements 556
2.2.2 The form, partonomy, and design of the toy 566
2.3 Surface treatment and decoration 569
2.3.1 Engobing and minor repairs 570
2.3.2 Decor 572
2.3.3 Spurge milk 587
2.3.4 The state of the surface 589
2.4 Drying and firing 590

3 The toy under construction: socio-cultural considerations

of clay toy making 600
3.1 The organization of production, the organization of play 601
3.1.1 Age and sex 601
3.1.2 Space 603
3.1.3 Task sharing 606
3.2 The educational function of toy making 607
3.2.1 The role of parents and older children 609
3.2.2 Learn to play, learn for playing 611
3.2.3 Ludic immersion in society 615

List of illustrations of appendix 1 618

References of appendix 1 624

535
 The attraction that Neolithic figurines have on the public and scientists is
due to the familiar appearance of their forms, but the function of which
remains stubbornly unknown. In the absence of textual data, researchers
have, from early on, resorted – consciously or unconsciously – to ethnology
and to anthropological experience more generally 1. Sometimes used as
direct analogies, sometimes as valuable references to formulate plausible
hypotheses, ethno-historic examples constitute, constantly, an essential
methodological tool, to discuss the question of function. But although
ethno-historical information enriches an increasingly richer list of probable
functions2, the references on the role and the modalities of the production
of miniaturized representations remain extremely rare.
To investigate this ignored aspect, we undertook two ethnographic
surveys in October-November 2013 and in February 2016, in the Tiznit
region in the Anti-Atlas (southwest Morocco), more particularly in the
villages of Ikenwèn, Imjâd and Douar Ouaraben. Our investigations were
limited to the study of the production of miniaturized representations,
mainly playful objects, namely toys. The collected information comes from
discussions with local women and direct observations of playing children
of different ages. Research carried out since the 1970s by J.-P. Rossie has
enabled us to complete these surveys and broaden our perspectives 3.
Clay toys represent only a tiny fraction of the total toy production of
children. They use all the materials available within their reach, especially
recuperated materials, household waste, earth, stones, plants, flowers,
wood, animal hair, feathers and many more. Indeed, young manufacturers
do not distinguish their clay toys from toys made with other materials. We
therefore frequently observe that the same type of toy is made of different
materials. This flexibility in implementation is, as we shall see, one of the
essential elements of children's play. Nevertheless, clay toys constitute,

1
Cf. for example Meighan 1949: 118, Ucko 1968: 420-426, Talalay 1983: 201-223 and 1993: 40-44,
Orphanidis 1998: 234, but also Tsountas 1908: 289-290 where the historical example is used in order to
explain the so-called steatopygia of Neolithic figurines. R. G. Lesure points out that the ethnographic
example has been used since the years before the Second World War, in the context of discussions around
the interpretation of figurines (Lesure 2011: 11-12).
2
For an overview of the different functions offered cf. Orphanidis 1998: 234, Table 16, Marangou 2013:
18-28.
3
Cf. Rossie 1992, 2002, 2005a, 2005b, 2005/2013, 2008, 2013, Rossie & Jariaa 2012, and Rossie et al.
2021.

536
from a technological point of view, a very coherent whole, the
manufacturing processes being, at several levels, similar.

1. Crafted objects

Girls and boys in the Anti-Atlas region make a multitude of clay toys,
drawing their inspiration from the world of adults and their everyday lives.
Household chores, livelihood activities, ceremonies or rituals are creatively
reproduced by children. Based on the theme represented, one could
distinguish five main categories of toys: dolls, animals, utensils, furniture,
and various devices and, finally, toys inspired by modern technology (table
p. 546).

1.1 The dolls

J.-P. Rossie devoted much of his works to the presentation and description
of children’s dolls in North Africa (Rossie 1992, 2002, 2005a). According
to this research, children’s dolls show great variability, mainly evoking
valued social roles and enviable situations (Rossie 2002: 152).
Manufactured mainly by girls and more rarely by boys, these dolls are
ineluctable agents for the implementation of various collective games (table
p. 546).
Most clay dolls represents women and finds their place in games
celebrating marriage or motherhood. Tislit, the young bride 4, is the theme
most often represented, while pregnant women or mothers with their
children are less common. The same goes for women of different
professions or characters inspired by TV series. (Rossie 1992: 40, 2002:
152, Rossie et al. 2021: 34).
Male dolls, made by both girls and boys, are much rarer but not absent.
Bride dolls are made exclusively by girls, but not commonly, while boys,
mostly inspired by male activities, opt for representations of different
trades or warriors and horse riders. However, apart from this rather banal
division between female dolls and male dolls, it does not seem that we can

4
Tislit is the Tachelhit name for "bride", the equivalent in Arabic being arûsa a word which is also used
depending on the region. By extension, the word is used for any female doll, since neither in Tachelhit
nor in Arabic exists the equivalent of the English word "doll". Sometimes we come across the word
"poupiya" or "munica", both borrowed from colonial languages (French and Spanish respectively).

537
push our typology any further. Very variable, the dolls present such a low
degree of morphological standardization that even the most elementary
morpho-stylistic classification would be futile. Thus, the morphological
differences result from preferences, skills, agility, and personal inspiration
or from a local way of doing that is also quite versatile. There is no
difference in this regard between female dolls and male dolls.
However, clay dolls exhibit a much greater typological variation than
that observed on dolls made of other materials. In fact, clay is not the
material of choice for making dolls. Most of them are made from a frame
of reeds or wood in the shape of a cross, to which are attached rags and
other items that play the role of clothing. Essentially, therefore, these are
representations in a standing position with rigid arms (Rossie 1992: 40-41,
2002: 154-155). Following the same logic, dolls made from clay often have
a quite schematic shape. However, the plastic properties of clay allow
young manufacturers to deploy a richer range of shapes from the simplest
to the most elaborate.
Yet, certain remarks can be made. Dolls, with rare exceptions, are meant
to be dressed, especially female dolls. It seems that children pay more
attention to clothing and clothing decoration than to the shape of the body.
However, depending on the degree of elaboration, some bodily details can
be achieved: the breasts for women, the belly for both sexes (more
prominent for pregnant women) and rarely the buttocks. Incised or painted
facial features (or both), as well as hair made from a multitude of materials,
complement the making of dolls (Rossie 2002: 154-155, 2005a: 117-119).
An intrinsic link exists between the form and the way of playing with the
doll and a way of handling it emerges. The doll is designed to be held in the
hand and that is why its manufacture should make it easier to hold, and grip
it, rather than anything else. Thus, the legs are superfluous and even in
cases where they are shaped; they do not offer the doll any structural
stability. With or without legs, once the doll is no longer held in the hand, it
is lying down or leaning against a wall or other object.
We have left aside the dolls representing children or babies. This
“reluctance” is mainly due to the limited presence of these representations
in the region considered. Otherwise, child dolls are governed by the same
morphological principles described above, without presenting any notable
peculiarities.

538
1.2 The animals

Animals are among the themes most chosen by Anti-Atlas children (table p.
546). Mostly made by boys, they are used by both sexes. Clay animals
constantly intervene in make-believe games, mostly related to subsistence
activities. Obviously, each child according to gender reproduces through
play, activities belonging to the male or female spheres (Rossie 2005b: 10,
Rossie et al. 2021: 194). Otherwise, playing with a clay animal may simply
mean imitating its movements or behavior observed in nature. By
“animals” we do not only mean mammals, which occupy a central place in
the production in question, but also birds, snakes, insects, and fish.
However, two main categories stand out from the start: domestic animals
and wild animals.
Domestic animals are the bulk of zoomorphic toys. In a context where
animals were, and sometimes still are, the basis of the subsistence
economy, their strong presence in children's play is not surprising (Rossie
2005b: 19). The main animals represented are farm animals, namely goats,
sheep, and cows; or mount and draft animals, such as donkeys, mules,
horses, and dromedaries. Dogs, cats, chickens are also present, although
less frequently.
For wild animals, children are mainly inspired by their experiences, but
also by everyday iconography (schoolbooks, etc.) and television. Snakes,
lizards, turtles, or hedgehogs; and even scorpions, foxes, wild boars,
different types of birds or fish, make an impressive store. There is no
shortage of exotic animals: elephants, rhinos, monkeys, and ostriches. As
with dolls, the morphological standardization of toy animals turns out to be
quite weak. The variations in the different body parts of animals (horns,
neck, and tail) or the proportions between body parts are rather
idiosyncratic. The same child can also make the same animal, but each
time, in a different form5. Despite this disturbing variety, clay animals
testify to the child’s desire to reproduce real animals relatively faithfully 6.
Schematic or more elaborate, zoomorphic toys constitute the diversified
plastic expression of animal morphology.

5
The example of Saïd, a seven-year-old pupil from the village of Lahfart, is quite eloquent: this child
made three goats each of different size and shape (Rossie et al. 2021: 214).
6
This "logic" in the representation of animal forms by children is already underlined by M. Coquet (cf.
Coquet 2012: 437).

539
 However, one notable phenomenon should be mentioned. Whatever the
representation, doll, animal, utensil or piece of furniture, the child small
plastic of the Anti-Atlas, and even more generally that of North Africa,
concerns exclusively three-dimensional objects. Child modelers create their
toys so that they are large enough to be manipulated and palpable. The
search for the haptic qualities of toys seems obvious. An exception is a set
of two-dimensional zoomorphic toys. This is indeed an inconsistent group
that includes only a few rather clumsy objects (Rossie et al. 2021: 215). In
addition, their silhouettes correspond to those of their three-dimensional
allies. While this exception may confirm the rule once again, it testifies, at
the same time, to a totally different conception of the toy, both in terms of
its use and that of its manufacture. Made primarily to be shown (and looked
at), these two-dimensional toys are not very resistant to handling. Their
playful function therefore lays mainly in their creation, the child deriving
his pleasure from the very making of an aesthetically satisfying
representation.

1.3 Utensils

The category best represented in the playful clay production is cookware

(table p. 546). These utensils are the basis of any toy concerning the
various household chores, especially the dinette game7. Girls are the
primary modelers and users of these toys, although boys – especially the
younger ones – are not completely sidelined. The toy utensils represent a
wide variety of containers used in everyday life for the preparation of food
and for all culinary activities 8. If a classification could be made, it would
correspond to the presentation of types of the vessels manufactured.
Starting with cooking vessels, the tajine is probably the utensil most
often modeled by Amazigh children. It is a traditional terracotta utensil
consisting of a shallow, flared dish with a conical lid. Variations in the size,
shape of the lid or the dish are regularly observed. Braziers called kanûn,
traditionally used for cooking tajine9, as well as for fumigating homes, are

7
For a detailed description of the game, cf. Rossie 2008: 161-205.
8
For a presentation of the culinary tools used in the South of Morocco, cf. El Alaoui 2002: 147.
9
The word "tagine" refers to both the container described above, as well as the food
prepared in that container.

540
among the most common creations, like couscous steamers, frying pans and
pots.
In the category of grinding tools, we find, first of all, mortars with their
pestle. The thickness or length of the pestle and the depth or shape of the
mortar offer inexhaustible variations. Hand mills still used for the artisanal
production of argan oil and flour occupy a prominent place among the toy
utensils10. In this case, we observe two different types of rotary arm mills,
one for each respective craft activity. Both are made up of two
superimposed grinding wheels, with a circular feed hole: the running
grinding wheel at the top has a handle. The difference between the two
types concerns, firstly, the profile and the volume of their current wheel.
The flour mill (azerg n temzine) has a taller and bulkier wheel than the
argan oil mill (azerg n teznine) which, in turn, has a conical and less
imposing profile. The second difference, and perhaps the most obvious,
relates to the shape of the dormant wheel, given the different consistency of
the ground product. The argan oil mill has a dormant wheel that is larger in
diameter than its standard wheel, equipped with a weir and whose walls are
slightly flared. On the other hand, the dormant grindstone of the flour mill
has the same diameter as the running grindstone, which is flat. All these
differences seem important to young manufacturers and are therefore
relatively faithfully represented.
Plates, trays, cups, bottles, bowls, teapots, and clay tableware complete
the image of this category of toys. The variability observed for each type of
these objects may be attributable to several factors. Far from being the
result of different regional traditions, this variability is also expressed
within the same village11. This finding brings us back to the decisive
question of the behavior of child modelers and the role of personal
expressiveness in manufacturing (see below).
One observation seems important to us at this stage: Toy utensils are not
always exact reproductions of “real” objects12. What seems essential for
children is above all the shape of each object and not its functionality.
Thus, teapots or bottles are not made so that they are filled with a liquid,

10
For a description of the types of Moroccan grind wheels cf. El Alaoui 2003.
11
The example of a pupil from Lahfart who modeled utensils in a style that was obviously different from
others, is quite characteristic (cf. Rossie 2008: 192).
12
By "real" we mean, for lack of a better term, the object of ordinary dimensions, used as a model for the
manufacture of such miniaturized representations.

541
since they have compact bodies. However, other utensils, such as the tajine
or hand mills, not only show a concrete interest in a functional form, but, in
addition, are used in the same way as their real equivalents, namely the
grinding of real grains by a hand mill (Rossie 2008: 215 and 244).

1.4 Furniture, models and devices

Furniture, models of houses, devices, and various types of objects which

cannot be classified in the previous category, constitute a necessary
apparatus for certain games relating to household chores and subsistence
activities (table p. 546). Used in the same playful contexts as the toy
utensils, these are miniaturized objects made mainly by girls. Once again,
boys can participate in the making of these toys and even play with them,
but in a much more opportunistic, occasional, or peripheral manner (cf.
infra). The bulk of this set of toys is made up of representations of
combustion structures, household furniture such as tables, seats, benches,
and stools, then models of houses and finally devices reserved for animals.
Children make three types of ovens: the large bread oven (takat), the
small bread oven (taferrant), and the inkèn or three-legged stove that often
goes with an affelun tray (Rossie 2008: 224). A house can have more than
one of these ovens of different size and therefore of different capacity (fig.
520, p. 543, domestic ovens, Ikenwèn, Tiznit region, 2013). The takat13 is
the largest of these three types. It can be private, made at home or common
and made in a public place in the village (douar). The takat is used for the
preparation of bread, especially during personal ceremonies (e.g., marriage,
circumcision, seventh-day ceremony (baptism), when receiving many
guests, as well as during collective religious feasts (e.g., maậrouf,
belghenja feast, etc.) The takat is sometimes used to heat barley, wheat,
almonds, and all kinds of grains that are needed, especially for the
preparation of the zamita14. The oven can also have a medicinal function
for women. The oven is heated slightly and the body of the sick woman,
who suffers from cold especially after childbirth, is introduced into it, apart
from the head. For this reason, the oven is previously carefully prepared.

13
“Takat” among the Amazigh also means the family, the household.
14
Cake made from flour prepared with many grains and nuts.

542
 520
520

The taferrant is a round oven used daily for the preparation of bread and
various cakes. For its manufacture fine and well kneaded clay is used,
mixed with small pebbles of about 10 cm. First, a round sole is made in
several layers. The first layer, made of clay, is covered by a layer of salt –
preferably natural salt with coarser grains. Then, another layer of clay is
added less than 1 cm thick and the sole is left to dry for 4 or 5 days. Once
hard and dry, it is covered with cardboard boxes, then starting to stack
medium-sized stones on top of each other. This “batch” of superimposed
stones is then lined with cardboard and covered with clay, leaving an
entrance to the front and a small ventilation hole at the top (the latter is
done by putting a small, coated pot in cardboard). The thickness of the clay
screed is approximately 3 to 4 cm. A week later, the stones can be gently
pulled out through the oven entrance. The boxes stuck to the walls and
floor of the oven will be burned once the fire is lit. In recent years, cement
has been used more and more to the detriment of clay for making these
ovens. Cement tiles are less fragile and require less maintenance.

543
 The inken or kanun is a small daily oven. It is a kind of semi-cylindrical
jar more than at least 50 cm high, bought from the potter. The inken is
placed on a previously chosen place and covered from the outside with a
good thickness of clay. After 3 or 4 days - the time it takes for it to dry - it
can be used. Thus, the fire is lit inside and once heated, the embers are
removed towards the entrance of the oven. The dough is then glued to the
left, right or in the middle of the wall of the oven, depending on the volume
of pancakes available. This type of oven is used for bread and allows you to
boil water and prepare couscous by putting the kettle or couscous maker on
top. It is also used for heating zamita beans, as well as for roasting almonds
in the process of making argan oil.
Let us observe the miniature ovens of really large dimensions (20 cm
high and 30 cm in diameter, cf. Rossie 2008: 217) or many others, always
of the same type, but of much smaller dimensions (5 cm high and 7 cm in
diameter). Representations of the wooden shovel used to put bread in the
oven, as well as clay rolls, accompany, incidentally, the making of the
oven.
Models of clay houses are less common since children in most cases
seem to conceive of the house not as an “object” but as a furnished space.
The small houses are where the games take place. Organized so that the
rooms of the house are visible, the house, usually without a roof, is thus
constructed by delimiting the spaces by means of rows of stones or,
sometimes, earth. Whether they are exceedingly small – “on the scale of
toys” (photos Rossie 2008: 106-108) – or even larger – “on the scale of
children” (Rossie 2008), the playhouses have the shape of a two-
dimensional house plan. Nevertheless, the manufacture of three-
dimensional miniature houses is not excluded, although rare. The children
do not invest the delimited space and are rather interested in its exterior
appearance (Rossie 2008: 344).
Another category of model toy is worth mentioning. Tables, stools, and
benches, intended for furnishing the home, are often among the favorite
creations of children. Made mainly by girls, these objects of various shapes
and not very standardized, are necessary elements for the game of dinner,
dolls and cleaning. Small tables, in most cases, are circular with three legs,
of varying diameters. Stools with elementary shapes are quite common,
while seats – sometimes with backs (Rossie 2008: 191) – rarely appear.

544
 There remains the feeder and waterer, which take their place in games
relating to domestic animals and herding and, thus, they are, rather, made
by boys. Less and less made by children, these are oblong troughs where
cattle eat and drink. No major difference can be detected between the
miniaturized representations of these two objects which have similar
shapes. The goal here is, again, to mimic the form of real constructions.

1.5 Toys inspired by modern technology

A final category of toys that has recently appeared deserves to be

presented. It includes objects of modern technology, a playful translation
inspired by the Western way of life (table p. 546). The toys in this set have
only a rudimentary consistency as their production is quite opportunistic
and ad hoc, it even seems anecdotal. Although the variability of the types
shown is impressive, the frequency of their manufacture is low. However,
clay is not the preferred material for this type of toy, mostly made from
industrial waste, which explains to some extent the peculiarity of this
category.
Used primarily in make-believe games, these toys are mostly for modern
household equipment and electrical equipment. Fridges, refrigerators,
obviously televisions, radios (Rossie 2013: 248, fig. 299), electric ovens,
landline telephones and cell phones (Rossie 2013: 246-247), are creations
of girls as well as boys. The latter, moreover, by vocation and by the very
nature of their games, turn out to be more likely to adopt technological
innovations (see below). Often, for the construction of these toys other
types of materials are spontaneously added to the clay body, namely small
pebbles, fragments of wood, pieces of plastic, plugs and, broadly, a whole
range of recovered material. These materials are chosen to materialize a
part or a detail of the objects represented.
Finally, toys inspired by transport although rare find a place in this
category. Cars (Rossie 2013: 164), trucks (Rossie 2013: 179), taxis (Rossie
2013: 123) made of clay evoke the shapes of prototype objects without
necessarily seeking to reproduce even the most basic functional attributes
(e.g., the wheels of these vehicles are not designed to be able to roll).

545
Table: types of toys made

2 The making of toys

For the manufacture of clay toys, we distinguish five main operations: the
choice and preparation of the dough that will be used, the shaping of the
objects, the decoration and in general the treatment and finishing of their
surface and, finally, the drying and firing. Many of these operations can be
repeated during the making of a toy, others can be omitted. More
specifically, the operation of drying, finishing (smoothing and decorating)
and firing are often interchangeable. Therefore, our presentation does not
transcribe the exact sequences of operations.

2.1 Choice of soil and preparation of the dough

Clay is an abundant material in southern Morocco, as it is for most of the

country. A material, moreover, within everyone’s reach, used in a wide
range of activities, from building houses to medical practices 15. Children
use the clay soil that is found near their homes. This choice is not only
linked to the prohibition to move away from the village, but also to the
availability of clay of satisfactory quality nearby, and even in the village.
Thus, sourcing strategies are guided by the need for “good soil”, suitable
for modeling toys.
Children don’t just use whatever soil is available in their immediate
environment but opt for materials with specific properties. They are even
very aware of the benefits that a suitable clay soil can have for making their
toys at any stage of the production. They have a global vision of the
operating chain, by anticipating the possible behavior of clay in such or
such a particular condition, at such or such stage of manufacture. Thus, this

15
According to Khadija Jariaa, pregnant women used to eat a little white clay (see below) to avoid
vomiting. See the work of Christophe Belzgaou in Morocco on geophagy (thesis in progress).

546
“overview” becomes, through experience, the main criterion guiding the
choice of raw material.
Children have an empirical knowledge of materials. Some diagnostic
attributes bear witness to their physicochemical properties which require
the mobilization of several senses in order to be recognized. Sight, touch,
and taste all help to appreciate the qualities of the clay earth. By appealing
to their senses, as well as to an “overview” of their production, children
search for different types of soil depending on the technical operation
envisaged16.
The first characteristic trait, easily recognizable, is the color of the earth.
Ikenwèn children constantly prefer “white earth” (fig. 521, white earth
(avza), Ikenwèn, Tiznit region, 2015) to “red earth” (hamri) for shaping
their toys.
521

16
A. O. Shepard points to lack of studies on criteria for choosing clay by potters (cf. Shepard 1980: 50).

547
 This clay soil, abundant in the region, was used mainly in the
manufacture of houses. It was chosen because of its greater absorptivity17
than hamri, and thus used above all in the manufacture of ovens. The
retention capacity of clay soil is highly valued because it corresponds to a
better water content, a particularly important factor for its plasticity.
The second diagnostic element is taste. Often, when the color
differentiation is not evident, or just for the sake of confirmation, children
taste the earth. A salty taste is the difference between the two types of soil:
hamri is very salty while avza not at all. The presence of salts in the clay –
probably the cause of this salinity – considerably modifies its behavior and
properties. First, salty soil requires more water during processing, due to
the formation of porous aggregates which trap water. While this
characteristic is not in itself a problem when the preparation occurs during
the rainy season and water is plentiful, there are, however, other
undesirable consequences; after the water has evaporated, the soil will be
more porous and therefore less resistant (Fontaine & Anger 2009, 178-
179).
Children seem to ignore the causal relationship between the presence of
salt and the properties of hamri. The earth is not unsuitable because it
contains salts, but when it is salty. We are at the heart of empirical
knowledge, the characteristic of which seems to be that sensitive qualities
are not conceived as an expression of physio-chemical properties18. Color
and taste are not the reasons why avza is better at making toys, yet they are
the identifying elements of the material, indications of its identity, which
almost implicitly evoke its behavioral physiognomy.

17
It might be useful to remember that the terms used by children are not at all the same. Phrases like
"this land eats water better than the other" correspond, in this case, to a description of the absorptivity of
clay soil.
18
C. Lévi-Strauss defines empirical knowledge as follows: "We can already see (...) that at the level of
aesthetic perception, classification has its virtue. On the other hand, and although there is no necessary
connection between sensible qualities and properties, there is at least a factual relation in a great number
of cases, and the generalization of this relation, however unfounded in reason, can be for a very long time
a profitable operation, theoretically and practically […] yet, nature is so made that it is more profitable,
for the thought and for the action, to proceed as if an equivalence which satisfies the aesthetic feeling
corresponded to an objective reality. Without it being for us here to investigate why, it is probable that
species endowed with some remarkable character: shape, color or smell, open to the observer what one
could call a "resale right": that of postulating that the visible characters are the sign of properties that are
also singular but hidden (Lévi-Strauss 1962: 24-25).

548
 A third element very appreciated by children is the humidity of the soil.
Without exception, an already wet avza is always preferable (fig. 522-523, 523
girl kneading already wet clay soil next to a wadi, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit
region, 2015). Therefore, the manufacture of clay toys, especially utensils
whose production is more massive, is a seasonal activity. It takes place
during the rainy season which begins in October and can last until May.
During this period, well moist avza is abundant. Sometimes on the shores
of small seasonal rivers, wadis, sometimes in clay extraction wells (agh’dé)
filled with rainwater, to get “good soil” for toy productions is not
complicated. To achieve this, children use sight as well as touch. Aside
from visually locating an appropriate place, children try to assess the
quality of the earth by manipulating it, rubbing it between their fingers to
estimate whether it contains a lot of inclusions and, roughly, if it meets
their requirements. In addition, children show a clear preference for soil
found in cavities and natural ponds, and long remained in still water. The
more water the earth has absorbed, the better it will behave during the
different stages of production (see below).

522 523

However, climatic conditions are not always favorable. Children sometimes

need to play with clay and stock up on avza for different reasons, even
when the rain is not sufficient or when it is completely absent. In this case,
the absence of water really becomes an inhibiting factor. Given its ordinary
rarity, consuming water to make clay toys seems an inappropriate luxury.
Thus, the children of Ikenwèn are forced to resort to tricks to obtain the
precious liquid. Just an example to better illustrate our point: the girls of the

549
village follow an ordinary woman who goes to the well to draw water.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, one of the girls walks over to the
woman and asks for a drink of water. The woman gives it to her and the
girl, pretending to drink the water thirstily, lets it run to the floor without
the woman noticing, of course. Sometimes someone may have already
figured this out – the earth around the well is avza. However, the amount of
clay earth acquired is tiny.

524

If they manage to obtain a slightly larger quantity of water, the children

deploy a technique of treating the clay soil, collected in the dry state. The
children collect the earth with their hands in old recovery containers (fig.
524, collecting clay soil, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013). They try to
make the earth crumbly enough and free from hard lumps and large grains.

550
 For its purification, they rub it between their palms in circular
movements and they sift it between their hands to remove the coarser
elements. This operation can also be done using a basin. In this case, the
children shake the container with circular movements, to have a separation
of the coarse elements by gravitation (fig. 525, separation of the coarse
elements by gravitation, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013). Manual
sorting can, optionally, follow for the elimination of shells or small
undesirable elements (fig. 526, p. 552, manual sorting of undesirable
elements, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013).

525

551
 526

527

552
 Every now and then, children find old sieves here and there which they
collect, repair by adding the missing parts and then reuse to sift their soil.
Sometimes, they do not hesitate to grind the earth in their hands, in order to
make it as fine as possible (fig. 527, p. 552, crushing the clay earth, Douar
Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013). Because fine soil, well free of coarse and
hard elements, absorbs water more easily and more evenly.
To do this, the children set up a technique inspired by that used in skins,
for the conservation of skins19. They dig a shallow pit in the ground and
line it with plastic and put it at the bottom. In this bowl thus formed, the
children accumulate soil and, by adding water (sprinkling or impregnation),
begin to knead it (fig. 528-529, kneading clay, Douar Ouaraben, region of
Tiznit, 2013).

528 529

The kneading is done very meticulously and for this a certain experience
and, above all, a careful observation of the preparation of the bread, prove

19
A variation of the miswid technique was most likely the inspiration for the children. According to this
technique, used for hair removal, the fresh skin is kept in a plastic, to which is added a dough consisting
of flour, salt, oil and water (cf. Ibáñez et al. 2002: 82). Alternatively, one can also consider the option of
salting which consists of rubbing a layer of coarse mine salt on the skin. The latter is then stored in stacks
so that the slit goes towards the center to facilitate the retention of the brine, and therefore the
conservation. In any case, as we will see later, it is precisely this "wrap" that seems to inspire children.

553
to be especially useful (see below). Children understand that the quality of
the dough and therefore of the finished product strongly depends on the
quality of the “kneading”20. Once the kneading is complete, the dough
should be wrapped in the plastic on which it was placed and remain
enclosed for 2 to 3 days. To prevent the plastic from opening, children put a
large stone on it. This resting of the clay corresponds to an elementary
rotting (maturation) which allows the compaction of the earth and the
optimization of its plasticity. Plastic creates an enclosed environment that
does not allow moisture to evaporate. Thus, the water gradually integrates
all the particles of the clay mass and its homogeneity is enhanced 21.
It is for all these reasons that children prefer to make their toys during
the rainy season. The techniques described above which aim at a good
hydration of the clay ̶ to obtain this “fair clay” Bachelard 1991: 151) ̶
take time and require effort. Otherwise, the children reproduce the qualities
of the soil already hydrated, abundant during the rainy season. The children
seem to think of the choice of the earth and the preparation of the dough as
one procedure or, at least, as two inseparable activities. This is the reason
why we have chosen to present them, as a whole. At the end of the day,
moist soil, long soaked in water, is also partially treated soil. By “suitable
earth” we must ultimately understand not only a material having certain
physic-chemical properties, but also a soil which is, as far as possible,
already ready to be shaped.22.
It follows that the state of matter is as important a criterion as the matter
itself. A remark which immediately makes it understandable the fact that
apart from avza and hamri, the children still distinguish two types of soil,
which do not correspond, however, to geologically different clays, but to
different states of these same clays. This classification is associated with
the different functional purposes of these clays.

20
For this analogy between the preparation of bread dough and clay, cf. also D’Anna et al. 2011: 13.
21
For rotting cf. Blondel 2014: 112-113, Rye 1981: 39, Shepard 1980: 52.
22
We remember, in this regard, the words of Gaston Bachelard “it seems that one can affirm, in the
realm of the material imagination, the existence of a true prototype of the imaginary dough. In the
imagination of each of us exists the material image of an ideal paste, a perfect synthesis of resistance and
flexibility, a wonderful balance of forces that accept and forces that refuse.” (Bachelard 1982: 77). It is
precisely this imaginary dough, this ideal dough that is, therefore, sought after by children through the
various sourcing strategies.

554
 Children need extremely fine and refined clay to repair cracks due to
drying or just to coat and re-moisten the surface of a room before
decorating it (see below). There are only two types of earth that have the
necessary properties: the so-called “ant couscous” (fig. 530-531, ant
couscous, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013) and the so-called “broken”
earth (fig. 532-533, broken earth, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013).

530 531

532 533

555
 Regarding the first, it is the soil that is found around anthills often in the
form of small clods, very fine grain size and well cleaned by the action of
ants23. The children collect these “grains” and by adding water, they
prepare a dilution of clay, a kind of slurry of varying consistency that they
will apply to the piece. In case the “ant couscous” is missing, “broken
earth” replaces it. As for it, and as its name suggests, these are pieces of
cracked earth following the drying of clay dilutions, which has already
undergone grain size sorting by natural settling 24. Sediment found on the
banks of wadis, in natural basins, these extremely fine-grained pieces of
earth contain granules of mica, which make them shine in the sun and allow
children to identify this type of soil. This shine is also greatly appreciated
by children. Often, children try to clean up the sand or other debris that is
stuck on the underside of these clayey pieces as best they can. The pieces
are then picked up and undergo the same treatment as “ant couscous” to
obtain this type of coating which is extremely useful for secondary repair
and coating of toys.

2.2 Shaping

2.2.1 Shaping techniques and assembling the constituent elements

The techniques for shaping the small plastic of the Anti-Atlas are hardly
varied. The shaping of these toys, whatever their type, is done by modeling
at the base of the sequences of operations temporally close together. The
hand acts directly on the clay by employing a series of gestures (pressure,
stretching, pinching, thinning, digging) to obtain the desired shape (fig.
534-544, p. 557-561, shaping a doll in clay, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region,
2016). More rarely, we can observe for certain objects a shaping by
molding. The two techniques are used independently for the construction of
the different parts of an object. Thus, they can both be used in the making
of a single toy. In this case we are talking about a mixed technique.

23
The use of anthill / termite soil is already mentioned in the ethnoarchaeological register (cf. Diop
2000).
24
Cf. Rye 1981: 36-37.

556
 534

Modeling of the central trunk

535

Breast application

557
 536

Preforming the leg

537

Assembling the leg using a tenon

558
 538

Belly application

539

Assembling the head using a tenon

559
 540

Assembling the arms

541
Assembling an arm

Indication of details using a branch

560
 542

Preparation of the hair (reed leaf)

543

Reed leaf treatment

544

Junction of the hair

Junction of the hair

561
 545

Female doll

Regarding modeling, we can distinguish two different methods: clod

modeling and modeling on a core. The clod modeling consists of a full
modeling, the dough being shaped into the desired shape25. For core
modeling the toy or more often parts of the toy are shaped around a core,
mainly twigs (fig. 546-549, p. 563, core modeling of a mortar pestle, Douar
Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013). The two modeling methods can be
combined to make the different parts of the toy.

25
For a definition of modeling and its application methods, we used Caubet 2009: 47, Caubet et al.
1998: 37 and 101, Yon 1981, s.v. "modelage", "modeler".

562
546 547 548

Core modeling of a mortar pestle

549

563
 If the manufactured object consists of several parts (see below) each part
is shaped separately. Often, a roughing of each component can precede
assembly. In this case, the part will take on its final form once it “joins” the
final structure. An assembly of the constituent elements is, in any case,
necessary. This can be done gradually, as the different parts of the object
are being shaped, or all at once, as long as all the constituent elements are
already shaped or, at least, roughed out.
We can distinguish two methods of joining the parts: simple assembly by
adhesion or by using tenons. According to the first method, the pre-shaped
or blank elements are glued together. The use of slip to improve the
adhesion of parts is quite common. Otherwise, the joining of the parts by
simple pressure is the mainly chosen way. This variant relates rather to the
parts of reduced size, namely the trim elements (hair, handles, etc.). In the
second method, the elements are arranged using tenons. This solution gives
the object, presumably, better cohesion. Tenons are mainly small twigs,
although the use of tenons made of other materials (metal) is not excluded.
The exact series by which the building blocks will come together is not
standardized. Apart from the case where one part must be superimposed on
another or when the existence of one part is required for the addition of
another, the order of arrangement is, as a rule, governed by a large
freedom. Optionally, a reinforcement of the junction points is then carried
out. In this case, small pieces of dough are added at the junctions between
the different parts, an operation commonly followed by punctual
smoothing, to make the junction traces disappear.26.
The molding technique is only used occasionally. We only observed it
for the manufacture of the main body of the small and large bread oven.
For the first a reed or a small branch serves as a mold while for the second
a plastic bag filled with earth (Rossie 2008: 219) or a heap of pebbles, play
the same role (fig. 550, p. 565, shaping by molding of a domestic oven,
Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013).

26
Repair-like procedure cf. Blondel 2014: 156

564
 550

The use of specific tools is not common in the shaping of toys, fingers and
hands being the main means of work (Fassoulas et al., 2020). However,
some very basic tools such as twigs or pebbles can possibly be used
spontaneously, especially for anatomical details (e.g., navel, breasts), facial
features, construction elements (e.g., feed opening for the hand mill,
ventilation hole for the oven) or for decorative incised patterns. No
difference exists between the quite simple fragments of wood used as tools
and the twigs used as tenons for the junction of the parts of the object or, as
“infrastructure” for the modeling on the core. It is, moreover, precisely for
this reason that these “tools” can be transformed into parts of the toy (e.g.,
handle for mills) and be incorporated therein, a branch used as a tool
becomes a handle (fig. 551-552, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016).

551 552

565
2.2.2 The form, partonomy, and design of the toy

The process of making a toy is at the same time a process of

miniaturization of an object or a real being. The relationship between the
real and the miniaturized is, as we will see, determining and requires from
the children an interpretation of the world, namely an understanding of the
form to be reproduced. This understanding necessarily refers to a particular
partonomy and by that we mean, precisely, the conception of the form of an
object by its manufacturer (for the concept of partonomy see van der
Leeuw 1993).
We can understand from the outset how crucial the design of the shape
of objects is for their miniaturized reproduction. An object can be
“deciphered” in different ways by child modelers and thus be made
according to various operational sequences. However, this relationship
between the design of the form and the sequence of manufacture of the
object is not unambiguous. Often, the child is “led” by the constraints of
the subject or by his own technical skills, namely by the activity of doing
itself. Thus, the manufacture of a toy results from a dialectical relationship
between the partonomic conception of the object (or being) serving as a
model and the manufacturing process itself.
The typological multitude of objects represented makes it even more
difficult to access the modalities of the partonomy of toys made by
children. However, we have a few observations to make on this point: as
for quadrupedal animals and humans, children seem to regularly distinguish
six constituent parts, that is to say the trunk of the body which is, in the
majority of cases, modeled first, the four limbs and the head. The tail can
possibly also represent a seventh part of the construction. Thus,
manufacturers effectively base their partonomy on a simplified anatomy of
beings, more precisely on the articulation of the main parts of the body. As
for birds, snakes, insects, and fish, we meet, eventually, simpler
partonomies, but we can say that, in general, they follow the same standard.
Utensils represent the most complex case. The lid of a tagine can be
modeled in one or two pieces of clay, as well as the common grindstone of
a flour mill. There are, however, certain standards which seem to govern
the design of these objects: the smaller the dimensions of the utensil, the
simpler its partonomy. Small pots, cups, drinking glasses or spoons are
always made in one piece, out of a single lump of clay. However, regarding

566
larger utensils, manufacture in several separate pieces is quite often
observed, without a simple design being excluded.
Second, a certain relationship between the constituent parts of real
objects and those of miniaturized objects seems to exist. The handles – and
sometimes the necks or the weirs – are fashioned separately and then
applied to the main body of the toy, as with the real object. One might
possibly wonder if this partonomy is not also the result of an imitation of
the manufacture and not just of the shape of the object. Indeed, that the
shaping of the body is followed in the two cases (real and miniature) by a
filling is nothing haphazard or strange. It can even be explained if we
consider the making of toys and the making of real objects as part of the
same technical system. This also forms the environment in which children
“bathe” gradually becoming aware of a multitude of interrelated
techniques. It is within this framework, of a conscious or unconscious
reproduction of the various techniques observed that it is necessary,
therefore, to approach the phenomenon 27. Thus, the manufacture of the
oven using the molding technique (see above) is nothing more than an
intentional imitation of the construction technique of real bread ovens. In
this case the conception of the object is not an interpretation of the form,
but of the object as a coherent techno-morphological whole. However, to
consider that the miniaturized reproduction of real objects generally
follows the stages in the manufacture of the latter is undoubtedly excessive.
But despite the strong link between partonomy and the operation sequence,
no direct relationship between partonomy and the modeling methods used
has been observed. The parts of the objects are mainly made by clod
modeling. The core modeling method is chosen only sporadically,
especially when the shaping aims to represent both long and thin parts, for
example the oven shovel (fig. 553-554, 555-558, p. 568-569), modeling on
the core of an oven shovel, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016).

27
For the notion of the technical system, like that of the technical environment cf. Friedmann 1966,
Leroi-Gourhan 1973: 340-351, Gille 1978, Lemonnier 1983, Stiegler 1994.

567
 553 554

556

555

568
 557 558

What seems, however, notable is the perceived unity between the type of
object, its partonomy, and the sequence of gestures, expressed, above all, at
the personal level. In other words, the way a child conceives and sets up the
representation of a miniature object seems more or less fixed for one type
of object. To see a child “oscillate” between different conceptions for the
same type of object is a rare phenomenon attributed, moreover, rather to a
lack of experience and the consequent indeterminacy. Although the
sequence of toy shaping operations is not very standardized and quite
flexible on the general level, a certain standardization of the gestures is
observed on the personal level. This standardization – always relative –
conceived as an intrinsic unit between type, technique, and design, varies
significantly according to the child’s experience, aptitude or even his
involvement and his current desire.

2.3 Surface treatment and decoration

Treating the surface of a toy is a long process. This is a multi-step

operation that is not necessarily regular, some of which are “nested” or,
better, “diluted” within other manufacturing operations. We observe
straight away that the shaping gestures are often accompanied by

569
occasional smoothing, extensive depending on the case. It is, then, a
gradual smoothing, only by hand, without the aid of tools, which aims to
erase the irregularities of the surface and to level it out. During this gradual
operation, repetitive wetting of the surface seems necessary. The object can
optionally undergo a more careful smoothing once completed, that its
constituent parts are well assembled, and its filling completed. This
“secondary” smoothing is rather observed in the case where the object has a
discontinuous shape and therefore an assembly or, at least, a filling is
required. However, the plural smoothing operation has not ended. As will
be seen later, an equalization of the surface, sometimes as pronounced as
the first, takes place during the coating of the object or even during its
decoration - two operations which can, moreover, also coexist. Once again,
the toy is smoothed by hand.
The treatment of the surface mainly concerns its “visible” parts.
Consequently, the bases, the “blind” sides of objects (e.g., the back of a
table) or the parts that are difficult to access (e.g., the backs of vases that
are too narrow, the inner sides of the handles) are often left without any
treatment. Then, each type of treatment intervenes differently on the
surface, sometimes on larger parts, sometimes on more restricted parts. The
order of succession of these different operations is neither fixed nor always
predefined. In addition, these are often interchangeable operations thus
confirming, once again, the flexible nature of toy manufacturing.

2.3.1 Engobing and minor repairs

Immediately after shaping, the figurines are left to dry in a shady place.
During this process the objects shrink, and their surface eventually cracks
(see below). Thus, children try to repair damaged toys and correct the
damaged surface. To do this, the young modelers prepare a clay dilution
based on extremely fine and refined types of soil. 28. They then apply this
slip in a layer on each part so that cracks or other damage due to drying are
erased (fig. 559-562, p. 571, repair of a utensil using a clay dilution made
by “ant couscous”, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013).

28
For a description of the supply process for this type of fine soil ("ant couscous" and "broken" soil) cf.
supra.

570
559 560

561 562

However, this treatment does not concern, exclusively, damaged objects,

but also all the parts supposed to be, subsequently, decorated. Therefore,
the engagement is not limited to the level of the fractures, but is applied
more extensively on the surface, and often covers the whole of the part.
The role of this operation is twofold, its purpose not being just to repair
the fractured parts, but also to rehydrate and prepare the surface for the
decoration. On this relatively wet surface, the colors will subsequently
adhere, and the decoration will be incised. If the decoration takes place
after firing (see below), the embedding serves exclusively as a repair and
can, indeed, be limited to “plugging”, in a way, the cracks caused by
drying.

571
2.3.2 Decor

Not all toys are decorated the same; the majority, moreover, are by no
means. Household appliances and furniture are among the most decorated
toys, while animals very rarely are (see also Rossie 2005b: 55). Two types
of decoration can be distinguished: painted decoration and incised
decoration. The two types are not mutually exclusive but can very well
coexist on the same object. No relationship between the type of object and
the type of decor was observed. An incised decoration has never been
observed on the dolls or toy animals. This absence could possibly be
explained by the rarity of the decoration on these two types of toys, without
taking on any particular meanings. Note that facial features are not
considered decoration. Often, however, the decoration of a doll, most often
female, comes down to the production of a make-up that necessarily
“superimposes” the previously incised facial features (eyes, lips, etc.). The
preference for painted decor is obvious. Children clearly opt for this type of
decoration for both aesthetic and imitative reasons because the real objects
that serve as models, when they are decorated, are overwhelmingly painted.

A Painted decor: preparation and application of colors

Regardless of the type of toys, all colors are prepared according to the same
procedures. Although all types of toys are not necessarily decorated at the
same time29, the color production chains are the same. These operations
bear witness to a significant technical investment, such a significant
investment in time and of course a deep knowledge of the materials used.
The children show themselves, once again, capable of creatively exploiting
a large territory around their villages and of implementing quite
sophisticated technical strategies. Most of the time, it is the girls who do
the manufacturing. This is a notable phenomenon, but nonetheless quite
understandable given that the production of toy utensils, the most decorated
type of toy, is a girl’s business.
For the manufacture of colors, manufacturers use a wide variety of
natural materials, such as plants, flowers, or household by-products. When
it comes to toy utensils, the choice of color is not only dictated by

29
See below for the differences in the production of types of toys.

572
aesthetics, but also by the social connotations of each color (Fassoulas et
al., 2020). Thus, we can distinguish two main categories of colors: those
corresponding to the utensils of rich women and those of poor women.
There is, possibly, a third category, intermediate, to which belong the
colors used for both poor and rich women. As for dolls, toy animals,
furniture and other miniaturized reproductions, the colors are applied more
freely and spontaneously, albeit limited. The colors most often made are
black, white, gray, green, red, yellow30. However, colors like blue, purple,
or orange are occasionally part of the children's palette.

Black

The color black is used to paint utensils that set on the fire, such as the
tagine, kettle, and pan. Above all, it should be noted that black is often a
color to be avoided. And this especially because of its messy nature,
because for the decoration in black children always use charcoal. Obtaining
charcoal is not difficult. Found, especially, next to ovens or in braziers,
coals are within reach of everyone. There are three main ways of
decorating the toy in black. The first is similar to the charcoal technique,
currently used in artistic drawing for making a sketch (fig. 563, 564 p.574)
decoration in black, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016). Essentially, it
involves using a simple piece of charcoal to draw linear patterns on a
surface that is already dry before or after firing the piece. Often the fingers
can intervene to fill in drawn shapes.

563

30
For the manufacture of colors cf. also Fassoulas et al. 2020.

573
 564

However, it is the second, relatively more complex route that is more

frequently chosen. The coal must be very finely ground and for this a
pebble is essential. Children look for suitable pebbles next to small rivers,
not hesitating to spend even hours finding suitable pebbles. The pebble
should be slightly concave, of fine grain size and not too rough on the
surface, the same type that women use to grind the mineral to make kohl,
for eye makeup. The search for a smooth support is intricately linked to the
ground material, the coal, which is very soft. The homogeneous and smooth
surface of the stone has the advantage of in turn producing a very fine and
homogeneous powder (fig. 565, black coal powder, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit
region, 2013).

565

574
 Then the children sift the powder to get the finest fraction of the
charcoal. If they cannot find an old sieve in the garbage or at home that
they can salvage, one of the girls’ scarf is used, preferably a synthetic yarn
scarf as otherwise the powder will stick to the fabric.
This charcoal powder should be applied to the object before drying and,
presumably, before baking, when the toys are still wet. This is the reason
why this operation if it does not coincide with the embedding and the
subsequent wetting of the surface, at least it follows them very closely.
Thus, the powder obtained can be applied to the toy according to two fairly
similar and often complementary methods. According to the first, the
pieces are dipped, one by one, in a plastic container containing the coal
powder. The children turn the part immersed in the powder until the
moisture in the clay disappears. On the other hand, according to the second
method, the utensils are sprinkled with this same powder. In both cases, for
the black powder to seep in well, they dab it with a tissue. These black
utensils are then placed on a flat stone and when the time comes, they are
introduced into the oven (fig. 566, oven decorated in black, Douar
Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016).

566

However, a third mode of decoration can be applied. By adding a little

water to the powder, children get a greasy liquid - sometimes explicitly
compared to henna paste - which they apply with a brush (see below) on a
dry surface. This type of decoration, used especially for making patterns,
can be done either before or after firing.

575
White

It is mainly the humblest utensils that are painted white, as white denotes
poor women. We can distinguish several modes of production of this color,
corresponding to vastly different operational sequences. As for the first, it
corresponds to the same procedure as that used for obtaining black powder.
We, then, need a concave pebble as described above. Of course, the same
roller can possibly be used for both colors, if it is cleaned. Instead of
charcoal, children use lime, an easily accessible material since in the past it
was used to plaster houses. The lime is crushed and sieved first, and then
the white powder produced is applied to the wet surface of the toy. The
other processes are based on extracting the color white from the
homochromatic flowers. Thus, the children pick small white flowers like
the tzzeladar31, around the village and then start to prepare a powder with it
(fig. 567).

567

To do this, there are two basic conditions: first, the flower petals must
separate from the pedicel after the flowers have previously dried in the
shade. As for the second, it consists in making an improvised two-piece
grater. We have observed two ways of building it, each way corresponding

31
Plant with white flowers that blooms from February to April.

576
to a different type of grater and, therefore, to a type of manipulation.
According to the first one, the children collect a large can of sardines and a
round can of tuna. With a nail, they create holes a few millimeters in
diameter in the bottom of the large box. The abrasive edges of the holes are
on the outer surface of this box. Holes are also punched in the bottom of the
round box, but this time from the outside to the inside so that the hand does
not get injured during handling. Then they take the large box in the palm of
their hand with the perforated bottom which serves as a grater. Once the
round box is well filled with pieces of the dry petals, the child takes this
round box in his hand with the bottom perforated towards the palm and
rubs the petals vigorously along the grater that it holds in the other hand.
According to the second way, the children use two empty sardine cans (fig.
568-570, fig. 571, p. 578, making an improvised two-piece grater, Douar
Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016). As in the previous case, they make holes in
the bottom of each box. These holes come in different sizes in an effort to
mimic real kitchen graters. Then, the two perforated boxes rest against each
other so that their abrasive faces touch.

568 569

570

577
 571

Children put small pieces of the dry petals between the two boxes and,
again, a stirred rubbing of two pieces of the grater starts. Often two
children can collaborate on this task, one constantly rubbing the grater, the
other throwing pieces of petals between the two boxes. Thus, in all cases,
they create a fine white powder that they collect on a plastic previously
placed under the boxes. This powder can be added directly to a wet surface
just after coating or serve as a base for the preparation of a white greasy
liquid, as described for black (see above).

Grey

Gray is the color used by children, 572

mainly girls, to indicate modest
utensils, regardless of the status of
their owner, rich or poor woman.
For the manufacture of the gray
color, we can distinguish two
different modes, freely used,
depending on the availability of
materials.
The first widely preferred mode uses the ifzi plant32 (fig. 572) which
undergoes a treatment of the same type as the tzzeladar plant for the
manufacture of the color white, as described above.

32
White flowered plant that blooms only in April, widely used for its therapeutic properties. It is
probably the herbaceous white horehound (marrubium vulgare) of the family of lamiaceae.

578
 This plant is collected and left to dry in the shade. The children peel the
stem and the leaves, carefully picking the downy elements which will then
be grated with the improvised grater in sardine cans (fig. 573-574, grating
of ifzi leaves, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016) Thus, they collect the
gray powder produced by the grating in any container and apply it to the
toy like the black and white powders, according to the two modes described
above.

573 574
574
In the absence of ifzi, another option for the preparation of the gray color is
adopted. Bread oven ashes seem to be an ideal material in view of their
physical properties (powdery nature, gray color etc.). The preparation
operation takes place after the toys are fired and while they are still very
hot. To be able to remove the baked items from the oven, children protect
their hands with pieces of cardboard or damp cloth. In a large pile of cold
ashes, several toys just taken out of the oven are submerged one after the
other. The child hears the reaction of the hot surface of the clay toy with the
cold ashes, which is explained by the absorption of the ash powder. Once
the ashes, heated by the toys, cooled, the pieces, which have become quite
gray, come out of the oven. However, this gray color does not last long.

Green

Children, and more commonly girls, gather fresh plants, such as nettle,
from fields and mountains, which are used as fodder. Then they hide these
leaves in the shade so that they keep their green color after drying. Herbs
dried outdoors or hay stored is not suitable for making the green color (fig.

579
575-580, preparing green powder with dry herbs and decorating a toy
utensil, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016).

575 576

577 578

579 580

580
 Much like the white petals of tzzeladar or the downy parts of ifzi, these
dried plants are rubbed first by hand and then with a grater to create an
exceptionally fine powder collected from a plastic placed under the grater.
Then, this powder is picked up and sieved using the scarf of one of the
girls, preferably a black scarf; the lighter scarves would have been stained.
The green powder can be applied to the object either directly (on a wet
surface just after coating), or by adding a little water to obtain this greasy
liquid resembling henna (see above). The toy utensils decorated in green
are considered to be the utensils of rich families.

Red

To obtain the color red, we can distinguish two distinct modes of operation.
In the first case, children follow the same procedure as for green, but use
fresh poppies instead of herbs. In this case, they do not get powder, but a
reddish liquid. As soon as the toys - in most cases, kitchen utensils - come
out of the oven, they immerse them directly in the lime, so that they turn all
white. Then the children soak them in the red liquid and thus obtain a dark
red color, rather carmine.
In the second procedure, young makers dry red flowers and then grind
them using a concave pebble found in the river, as described in grinding
coal and lime. So, they rub this powder between their hands until they get a
color like henna. By adding a little water, they create a damp red powder,
which they use to draw patterns.
The application of the color red is always done after firing, because the
red once applied deteriorates with firing and turns black. The toy utensils
decorated with red are considered to be the utensils of rich people.

Yellow

The color yellow can be prepared according to different procedures like

those followed to obtain white, green or red. We can distinguish three
operational chains, all based on different treatments of yellow flowers, such
as kerkaz (fig. 581)33 or tamggout (fig. 582)34.

33
Yellow flowering plant belonging to the Asteraceae family, which blooms from February to March.
34
Plant with yellow flowers blooming throughout the year. It is most likely the rocket. (Eruca sativa).

581
 581 582

According to the first way, the flowers are put to dry in a shady place and
then grinding their dry petals the children produce a fine yellow powder.
This powder is applied directly to the wet surface of a previously engobed
toy, or it turns into a liquid substance by adding water. However, another
operational route may possibly be chosen, although more rarely. The
children crush the entire flower on the surface of the room and begin to rub
it energetically until the flower is consumed (fig. 583-584, decoration in
yellow, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016). Thus, the toy takes on a
yellowish color, and a shiny appearance due to the composition of the
pollen. Yellow is a mark of wealth and its use for decorating utensils refers
to wealthy women.

583 584

582
B Methods of applying colors and making patterns

We can immediately distinguish two types of painted decoration: the first

corresponds to a monochrome and homogeneous decoration covering a
large part of the surface of the object and the second, to the realization of
decorative patterns. Both types can be used to decorate the same object,
either side by side or - most often - on top of each other. In the latter case,
we observe decorative patterns on a previously colored background. We
can add, also, that, in a regular way, to decorate a toy according to the first
type, the children resort to the application of the powder color directly on a
wet surface, while the realization of the patterns calls for the preparation. of
a fatty liquid.
The application of colors to a toy can, as we have just seen, be done
before or after cooking. In most cases, it is done all at once, but sometimes
two successive decorative operations can be observed, one before and the
other after the object is fired. Firing therefore becomes a particularly
important point of reference for the organization of decorative operations.
The choice of decorating a piece before or after cooking is mainly up to the
wishes of children and their aesthetics. Each choice is subject to a series of
technical constraints, relative to the sequence of operations and the
decoration methods involved for each color. Otherwise, post-firing
decoration is in most cases preferable since high firing temperatures
degrade colors. This degradation can, however, in part be avoided, even
when firing ensues. To do this, the children try to place the decorated
pieces as far as possible from the embers (see below).
Another factor to consider is the coating of the object in spurge milk, an
operation that must be done immediately after the decoration is completed
(see below). Depending on its own terms, the application of spurge milk is
done sometimes before, sometimes after cooking, and thus has an impact
on the entire operational sequence of color application.
The use of patterns to decorate utensils is relatively rare. Decorating
should be done after firing for two main reasons: firstly, degradation due to
firing is avoided and secondly, when the object is still a little hot, the
pigment sets better and gives the desired color. To draw these patterns -
especially the patterns in green and red - children sometimes use the stem
of a flower or any plant, sometimes the feather of a rooster: the tip, which
retains little paint to perform the details and the upper part of the feather,

583
which retains more paint to draw larger surfaces (fig. 585, creation of
patterns with the stem of a flower (gray on yellow), Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit
region, 2016 and fig. 586-589, making patterns with the stem of a flower
(black on green), Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016).

585

586 587

588 589

The fairly stylized geometric patterns are mainly inspired by the plant
world: trees, plants, herbs, and flowers; from the animal world: bird, hen,
donkey, cattle, horse; finally, patterns drawn with henna on the hands and
feet. Sometimes a stylized representation of the sun, moon and stars is

584
performed. Normally these designs are mixed and done in different colors
to represent the actual color. Usually when there is a figurative
representation (plants and animals) the abstract and geometric patterns are
not added. But it varies according to the will, skill, and creativity of each
child, each seeking to demonstrate their skills. When the whole process is
complete, the young manufacturers compare their work and inspire each
other.

C Color preservation

The preparation of colors for the decoration of clay toys requires, as we

have just seen, an investment of time. Therefore, children often seek to
preserve the surplus as long as there is, so that it can be used in the future.
Usually collected in jars and small bottles, the colors are placed in hiding
places specific to each group of players (see below). However, not all
colors are worth keeping. It is especially those whose preparation is
difficult that benefit from such treatment.
However, the preservation of certain colors poses problems. We mainly
refer to the red juice produced with poppies which is overly sensitive. If left
exposed, the juice ferments, a surface layer forms which renders it unusable
and produces a repulsive odor. To preserve it, the Ikenwèn girls have
developed a rather sophisticated solution. They pour the juices into a small
bottle, not in glass - too fragile - but in plastic which they bury. This
solution is inspired by the way of preserving vegetables before using
refrigerators to store food in homes. The women brought the sand collected
in the wadi, they sieved it to remove stones and other impurities and thus
obtain a fine grain size. They then filled a large basin, placed on the
ground, with this sand. Then they ‘planted’ carrots and potatoes which in
this way stayed fresh. Women, of course, forbade girls to play with these
large pools and bury their little bottles of red juice in them. It was therefore
a question of finding suitable sand, like that used by adult women, in which
they could bury their bottles to preserve their juice.
To find these places, the Ikenwèn girls each take a carrot, or a potato and
they bury them in different places in or near the village, where this sand
from the wadi was already brought back, to be used as material for building
houses. The operation takes place in the dark when the temperature drops.
The next day the girls dig up their vegetables and if the plant is still fresh

585
and "swollen" the sand there is considered appropriate. To remember where
each vegetable was buried, they put signs, the most common sign being to
erect a pile of stacked stones. But there were two problems associated with
this method: the herds which roam the surroundings and bring down the
stones and the boys who watch the girls to be able to steal their bottles35.
That is why the girls did this operation in the dark and they tried to find
signs that were both fixed and discreet: the squares of a hopscotch, plants,
shrubs, or sticks could possibly play this role.

D The incised decoration

The incised decoration is much less common. It corresponds to the

realization of geometric and linear patterns by simple combinations of
intersecting incisions, parallel lines and dots, figurative patterns (plants,
animals, etc.) being absent (fig. 590, incised decoration, Douar Ouaraben,
region de Tiznit, 2016).

590

Often, linear incisions are used for the demarcation of areas reserved for
painted decoration. Thus, the two types of decor can indeed be combined to
embellish a single object. In this case, and to obtain better fixation, the
application of the colors in the grooves of the incisions precedes the
coloring of the rest of the object. Very rudimentary tools are used for
making the incisions, of the same type as those generally used in the
manufacture of toys (twigs, stems etc.).

35
For the division of children into groups of players according to gender cf. infra.

586
2.3.3 The spurge milk

The coating of toys in “cactus milk” is an essential step in the manufacture

of toys and more particularly, in the treatment of their surface. This
operation concerns almost exclusively cookware and furniture and
especially those which are decorated. Therefore, the use of spurge milk,
like the preparation of colors, is a strongly feminine activity. It is, therefore,
the application of the milky sap (latex) of euphorbia 36 on the surface of the
object, to increase its resistance and the adhesion of the colors, as well as to
adjust its properties against humidity, temperature, mold, vermin and wear
and tear. Spurge milk is also still used by the women of the Ikenwèn
village, among other things to coat clay bread ovens, to protect them
against insects and especially termites. Thus, when the clay piece, colored
and / or decorated with a painted decoration, is not subjected to the
treatment with spurge milk, the decoration remains visible only for a
relatively short time (fig. 591-592, Euphorbia virosa (tikiwt).
Searching for wood or fuels, such as dry spurge, is an almost daily task
for girls. On this occasion they also pluck this “milk”, spurge being an
abundant plant in the Anti-Atlas. They pick it up with quick gestures, in a
small glass jar. Plastic is excluded because the toxicity of the spurge attacks
it. The girls quickly close the pot to prevent it from evaporating.

591 592

36
Although locals call this plant tikiwt, the equivalent of “cactus”, it is the euphorbia virosa of the
euphorbiaceae family. This endemic plant is available year-round.

587
 Girls from about seven years old coat clay toys entirely with this juice to
make them "shiny" (fig. 593-594, application of spurge “milk”, Douar
Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016). This operation always follows the
decoration, since – as we have just seen – it aims to protect the colors.

593 594

There are two different methods of applying spurge "milk", guided by

climatic conditions and more specifically the wind: in the absence of wind
or in the presence of a very weak wind, the girls coat the utensils before
cooking. To do this, two types of brushes are used. Sheep fleece, soaked in
this milk, then applied to the clay. Easily available, it ensures rapid work
and is therefore the preferred method. Sometimes girls use a small brush
made as follows: cut a strand from a goat's beard, fix it on a piece of reed,
and tie it to the reed with a string. Once the object is completely coated
with the spurge milk, it should be left to dry quietly away from the sun until
the next day. Then the time has come to put the well-prepared utensils in an
oven.
When it is too windy, dust and other debris can stick to the wet surface
and alter the gloss. Therefore, in this case, the utensil is coated after
cooking. The girls take a toy out of the oven, take it with a piece of
cardboard and immediately immerse it in a container with cold water. They
then take the room out, place it on a flat stone that is rigidly fixed. Holding
a container with the milk just above the utensil, they pour it slowly. The
operation must be done carefully and by turning around the part to be
coated. With the object still hot, the milk spreads over the entire surface of

588
the object. This process is repeated for all the parts taken out of the oven,
one after the other.
However, the wind does not impose itself absolutely, as the only factor
to consider. The coating of toys in spurge milk, as we have already
mentioned, is an operation intricately linked to the application of colors and
therefore the decorative needs define, to a certain degree, the course of the
procedure. Both the spurge milk and the colors can deteriorate due to the
high firing temperatures, which is highly undesirable. Therefore, a spurge
milk coating following a post-firing decor is by far the most popular option.

2.3.4 The state of the surface

The final aspect of the object, namely its appearance, as well as its
texture, is particularly important to young manufacturers. A shiny, well-
smoothed and brightly colored toy is always highly valued. Children are
clearly engaged in an effort to “improve” the surface, to obtain an optimum
pace. But, the final state of the object results, in fact, from factors which go
beyond the operations described above, namely the direct action on the
surface of the object, be it smoothing, equalization, engobing, decoration or
coating.
The search for a beautiful surface begins, undoubtedly, from the first
stages of the manufacture of the object. The choice of clay, apart from its
clearly utilitarian character, has at the same time an aesthetic part. Children,
as we have seen, greatly appreciate the shine of the mica granules present
in the so-called “broken” earth, which is used for the coating of the object
(see above). This is why, moreover, they prefer to cover the whole part and
not only the damaged parts, to perfect and make their toy shinier. The
quality of the kneading also plays a cardinal role. Children correctly point
out that good drying without cracks and major alterations depends a lot on
meticulous preparation of the dough. Likewise, a firm and well-groomed
modeling reinforces the solidity of the piece and therefore its behavior
during drying and firing.
We thus see, clearly, an intimate relationship between the condition of
the surface and the quality of the workmanship of the object as a whole. A
beautiful surface is not the wrapping of an indifferent structure, but rather
the result of a careful manufacturing process. It is, therefore, an inseparably

589
technical and aesthetic quest that reflects the technical ability and the desire
for involvement of each child.
But appearance, in other words, the visual impression of the surface of
toys, is not the only aspect of a well-made surface. The participation of the
hand, of the happy hand (Bachelard 1982: 80), which in fact becomes
happy thanks to its multilateral involvement in the making of the object,
allows the formation of such a tactile image, of a pleasant to touch surface,
as part of manual consideration of the toy 37
Under this prism, even wear and tear can have a beneficial effect, children
admit that playing their toys becomes more pleasant to the touch. A
manipulated surface, repeatedly touched, caressed and passed from hand to
hand, softens, its roughness gradually subsides, and any imperfections fade
away. Even after the piece is completed, the surface appears to be still
processing, still improving. A final surface in perpetual finishing.

2.4 Drying and firing

We decided to present drying and firing last, because it is, indeed, the
last step in toy making. But this decision, although it may seem easy and
indifferent, is by no means so. Because while firing clearly belongs to this
last step in the process chain, drying is of a completely different nature.
We have seen that the treatment of the surface is located at the center of
a struggle between dry and wet ̶ an effort to regulate the humidity of the
object. Drying can evolve in different ways. One could, possibly, consider
drying as a passive activity or, to put it better, an active inertia and
consequently, qualify as drying each manufacturing pause; a pause which
nevertheless represents an essential part of the production.
Thus, drying begins practically from the moment the children finish
preparing the dough. The modeling is another episode in this oscillation
between a dry state and a wet state; children moisten the modeled object as
soon as they deem it necessary. Once the modeling of the toys is
completed, they put them in a shady and little frequented place, sheltered
from the wind, to dry (fig. 595, p. 591, toy utensil drying under a tree,
Ikenwèn, Tiznit region, 2016). This time we are dealing with a “real”

37
For the question of evaluation of the surface by tactile perception cf. Procopiou 2011 and 2013,
Procopiou et al 2013.

590
drying of around 12 to 14 hours. Shorter drying times are observed after
embedding, decorating - with rare exceptions - and applying spurge milk.

595

Children understand well that drying too violently would have caused
irreparable damage. Damage due to drying shrinkage (cracks, cracks,
fractures) is not, however, completely avoided and, therefore, repair is
necessary (see above). Thus, the time between the first rest of a modeled
part and its charging seldom exceeds 20 to 24 hours. This is, therefore, a
relatively short drying compared to the drying times usually observed in
ceramic manufacturing (see above).
Drying, thus, can be slowed down, reversed, or facilitated. But, above
all, it does not concern exclusively the clay earth, but also the slip, the
colors, and the milky sap, thus playing the role of a passive operation
which marks the progress of the entire production. On the other hand, firing
is a unique operation which, as we will see below, requires real technical
skills, a significant investment of time and, often, the setting up of
considerable collective projects.
To speak, however, of firing in this case, is a little excessive, because the
temperatures reached during this operation do not actually justify the
application of this term. Indeed, the toys are not fired, but simply reheated

591
in the embers. Although children insist that ‘'toys get harder’ after firing, it
is sufficient to soak them in water to verify that they have never been fully
fired, which will lead to their irreversible dehydration ( Balfet et al. 1989:
64). The temperature reached does not exceed 100-200˚C, therefore the
objects never undergo the physico-chemical transformations associated
with firing (evaporation of “chemically combined” water (chemically
combined lattice water38), oxidation, vitrification etc.)39. However, at least
part of the “mechanically combined” water (or water of plasticity40)
evaporates, a procedure corresponding to the very first phase of
dehydration41. However, the temperatures and the course of the firing
directly refer to the baking of the bread. The oven, heated to maximum, is
then closed once the items have been placed inside. Thus, by the time the
objects are put in the oven, the temperature is at the highest level; and then
̶ given that the fire is no longer fed ̶ it drops until the fire goes out.
The time for this heating up varies considerably between 4 and 14 hours,
depending on the type of thermal construction used each time (see below).
We are therefore dealing with a long, gentle, and relatively low temperature
warm-up. This is probably why brief drying does not often have negative
consequences on the behavior of parts during “firing”. However, accidents
due to overheating, although relatively rare, are not entirely unknown.
Using the oven to bake bread is an almost daily activity. The embers
resulting from this process often remain locked in the furnace to turn into
charcoal. However, for children the use of the oven and its precious embers
after baking bread is not easy. Women do not like their children, and in fact
girls up to the age of about nine, to disturb them in their occupations.
Children, who want to fire their toys in the oven, do so opportunistically
and discreetly42.

38
For « chemically combined lattice water » cf. Rice 1987: 103. For the distinction between chemically
and mechanically combined water cf. Rice 1987: 63.
39
For a detailed description of the physicochemical transformations during the different stages of firing,
cf. Rice 1987: 80-110 Shepard 1980: 81-91.
40
For «mechanically combined water» cf. Rice: 64 and 102-103. For « water of plasticity » cf. Gibson &
Woods 1997: 47.
41
For a description of this step, often referred to as « water smoking », cf. Shepard 1980: 81.
42
Cf. also Fassoulas et al. 2020.

592
 It is especially the girls, who are supposed to help their mothers with the
daily tasks after the age of about nine, which take care of closing or
cleaning the unoccupied and still hot oven, to be able to put their toys in it.
Therefore, the firing of miniatures in this type of thermal construction
constitutes a rather solitary activity.
Closing the oven just after baking is used to preserve the embers and
transform it into charcoal, which is subsequently used in various household
activities (preparation of the tagine, fumigation of the rooms, etc.). To do
this, the children close the opening of the oven with a large slab or, more
frequently, with a flared container, plugging any openings with pebbles and
stones. Once again, clay soil is essential. It suffices, in fact, to add a little
water to it and to mix it, to transform it into the ideal means for the
hermetic covering of the opening. Thrown directly onto the blocked
opening, summarily leveled by hand, and left to dry in place, the clay soil
ensures, as long as possible, the conservation of the heat stored in the walls
of the furnace (fig. 596-597, 598-599 p. 594, closing of the oven, Ikenwèn,
Tiznit region, 2016). A large damp cloth may possibly be an alternative
method of closing the opening (Fassoulas et al. 2020).

596 597

593
 598

599

594
 The temperature of the furnace will gradually decrease as the stored heat
is released (Weismann & Bryce 2010: 188). The toys can therefore stay in
the oven for approximately 4 to 6 hours, that is, until the oven should be
used by the mother of the child or when she needs the charcoal.
But this use of the domestic oven by girls is quite rare. In most cases,
children build a taghouni43, their own improvised oven. The size of this
construction varies quite a bit depending on the number of pieces to be
fired. The smallest oscillates between 20 and 40 cm in diameter and
between 25 and 30 cm in height, while the largest between 70 and 130 cm
in diameter and between 50 and 70 cm in height approximately, according
to our observations. A taghouni can possibly be used several times,
repairing it or rearranging it slightly.
First, the children tasked with mounting a taghouni, must locate a
suitable place: flat, not very exposed to the wind, and relatively far from
the village. Then, they engage in the construction of a circular stone
structure, founded directly on the ground (fig. 600-606, p. 596, construction
of a taghouni, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016).
According to a variant, this structure does not have to be completely
closed, but may have a plan in the form of a horseshoe. The stones,
preferably flat, are arranged in irregular layers, small pebbles and pebbles
filling the gaps. The switchgear is immediately coated with building earth
prepared beforehand next to the construction, to improve its stability and
waterproofness. The time to light the fire has arrived. Two different
procedures were observed, causally related to the shape of the taghouni:
according to the first variant, the children collect wood and various fuels
(cardboard, straw, dry plants, peelings) by lighting them inside the circular
construction. As for the horseshoe-shaped taghouni, the fire is lit just in
front of the entrance and once the fuel has been transformed into embers,
the children push them inside the taghouni, using a large natural slab to
close the opening.

43
Word in Tachelhit which means "small stone", also used for any construction of the same type. It is in
fact dry stone masonry. Rough stones of different sizes are paired without a binder, the use of a mortar
(clayey earth) is not, however, excluded.

595
600 601 602

603 604

605 606

596
 The toys are placed directly on the embers, stacked on top of each other
(fig. 607-610, lighting of the fire in the taghouni and placement of toys
Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016).

607 608

609 610

When the batch includes decorated objects, they are placed on top to avoid
as much as possible the deterioration of colors. They are placed on
undecorated objects, located on the sole of the taghouni where the
temperature is much higher (see above). As soon as the taghouni is full, the
children cover it with a large flat stone or, for the taghouni of reduced size,
with a fragment of a container. Finding a slab that is possibly over a meter
in length and 60 cm in width is not always easy. In the village of Ikenwèn,
the girls invented an ingenious strategy to obtain such a large stone. They
noticed that a large quantity of grave markers is still outside the cemetery,

597
placed on its enclosing wall. These slabs are ideal for sealing their
construction and so girls do not hesitate to steal one whenever they need it.
It takes 3 to 4 girls to lift and carry the slab to the taghouni, an operation
that must be done very discreetly, it seems even clandestinely, often at the
time of noon prayer, when there are not many people in the street.
Once the large stone is properly placed, to ensure better closure, the
children may add cardboard boxes soaked in water to the structure, then
coating the whole with a clay screed. Hermetically closing the taghouni is
imperative for its proper functioning (fig. 611-613, closing the taghouni,
Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016). To verify this, the children go
around the oven holding a pot of ashes. If in one place ash does fly away, a
crack remains. The smallest crack should be plugged with clay soil, to
ensure that the toys fire properly.

611 612 613

Firing in a taghouni can take up to 2 hours or more, starting late in the

afternoon and finishing the next morning. Like firing in an oven, firing in
taghouni has little to do with actual ceramic firing, rather approaching
cooking food: first, the children heat the taghouni to reach the maximum
temperature (~300 °C), which takes from 10 min to a quarter of an hour,
according to our observations. As the fire is no longer fed, the temperature

598
gradually decreases. Children try not to forget the toys in the taghouni long
after the temperature has dropped, and the embers have gone out
permanently. In this case the humidity level inside the taghouni rises
considerably and as a result the toys may become wet. But what strikes us
as impressive, in this case, is that even toys that are forgotten and, thus,
accidentally wet in the taghouni, are not necessarily considered to be duds.
Aeration, or even more drying, can indeed be considered to make up for
this type of accident.

599
3 The toy under construction:
socio-cultural considerations of clay toy making

The phenomenon of play has been treated time and again neglecting its
material conditions, considering them to be external to the game itself, if
not insignificant. Often considered exclusively as the domain of
spontaneity and childish expressiveness, play has been devoid of any
technical dimension. However, the toy is an object which must be created
like any other object. Although it may seem strange, there is a production
for play with its own requirements, its own modalities. The example of
making clay toys by children of the Anti-Atlas shows how important such a
process can be and its study indispensable to approach the phenomenon of
play as a whole.
Moreover, apart from the anthropological interest that we, as researchers,
can testify in the making of clay toys, the children themselves consider that
this activity is remarkably interesting. A wide range of games consists
precisely in the creation of a structure, whether it is the arrangement of a
space (Rossie 2008: 160) or the making of a tool or other object. Quite
often after completing the creation of the toys or setting up the game, the
play also stops. It turns out that it is not the completed toy that is important,
but rather the creation process, from the choice of material to its realization.
This process is therefore an inseparable and essential part of play activities.
This could, indeed, explain the indifference of some children of the Anti-
Atlas towards their toys once the game is over or the abandonment and
destruction of the dolls after the game, by the girls (Rossie 2005a: 134 and
136 -137). Some dolls, such as the male doll called ashur or isli n-ashur
(Achour's groom), can be buried, according to a ritual game associated with
the feast of Achour (Laoust 1921: 30-31, Rossie 2005a: 201-203)44.
Indeed, it sometimes seems particularly difficult to us to draw a dividing
line between making and playing. Does the making of the clay
representations that we were able to present end after firing? What about
the caresses and handling of these toys which only improve, in the words of
their makers, the surface of objects? Should we consider the dolls once
fired or simply dried, as finished objects and what about their dress
ornamentation and frequent changes of clothes?

44
Cf. also Fassoulas et al. 2020

600
 However, the small plastic of the Anti-Atlas children is at the same time
the zone of interface between the child universe and the adult universe, the
material and the imaginary, the material possible, and the social
organization at the broad sense of the term (Van der Leeuw 1993: 240),
namely a social activity. What we will try to discuss below are precisely
certain aspects of this activity that derive from its deep social roots and the
cultural connotations attached to it.

3.1 The organization of production, the organization of the play

3.1.1 Age and sex

Speaking of games and their implementation, we are talking, in most cases,

of collective activities. The Anti-Atlas Child rarely plays alone. It has
already been noted, moreover, that playing is essentially about playing with
other people rather than playing with objects (Sutton-Smith 1986: 170). As
soon as he begins to play, the child is surrounded by his parents, mainly his
mother, his grandparents and his siblings who spontaneously play with
him45. The role of older children in the family, especially older sisters, or
cousins, is crucial. Caring for younger children is a common task for girls,
and much more rarely boys, from around the age of seven 46. Moreover, the
opposition between work and leisure, very common in industrial societies
which from the 18th century onwards valued productive work to the
detriment of any occupation deemed unproductive, is not valid for so-called
traditional societies which seem to perceive continuity between the two
fields (UNESCO, 1979: 7). To fulfill their task, the girls devote themselves
to entertaining a toddler by playing with him (Fassoulas et al. 2020). Later,
the child forms playgroups with other children outside the home or joins
playgroups of older children.
However, children do not play with just anyone or anyhow. Age and
gender are the two main factors which essentially lead to the grouping of
players. Until the age of six, sexual differentiation is not significant, girls

45
For more information on the relationship between children and adults and the interaction of
generations through play cf. Rossie 2005/2013: 117-137, Rossie 2008: 356-366.
46
Note made by studies on several African societies (cf. Rossie 2005/2013: 109 and 118; Rossie &
Jariaa 2012: 1, Harkness & Super 1986: 98-99, Cameron 1996: 24-25) or Amerindian (cf. Sillar 1994:
50).

601
and boys often playing together (Rossie 2005/2013: 109 and 135, Rossie
2008: 357-358 and 368, Rossie & Jariaa 2012: 1). From this age, however,
the sexual segregation is quite pronounced. Moreover, it is precisely the
age of the appearance of operative thought in children, the understanding of
the reciprocity of perspectives, while at the same time children begin to
perceive the hierarchical relationships between them are concordant
(Racine 1978: 10-11, cf. infra). Boys are gradually moving away from
mixed groups of small children and hence from the grip of older girls who
control these groups. New autonomous groups of male players and new
groups of female players are thus formed, evoking the primordial
distinction of the adult universe between a male world and a female world.
So boys and girls even when playing close together or appearing to be
playing together, in reality, rarely do. Rather, they are parallel monologues
with each group following their own wishes and independently playing
whatever role they want. However, the participation of small boys in girls’
games or small girls in boys’ games are not unknown phenomena (Rossie
2005/2013: 109, 2008: 343). In those rare cases which finally prove the
rule, the absence of other children of the same sex nearby, the duty of older
girls to take care of their little brothers or the desire of girls to take over the
more prestigious male domain are among the main reasons.
The sexual division is clearly visible at several levels of children’s ludic
life. As we have already seen, boys do not opt for the same types of games
as girls. Drawing inspiration from distinct lifestyles ̶ female for girls and
male for boys ̶ groups of children create different play universes according
to their gender and respective social norms. Thus, the making of toys, an
integral part of the game itself, takes place within each playgroup,
sometimes in interaction with other groups. The example of clay toys is
quite representative. Clay toys of boys and girls come from quite different
production processes, despite the fact that they take place at the same time,
at the same times of the year. This clear distinction is expressed in an
extreme way in the village of Ikenwèn. The girls’ group and the boys’
group build a low wall of superimposed stones that is supposed to divide
the playground in two: the “boys’ village” on one side and “the girls’
village” on the other. In addition, both groups post “guards”, one on each
side of the divide, tasked with preventing “border violations”.

602
3.1.2 Space

The sharing of territory between boys and girls is constant in play

activities. In addition, and always in the case of clay toys, this territorial
separation corresponds to a clear separation of the production of toys, even
when the two groups are supposed to play a game “in common”. Thus,
boys and girls negotiate to define what type of objects each group will
make. After the negotiations are completed in one way or another, the two
groups make their own toys separately.
But although the play field is defined by gender, a group of male or
female players is not limited to it. Girls and more often boys roam a large
territory including different corners of the village and its surroundings,
except, of course, the land of other players. However, this “wandering” is
not so random or spontaneous. We observe a conception of space generated
by the daily play experience and strongly linked to specific issues.
Children’s production, in this case, reflects a perfect knowledge of the
territory and a rather complex spatial distribution of tasks. Let us take a
closer look at the unfolding of the various clay toy making operations in
space and time, again through the telling example of the Ikenwèn girls.
The center of play activities, called the “toy place” by the girls or more
commonly sidi ghrib47, is located next to the large adobe house with a
tower, a little frequented area in the village. This is where the girls model
their clay toys during the rainy season. For the supply of avza, the clay
extraction well for construction purposes is not further than 100m, while
the wadi is approximately 200m away 48. Usually, the whole process takes
place within a week. During this period, the girls massively produce their
toys, particularly utensils, furniture, and various devices (see above). The
daily production is set to dry under an argan tree, and a fig tree surrounded
by bushy vegetation, at the end of the day. This shady place near the sidi
ghrib is at the same time an ideal hiding place for the girls’ precious toys.
The following day, the previous day’s production is transferred to the large
common oven built in the sidi ghrib, which is also “idle” since it is only
used during village festivals. The girls prefer to group in the oven each

47
Literally translated as Lord (Sir) the Unknown. According to local tradition, the tomb with magical
power belongs to an unknown man whose corpse was formerly found there.
48
For the supply of raw material for the manufacture of clay toys cf. supra.

603
day's produce once it is dried, to protect it from the elements or other
dangers. Once the oven is full, they transport their toys to a different
location inside the village. This time it is a low-traffic area covered by a
temporary tent, just outside the entrance to a little-used communal reserve.
The vicissitudes of the toys end with their gathering in the “place of the
toys” to be coated and decorated. For the supply of materials necessary for
the preparation of the colors, the children, bring into play a range of
different contexts from inside the houses to the outskirts of the village 49.
The firing, the last step in the operating chain, takes place in turn, either in
a domestic context or on the outskirts of the village50, often requiring a
passage to the cemetery. Indeed, the production of clay toys having the sidi
ghrib as its epicenter, embraces a territory of impressive dimensions.
There is clearly logic in the choice of space or the way to appropriate it.
The geography linked to the making and preparation of clay toys is made
up, like an improbable mosaic, by peripheral, infrequent, and remote
spaces. The child plays opposite to the adult world; he makes his toys under
his shadow. Thus, the domestic space seems to be a forbidden space,
decidedly absent from the techno-ludic universe, a space which is visited
only opportunistically, at least truly little during this long manufacturing
process. Ritual space is also excluded, except for the supply of large slabs
to build the taghouni (see above). But even in this case, we notice that the
children show themselves once more discreet, acting in a “dead time” (at
the time of prayer, cf. above) and thus deviating from adult’s ordinary life.
The children “slip” their game into the daily tasks they are called upon to
fulfill, taking care of small brothers and sisters, collecting fuel, helping
mothers, etc. Although, as already noted, children up to a certain age often
play in places easily controlled by parents (Rossie 2005/2013: 123) and
girls do not depart from the house and suffer stricter surveillance (Rossie &
Jariaa 2012: 2), we note that the tendency to escape the control of adults
results in a gradual shift of children towards “inert” territories of public
space, places strongly evoking the ‘useless piece’ of G. Perec (Perec 1974:
47-49).
Post-productive activities exhibit similar characteristics. We are referring
here to storage and conservation activities, the “clandestine” nature of

49
For the preparation of the colors cf. supra
50
For different types of firing cf. supra

604
which is much more obvious. Apart from the careful preservation of the
color juices produced for decorating toys (see above), many utensils and
other toys were stored for future use. The massive nature of the production
due to its seasonality often creates a surplus, because children at every
favorable occasion make as many toys as possible. To hide their surplus
toys, the Ikenwèn girls use a worn car or tractor tire laid flat on the ground
on the outskirts of the village; the toys are placed in the hollow of the tire
which is then camouflaged in an exemplary manner51.
This practice only applies to toy utensils, furniture etc., while dolls for
example can be taken home. However, this toy storage problem arises
almost every day. When necessary, girls look for discreet and safe places to
protect their toys. Thus, the clay extraction pit or various places near the
sidi ghrib are the girls’ favorite hiding places.
The child therefore leads, as a player, as a manufacturer of toys, a life on
the fringes. Its activity takes place in a domain of the public sphere which
becomes its own, and which gradually sets itself up, through this very child
activity, into a real play geography. Could the emergence of this
geography, beyond a desire to move away from the grip of adults, and
therefore of empowerment, also derive from a need for withdrawal? On this
subject, G. Bachelard takes an extremely penetrating look at an extract
from R. Hughes’ novel “A cyclone in Jamaica” (Bachelard 1961: 131-132).
According to the novel: “Emily had played at making a house in a nook
right at the front of the ship [...]. Tired of this game, she was walking
aimlessly backwards when the sudden thought occurred to her that she was
her...” Bachelard notices that the novelist leaves us to our hunger, without
specifying the dreams of the girl in her little house on the corner. However,
the philosopher suggests that it is precisely these “local reveries”, repressed
by the author and neglected under the sign of an indifferent “game”, which
triggered the subsequent awareness. We might add that this is not just
“corner daydreams”, but more precisely corner play daydreams”, that is, “a
game on the fringes”. The girl withdraws to move away from the adult
universe represented by the enormous ship, just like the girls of Ikenwèn
who frequent out of need and/or out of necessity, the ends of their parents’
world. It seems that the local players are withdrawing to prepare for their
entry into the world.

51
For a detailed description of the modalities of this storage cf. Fassoulas et al. 2020.

605
3.1.3 Task sharing

The sexual division of the production of small plastic and the concomitant
territorial division do not exhaust the question of operational organization.
Girls and boys hardly form homogeneous and undivided groups, allegedly
including all members of the same sex. Each village, depending on its size,
may have several groups of players, with kinship and neighborhood being
of paramount importance in forming these groups. However, these groups
form small, quite stable communities constituting the basis of children's
social organization (Rossie 2005/2013: 135-136). Within these play groups
of such varying sizes, cooperative relationships as well as hierarchical
relationships begin to develop 52. These relationships form a fabric on which
a division of tasks relating to the manufacture of toys is operated.
Following the example of the Ikenwèn girls, we first notice that within a
group of players and when the making of clay toys starts, several sub-
groups can emerge testifying to real cooperation. This cooperation is the
result of specialization in production, which is nonetheless associative,
since each subgroup of girls is responsible for making a single type of toy.
Here we are dealing with a fragmented production in which each group
fulfills a part of the collective work. The sharing is done according to the
skill or desire of each sub-group which then engages in the making of the
agreed toys, starting with the preparation of the dough. Once the toys are
dry – and perhaps also decorated – the initial group meets by bringing
together the different productions, for common firing.
However, each group has its own hierarchical structure, with the
dominant girls taking more initiative and managing the division of labor.
These are the older girls who are usually more skilled at making clay toys,
surrounded by a nebula of younger girls nonetheless aspiring to participate,
learn and become members of the group (see below). The latter girls take
on often “auxiliary” tasks (bringing water, collecting fuel, etc.), mainly
seeking to be available to older girls. In the event, that two important
operations must be done in parallel (e.g. decoration of toys and
construction of the taghouni), the mode of sharing is decided between the

52
For this question of hierarchical and cooperative relationships in children cf. Racine 1978: 15-23. See
also the very important works of Parten 1932, Parten 1933a, Parten 1933b, Piaget 1965, Piaget & Inhelder
1966, Montagner 1974, Holt 1976.

606
dominant girls of the group. Unfortunately, the lack of relative information
prevents us from saying more about this aspect, which is essential for
understanding the production of children's little plastic.

3.2 The educational function of toy making

That play has an extremely important role in children's education has been
repeatedly emphasized 53. Play is vital, essential for developing children's
physical and mental aptitudes, their creativity, and their personality (Dolto
1994, Brougère 1995). The two fundamental theoretical essays by J.
Huizinga (Huizinga 1951) and R. Caillois (Caillois 1967a) have been able
to show in an incomparable way the acculturative role of play in the
process of ontogeny but also, more generally, of anthropogenesis. Although
the scarcity of generalist theories has been well noted (Hamayon 2012: 45),
studies in ethnology54, in educational sciences55, psychology56 or
anthropology57, which deal with the question of play in the development of
children, are legion.
Since very early on, ethnological research has realized that the evocation
of everyday life is constant and occupies an essential place in children's
play58. It would be a transcultural phenomenon, more clearly manifested in
so-called traditional societies59.
In the play of Saharan and North African children, toys and games
inspired by the world of adults, domestic chores, and subsistence activities,
are endless. Boys and girls use all kinds of materials to have fun by

53
Harkness and CM Super (1986: 96) do not fail to quote a finding by HB Schwartzman from the 1970s:
“[…] the idea that children's play has the important function of serving as practice or rehearsal for adult
activities has become “one of the most commonly accepted explanations in the literature” (Schwartzman
1978: 100)”. C. Duflo, for his part, agrees: "... if we are told that play is an essential dimension of human
existence, we will not be surprised. We may even have the impression of hearing a commonplace - at
least nothing very revolutionary and which upsets our habits of thought: the importance of the notion of
play is an acquired idea (translated from French)”(Duflo 1997: 6).
54
Centner 1963, Sillar 1994
55
Claparède 1916, Vygotski 1978, Decroly & Monchamp 1937, Sylva 1977.
56
We limit ourselves here to mentioning a few main authors such as Bett 1926, Hirn 1929, Piaget 1927,
Bruner et al. 1976, Château 1967, Millar 1968, Gutton 1973.
57
Sutton-Smith 1979 and 1997.
58
For some examples cf. Hambly 1926, Béllin 1963, Gabus 1958, Béart 1955, Mandel & Brenier-Estrine
1977, Ochsenschlager 1998, Coquet 2012.
59
As B. Sutton-Smith rightly points out « the more traditional the society, the more likely the toys is a
simulacrum of an adult occupation […] », Sutton-Smith 1997: 155.

607
creatively imitating social relationships, behaviors, occupations, rituals,
customs, and beliefs of adults, anything that appeals to their attention
(Béart 1955, Bellin 1963, Rossie 2005/2013, 2008, 2013). It is precisely
through this creative imitation, through this appropriation and
representation of the adult world that children socialize and gradually
incorporate the fundamental aspects of their community.
Here we again observe the “classic” division between girls and boys,
since each sex refers to different activities and behaviors. Girls’ games are
largely inspired by home and household, while boys’ games are mainly
based on technology and economic activities. This divergence of interests
in make-believe play60 between boys and girls is also reflected in the
production of clay toys. Dolls, utensils and kitchen equipment, ovens and
tables for serving meals are, as we have seen, essentially the business of
girls and are involved in games such as the dinner play, the playhouse, and
games celebrating motherhood or marriage. On the other hand, the boys
move towards the representation of animals and technical objects, in a
context of games referring to a multitude of male activities.
Nevertheless, the importance of the making of toys by the children in the
transmission and socialization of individuals, and the role of this whole
technical-playful procedure through which the children’s universe
materializes in concrete forms, are – except in extremely rare cases –
completely ignored by research 61.
In fact, the educational role of play activities seems to start when the
toys are already made, already finished. However, because we want to
consider the play activity and the production of toys as two inseparable
activities, sometimes even completely concordant, we will endeavor to
address the question of the educational dimension as a whole.

60
Or “simulacrum games” according to the term used by R. Caillois (Caillois 1967a).
61
For one of these exceptions cf. Coquet 2009. The author takes a serious interest in conceiving the
relationship between the construction of clay cattle figurines and the gradual incorporation of social rules
and familiarization with living animals. See also Khanna 1992 where the making of a multitude of Indian
toys is described with precision. On the other hand, R. Pinon, although he tackles the subject of the
creation of toys, refers more to the appearance, or even the invention, of various playful objects than to
their actual manufacture. (cf. Pinon 1967: 307- 312).

608
3.2.1 The role of parents and older children

Play is an area reserved for children, an area in which adults rarely or

indirectly intervene. Research has so far revealed only a few rare situations
where there is a desire on the part of parents to teach their children a certain
task through play62 towards which they are rather indifferent. In our
Moroccan study region, if mothers want their daughters to be trained in
domestic chores, they are not directly involved in learning. In fact,
Moroccan adults intervene in children’s play, when they are too disturbed,
when children call for their help or when the situation becomes really
dangerous. However, the age of the child plays an important role. Young
children play much more often with their parents, especially their mother,
grandmother, or older sisters. Although caring for children is a woman’s
business, male family members are not entirely absent from these
spontaneous games. J.-P. Rossie offers us particularly good examples of
playful interactions between fathers and these children, showing that the
alleged lack of interest on the part of fathers in these children must be more
nuanced (Rossie 2005a or 2005/2013: 120-121). These interactions do not
concern, however, a conscious will to train the child, but rather a carefree
and distractive play. Moreover, there are few examples of parents making
toys for their children and when this happens it is more in the context of
religious holidays (Rossie 2005a and 2005/2013: 125).
The influence of parents on their young children is not limited to playful
relationships but concerns a wider and more variable contact. It is notable
that children from infancy are never isolated, but in constant contact with
their parents and therefore, their daily activities (Rossie 2005: 124). Parents
thus influence children’s play activities indirectly, involuntarily, and most
likely unconsciously. There is no doubt that this period in the child’s life,
apart from its general educational importance, has a major impact on the
formation of children’s play repertoire. The penetrating and long
observation of the daily life of his elders extends, more or less intensively,
throughout the life of the child, thus constituting a pillar of learning 63.

62
For this aspect cf. for example Smerdel 2014 and apprenticeship in agricultural work.
63
W.-N. Kellogg as part of his study of comparative primate psychology "Monkey and Child" makes a
series of observations on learning. As he observes the human child and the monkey child staring at a
worker working outside the house, he finds that the human child stays much longer, appearing very
interested in what he sees, while the monkey quickly leave the window. The human child's ability to

609
 Of course, we are dealing here with informal learning, a transmission
outside of school and its more formal context, starting even before it. The
lack of schooling being a common phenomenon until quite recently
especially for girls, the observation of parents and related games were the
only means of educating children, moreover particularly effective. By
learning about adult life, the child also learns to play and vice versa64.
On the other hand, learning is provided by older children. The older the
child, the less the parents are directly involved in his play activities. This is
mainly due to the progressive distance of the child from his home and his
subsequent attachment to a playgroup. The integration of the child into a
group of peers favors the weakening of the attachment relationship with his
mother and other family members (Racine 1978: 9). In villages and popular
class areas of cities65, older children play a key role in the transmission of
the non-verbal and verbal content of games, their course as well as the
technical knowledge, behaviors and values that relate to them. The close
family and neighborhood relations between the players certainly promote
this transmission. As we have seen above, from the age of seven the child
engages in collective play activities; however, its integration into the
groups of players is gradual. Initially a passive spectator of the play of the
older ones, he must undergo a kind of apprenticeship before being fully
admitted into the group (UNESCO 1979: 10). Thus, the initiation into the
life of the group goes hand in hand with the initiation into the play
activities. Khalija Jariaa, since 2002 a collaborator of J.-P. Rossie, draws
from her childhood an ideal example to outline the course of such
procedure66.
When she was about eight years old Khalija wanted to learn “how to do
it”, but for that she had to get closer to an older girl, like her eleven-year-
old neighbor Zohra, who was well informed. To infiltrate this playgroup,
Khalija offered to thoroughly clean the large stone-lined playhouse that this
playgroup was using for make-believe games. As Khalija became a

observe penetratingly and attentively all around him had a clear impact on imitation games where the
human child was found to be much more adept than his fellow monkey (Kellogg & Kellogg 1936: 47 and
51-60).
64
This leads us to address, first, the existence of learning to play and play, and then to consider a deep
relationship between this learning and the observation of adult activities. We will come back to this aspect
later. (cf. infra).
65
Observations by J.-P. Rossie since 1992.
66
J.-P. Rossie, personal communication.

610
member of this group, she could observe a bit how to make colors for
decoration, to apply spurge milk and fire clay toys. However, Zohra sent
her away when she was only watching. It was not until Khalija started
helping Zohra that Zohra began to give her specific instructions. For
example, when the flowers that Khalija had picked to make a color were
not adequate, Zohra would tell her precisely and concretely which flowers
should be used67.
The learning of technical know-how is based as much on demonstration,
observation, and participation as on verbal instruction. One of the four
videos made in early 2002 in Sidi Ifni shows a six-year-old boy and his ten-
year-old brother creating some cardboard toys like a car or a playhouse.
The little brother watches his older brother carefully and sometimes helps
him. From time to time, the older brother draws the attention of his younger
brother to how to construct certain parts of the toys (Rossie & Daoumani
2007a). In the case of making clay toys, the participation and direct
involvement of smaller children at different stages of the operating chain
seems essential. Finding good soil, water, pebbles for the preparation of
colors, flowers, fuels, or flat stones for the construction of taghouni are
among the tasks in which it is compulsory to participate, in order to be part
of the group who will make and play with the clay toys.

3.2.2 Learn to play, learn for playing

Let us stay a little more on this dialectical aspect of the educational

function of play based on the strong interaction between the child and the
group of players of which he is a member or, at least, asks to be. We notice
from the start that the child is a dynamic actor, energetically acting in the
process of his integration into the group of players. J. Piaget has, moreover,
for a long time already emphasized that the child does not acquire
knowledge by passive absorption but by active experimentation, thus

67
We can compare the course and the modalities of the transmission of ludic know-how to these forms
of dialectical learning conceptualized under the term of community of practice (cf. Lave & Wenger 1991,
Wenger 1998, Wenger et al. 2002 and also Gosselain 2011a). We therefore observe from the outset that
all the key concepts of this theoretical approach are clearly present: mutual engagement, learning by
gradual and centripetal participation according to which the new adepts floating at the beginning in a
peripheral zone gradually become members of a community, lack of direct education and - perhaps most
important - a concomitant learning of a whole savoir-vivre (cf. infra).

611
freeing him, once and for all, from his powerlessness and passivity68.
Because we must always take into account that the function of the game is
not simply educational, but above all self-educational (Krou 1973: 9) and
that the child shows a clear desire to learn being also a clear impulse to
play.
We will never be able to understand how the will to play is so intimately
linked with the will to learn if we insist on seeing play only as a
distraction69. S. Freud, taking a much more stimulating look at play,
underlines that all children's games “are conditioned by a desire which
plays a predominant role: the desire to be grown-ups and to be able to
behave like adults” (Freud 1948: 16). The game therefore satisfies - always
temporarily - the desire to cook, to become a shepherd, to get married, to
have children etc. Soviet psychologist L. Vygotsky agrees, noting that
“play is such that the explanation for it must always be interpreted as the
imaginary, illusory realization of unrealizable desires” (Vygotsky 1985:
539). The joy displayed during games derives precisely from their essential
function of being able to reduce tensions arising from the impossibility of
fulfilling desires, thus constituting “a vital safety valve” (UNESCO 1979: 7
and 14)70. How, then, can the need to be an adult be satisfied if one does
not carefully observe the practices of the entourage to imitate them as
faithfully as possible? Isn’t it through this imitation that one becomes an
adult? Isn’t it through the continuous improvement of this imitation that
one becomes a little more adult than before? Play can thus be considered as
the expression of a child’s desire to learn to be an adult71.

68
Cf. Piaget 1936. It is on this principle that the pedagogical current of New Education, resulting among
other things from the pedagogy of Adolf Ferrière, was founded (for more information on this current cf.
Bloch 1948, Ottavi et al. 2004).
69
Cf. also Hamayon 2012: 45. This postulate, dominant in contemporary related works, stems from a
basic bisection in the industrialized Western world between serious school and unproductive and childish
play or, more broadly, between work and leisure. “Because the traditional school is founded on the idea
that when the child begins to learn to read, write, calculate, as soon as it is a question of imparting
knowledge with a view to acquiring diplomas, play is nothing more than a puerile activity, made to fill
free time, to rest from muscular and cerebral fatigue (translated from French)” (UNESCO 1979: 19).
70
From this point of view, playing is very close to dreaming, cf. also Gutton 1973: 1.
71
We are aware that this analysis can be seen as a critical look at the vision of play as a self-sufficient
activity, desirable in itself and having no other goal than itself. There is, of course, a part of truth in this
idea - resulting moreover from the romantic critique of utilitarianism and the rationalism of modernity
brought by Schiller - since it highlights the often implicit or tacit character (see subconscious) of
motivation to gamble. Indeed, the child while playing never has a conscious goal of becoming an adult,
which would lead us to consider play as a utilitarian activity and therefore give in to naive utilitarianism.
The child plays, quite simply, for the sake of the game. But the question we are trying to address here is:

612
 However, this effort also has a technical aspect. Becoming an adult is a
skill, a skill to play, if we dare say it. It is never just about “playing”, but
“playing well”, “playing better”. These value judgments, which may seem
meaningless to us, are however of great importance to children. Indeed, if
we take a closer look, we will see that the claim of quality is at the heart of
the play activity. The little boy tries to imitate as closely as possible the
lion’s walk or the dog’s bark. The little girl grinds her sand very
meticulously, as if she is not just imitating her mother's activity, but also
her attitude. Both seek to improve, seek to learn from someone else who
knows better. J.-P. Rossie gives us a very eloquent example: “Khalija says
that for a while she observed closely how an old woman prepared argan oil
and then began to imitate it. One day Khalija's mother watched her
fourteen-year-old daughter without her knowing. Seeing that she was well
versed in how to playfully make amelu, her mother told her that now she
could help prepare real amelu” (Rossie 2008: 225). The girl in the example
very consciously strives to learn the gestures of an old woman and thus
acquires, by imitation and gradual improvement, all the know-how of the
preparation of the amelu.
Although this analysis offers a framework for thinking about imitation
games that use clay toys, it cannot extend to the manufacture of toys. Why
do children engage in learning such demanding technical know-how? If the
motive of the play activity is none other than to have fun or even to rest,
this behavior is paradoxical. The search for pleasure is therefore raised
once again. Especially because during the manufacturing process the child-
modelers, the child-manufacturers are particularly serious72. Indeed,
children are often serious when they play 73. Like chess players who show
great concentration and are engrossed in the game74, the girls who play at
dinner, who dress their dolls or who paint their utensils, testify to an

why the child, in the context of play, shows a need to learn to play and to learn at all. A question that we
consider, moreover, to be very closely linked to a second: where does the pleasure of playing come from?
72
This does not of course prevent you from observing from time-to-time funny things, teasing etc.
73
As H. Firth notes in his latest work: « … social pretend play with peers are more like serious business
[…]. When a 2- to 3-year-old boy plays airplane with a wooden stick, he is seriously intent on what he is
doing » (Firth 1996: 10). For his part, P. Béllin maintains, in a rather provocative manner, that seriousness
is characteristic of puerile activities (Béllin 1963: 48). In the end, play and seriousness only become an
oxymoron if one insists on reducing play to frivolous fun.
74
Although J. Huizinga is quite contradictory concerning the relationship between play and seriousness
(thus showing his embarrassment), he mentions at the same time that the game is able to totally absorb the
player (Huizinga 1951: 31).

613
extraordinary rigor. Sometimes you only must watch the eyes of children
making their toys, to see the seriousness of their involvement.
This ‘serious’ dimension75 of playing is even more obvious when
making toys. Children plan their work and implement real ‘constructive’
projects. They share tasks, negotiate this sharing, argue, and come up with
tips to achieve specific goals. When at work, they show themselves
concentrated, absorbed in the making of their play object. There is certainly
fun in all these activities. But there is no pleasure about this fun. It seems to
us that it is closer to the joyfulness of the craftsman or, better, to joyfulness
generated by the aspiration for success, namely the attainment of the
desired result76. It is, in other words, the pleasure of “being able to do
something”. The manufacturing process – and sometimes even the game –
is deeply imbued with this type of pleasure, not especially “ludic”, yet
essential.
The child wants the society of his peers. Being at the periphery of a
playgroup, namely at the periphery of the society of children, he has no
other way of accessing the center of this group than by learning to play.
Moreover, older children do not always want to reveal their technical
“secrets” so easily, a finding that calls for Mr. Crozier’s analyzes according
to which “the possession of these skills transmitted within a group, and
jealously preserved, is also a source of power that one seeks to maintain”
(Crozier 1963, cited by Leplat & Pailhous 1981: 277). We have seen it in
the example of Khalija and her neighbor Zohra (see above): the girl should
help the older girl so that she is admitted to the group. But helping also
means participating and therefore learning to do and do well. It is exactly
this observation that F. Sigaut highlights in an excellent way, noting that
“knowledge is always shared knowledge, it is a social identifier. Learning
is not only acquiring knowledge, it is also, and above all perhaps,
becoming a member of the social group where this knowledge is present”
(Sigaut 2012: 150). Thus, becoming a member of a group involves
acquiring the knowledge shared within this group.

75
We think it necessary to clarify our point by stressing that the notion of rigor and seriousness, the way
it is used here, has little to do with that of "serious game". And this because the rapporteurs of the term
start from a fundamental dissociation between play and seriousness (educational) and thus endeavor to
reconcile them by developing educational games (for more information on this subject cf. Alvarez 2007,
Alvarez & Djaouti 2012, Brougère 2012).
76
For the very important concept of the pleasure of success cf. Sigaut 2012 and Procopiou 2013.

614
 Learning a skill therefore turns out to be both a driving force and a
condition of the play. Thus, the fact of learning should no longer be
considered as a side effect, the unintended consequence of the play, but
above all as a conscious and substantial concern. Children do not only learn
by playing, but they also learn to play.

3.2.3 Ludic immersion in society

Children, having fun through play and making and handling toys, learn
about the physical and human reality around them and socialize. They learn
skills that will be essential to them in the future. “The play experience
provides the child with two kinds of knowledge: knowledge of the outside
world and knowledge of himself. To slide on loose sand, astride a flat
stone, is to become aware not only of gravity, but also of the importance of
friction and of the law of greatest slope” (Béllin 1963: 102). The girls learn
to sift, knead, grate, grind, collect fuel, paint, build and use an oven, make
oil, bake bread. They become familiar with storage devices. The boys learn
to negotiate, take care of the herds, build walls, make hatches and vehicles.
They also try to make and use tools, they discipline their bodies, and they
develop skills through repetitive practice. By playing, children enter the
technical universe of their community and its socio-cultural connotations 77.
If we use the verbs “sift”, “knead” or “grate” without complement, there
is a reason. By making toys, the child learns to carry out concrete tasks: to
“sift the earth”, to “grind the coal” and to “fire clay utensils". However, this
knowledge is part of a more fundamental knowledge, that of material
reality, of the intimacy of substances, of the quality of things. He is
introduced to the notion of malleability, hardness, resistance, viscosity,
aridity, fluidity and solidity, plasticity, and rigidity78. As R. W. Emerson
wrote: “Manual labor is the study of the outside world”79. Children learn
little by little, by experimental trial and error (Freinet 1968: 39-42), the
properties of plants, stones, earth, fire and the behavior of animals. It is
precisely this implicit knowledge that allows them not only to sift the earth

77
For the especially important issue of acquiring technical skills, as well as for the role of practical
involvement and shared experience in this procedure cf. Bourdieu 1980, Leplat & Pailhous 1981, Leplat
1988, Lave 1988, Sigaut 2009, Gosselain 2011.
78
Cf. also Bachelard 1982: 17-35
79
Cited in Bachelard op.cit. 339

615
or to mix the powder of the dry leaves with water, but to sift and mix quite
generally80.
The making of toys and the game itself represent processes
encompassing know-how whose transmission is by no means limited to the
acquisition of technical knowledge. Transmission of cultural meanings,
values, social status, and roles accompanies this acquisition. This know-
how is rather transmitted by observation, imitation, and impregnation. Play
activities distill the norms of society in children. Learning tasks, as well as
learning the distribution of these tasks by age and gender, is a complex
process. Through the adult roles that older children stage in pretend play,
young children learn about female and male occupations, marriage, parties,
and rituals.81 The learning of know-how is above all that of a “savoir-vivre”
(Chevalier 1991). “The bases of symbolic knowledge, that is, the premises
of scientific conception, the sense of custom, authority and morality, are
instilled by the family. Later, the child is welcomed by a group of comrades
who trains him to do like everyone else, to sacrifice to custom and
protocol” wrote B. Malinowski, this way describing the child’s integration
of the rules of life in society (Malinowski 1968: 86). Because playing
means, at the same time, participating in a group, becoming a member of a
group of players, and consequently situating oneself in relation to others
while determining one’s personal status within hierarchical structures
(UNESCO 1979: 14).
That it be considered as an activity “outside everyday life” (Huizinga
1951), fundamentally useless, even unproductive, and therefore devoted to
entertainment, as suggested by J. Huizinga, R. Caillois, B. Sutton-Smith
and G. Brougère, or else as an activity deeply rooted in everyday life, and
engaged in an organic relationship with culture, according to Cl. Geertz, J.
Henriot, V. Turner, C. Lévi-Strauss and R. Hamayon, there is yet a general
consensus on the acculturative role of play82. However, this immersion in
80
We could possibly bring this type of knowledge closer to the open abilities of H. Wallaert-Pêtre (see
also Leplat 1988), namely skills that are easily transposable and adaptable from one technical activity to
another, without being able to confirm the correspondence proposed by the author between type of
knowledge and type of learning (observation/imitation for close abilities and trial-error for open abilities,
cf. Wallaert-Pêtre 2001).
81
According to R. Sennet's truly relevant sentence, play constitutes this “everopen telephone line
connecting childhood [training in games] to adult roles as priests, sales representatives, urban planners,
or politicians.” (Sennett 2008: 270).
82
This thesis even goes so far as to argue that play is a generator of culture and that a number of
institutions and social relations are derived from or are intimately imbued with play and the playful spirit

616
socio-cultural reality stems from an appropriation of this reality. This point
seems extremely important to us to understand the deeply creative nature of
the phenomenon. The child does not mechanically absorb social norms
either by conscious imitation or by unconscious reproduction of adult
behaviors and roles, but, on the contrary, he interprets them in his own
way. J.-P. Rossie seems well aware of this essential difference between
passive absorption and creative assimilation, speaking not of imitation but
of children's interpretation of the adult world. To this end, he uses W.
Corsaro's notion of interpretive reproduction – as G. Brougère rightly
remarks (cf. Brougère 2008: 17) – which reflects this active participation in
the reproduction of culture on the part of the child 83. Playing is thus a way
of approaching the world. J. Piaget is among the first to advance a vision of
play as an appropriation of reality. In this regard, he emphasizes that “most
games allow the Ego to assimilate the whole of reality: reproduce what
struck you, evoke what pleased, participate more closely in the
atmosphere” (Piaget 1941: 162). He thus joins Freud who notes that “each
child who plays behaves like a poet, insofar as he creates his own world, or
to speak more exactly, he arranges the things of his world according to a
new order, at his convenience.” (Freud 1985: 34). The child rearranges the
things around him to create a coherent whole, a whole that makes sense. Cl.
Geertz, remarkably close to the Freudian analysis, notes that the game, like
any form of art works in a similar way to King Lear or Crime and
Punishment, namely that it deals with themes like death, rage, masculinity
etc. and arranges them in a coherent way, to highlight an understanding of
their essentiality (Geertz 1973: 443-444)84. So, we can say that the
acculturation of the child can be seen as a procedure for making sense of
the world.

(for this aspect see also Cazeneuve 1967) . Within this framework the analysis formulated by H. Arendt
and C. Castoriadis (inspired by J. Burckhardt and then F. Nietzche), according to which the agonistic
ideal is a constitutive element of democracy and the balance of the city. The essential role of competitive
games (agôn), the essential spring of which is wrestling, has been well put forward by these thinkers (see
for information Shaap 2009, Arendt 1983, Castoriadis 2004: 155-160, Nietzsche 1975. For an excellent
synthesis on competitive games (cf. Vernes 1967).
83
For this concept cf. Corsaro 1992, 2012.
84
This transformative function of play possibly stems from a faculty of voluntary hallucination,
according to Bergson's formula (cf. Bergson 1932: 104-105), very strong in the child who, taken by his
plays activity and duped by illusion, metamorphoses the world (Henriot 1969: 87).

617
List of illustrations of appendix 1

520. Domestic ovens, p. 543, Ikenwèn, 2013, photo Argyris Fassoulas.

521. White earth (avza), p. 547, Ikenwèn, 2015, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
522. Girl kneading already wet clay earth next to a wadi, p. 549, Douar
Ouaraben, 2015, photo Khalija Jariaa.
523. The already wet clay earth besides a wadi, p. 549, Douar Ouaraben,
2015, photo Khalija Jariaa.
524. Collection of clay earth, p. 550, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
525. Separation of coarse elements by gravitation, p. 551, Douar
Ouaraben, 2013, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
526. Manual sorting of unwanted items, p. 552, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
527. Crushing of clay earth, p. 552, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
528. Kneading of the clay earth, p. 553, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
529. Kneading the clay earth, p. 553, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
530. So-called ant couscous, p. 555, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
531. So-called ant couscous, p. 555, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
532. The so-called broken earth, p. 555, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
533. The so-called broken earth, p. 555, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
534. Modeling the central trunk of a doll, p. 557, Douar Ouaraben, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
535. Application of breasts to a doll, p. 557, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
536. Pre-shaping a doll's leg, p. 558, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
537. Assembling a leg using a pin, p. 558, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.

618
538. Application of the belly on a doll, p. 559, Douar Ouaraben, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
539. Assembling the head using a pin, p. 559, Douar Ouaraben, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
540. Assembling a doll's arm, p. 560, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
541. Indication of details using a twig, p. 560, Douar Ouaraben, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
542. Preparation of the hair (reed leaf), p. 561, Douar Ouaraben, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
543. Reed leaf treatment, p. 561, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
544. Junction of the hair on a doll, p. 561, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
545. Feminine clay doll, p. 562, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
546. Clay-core shaping of a mortar pestle, p. 563, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
547. Clay-core shaping of a mortar pestle, p. 563, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
548. Clay-core shaping of a mortar pestle, p. 563, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
549. Clay-core shaping of a mortar pestle, p. 563, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
550. Shaping by molding of a domestic oven, p. 565, Douar Ouaraben,
2013, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
551. A twig used as a tool becomes a handle, p. 565, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
552. A twig used as a tool becomes a handle, p. 565, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
553. Clay-core shaping of a mortar shovel, p. 568, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
554. Clay-core shaping of a mortar shovel, p. 568, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
555. Clay-core shaping of a mortar shovel, p. 568, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.

619
556. Clay-core shaping of a mortar shovel, p. 568, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
557. Clay-core shaping of a mortar shovel, p. 569, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
558. Clay-core shaping of a mortar shovel, p. 569, Douar Ouaraben, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
559. Repair of a utensil using a clay dilution made by the "ant couscous",
p. 571, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
560. Repair of a utensil using a clay dilution made by the "ant couscous",
p. 571, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
561. Repair of a utensil using a clay dilution made by the "ant couscous",
p. 571, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
562. Repair of a utensil using a clay dilution made by the "ant couscous",
p. 571, Douar Ouaraben, 2013, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
563. Decoration in black, p. 573, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
564. Decoration in black, p. 574, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
565. Black coal powder, p. 574, Douar Ouaraben, Tiznit region, 2013,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
566. Oven decorated in black, p. 575, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
567. Small white flowers tzzeladar, p. 576, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
568. Making an improvised two-piece grater, p. 577, Douar Ouaraben,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
569. Making an improvised two-piece grater, p. 577, Douar Ouaraben,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
570. Making an improvised two-piece grater, p. 577, Douar Ouaraben,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
571. Making an improvised two-piece grater, p. 578, Douar Ouaraben,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
572. The ifzi plant, p. 578, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
573. Grating ifzi leaves, p. 579, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.

620
574. Grating ifzi leaves, p. 579, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
575. Preparation of green powder with dry herbs, p. 580, Douar Ouaraben,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
576. Preparation of green powder with dry herbs, p. 580, Douar Ouaraben,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
577. Preparation of green powder with dry herbs, p. 580, Douar Ouaraben,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
578. Preparation of green powder with dry herbs, p. 580, Douar Ouaraben,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
579. Decoration of a toy utensil with green powder, p. 580, Douar
Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
580. Decoration of a toy utensil with green powder, p. 580, Douar
Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
581. The yellow color obtained from yellow flowers, p. 582, Douar
Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
582. The yellow color obtained from yellow flowers, p. 582, Douar
Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
583. Decoration in yellow, p. 582, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
584. Decoration in yellow, p. 582, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
585. Design of patterns with the stem of a flower (gray on yellow), p. 584,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
586. Design of patterns with the stem of a flower (black on green), p. 584,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
587. Design of patterns with the stem of a flower (black on green), p. 584,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
588. Design of patterns with the stem of a flower (black on green), p. 584,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
589. Design of patterns with the stem of a flower (black on green), p. 584,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
590. Incised decoration, p. 586, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris
Fassoulas.
591. The plant Euphorbia virosa (tikiwt), p. 587, Douar Ouaraben, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.

621
592. The plant Euphorbia virosa (tikiwt), p. 587, Douar Ouaraben, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
593. Application of spurge "milk", p. 588, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
594. Application of spurge "milk", p. 588, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
595. Drying a clay toy in a shaded place, p. 591, Douar Ouaraben, 2016,
photo Argyris Fassoulas.
596. Closing of the domestic oven used to bake clay toys, p. 593, Ikenwèn,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
597. Closing of the domestic oven used to bake clay toys, p. 593, Ikenwèn,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
598. Closing of the domestic oven used to bake clay toys, p. 594, Ikenwèn,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
599. Closing of the domestic oven used to bake clay toys, p. 594, Ikenwèn,
2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
600. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 596,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
601. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 596,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
602. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 596,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
603. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 596,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
604. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 596,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
605. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 596,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
606. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 596,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
607. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 597,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
608. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 597,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
609. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 597,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.

622
610. Construction and use of the taghouni oven made by the girls, p. 597,
Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo Argyris Fassoulas.
611. Closure of the taghouni, p. 598, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
612. Closure of the taghouni, p. 598, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.
613. Closure of the taghouni, p. 598, Douar Ouaraben, 2016, photo
Argyris Fassoulas.

623
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Alvarez J. & Djaouti D. 2012, Introduction au Serious game, Paris :

Questions théoriques.

Arendt H. 1983, Condition de l’homme moderne, Paris : Calmann-Lévy.

Bachelard G. 1961 [1957], La poétique de l’espace, Paris : PUF.

Bachelard G. 1982, La terre et les rêveries de la volonté, Paris : José Corti.

Bachelard G. 1991, L’eau et les rêves, Paris : José Corti.

Balfet H., Fauvet-Berthelot M.F. & Monzon S. 1989 [1983], Lexique et

typologie des poteries: Pour la normalisation de la description des
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Béart C. 1963, Jeux et jouets de l’Ouest Africain (Mémoires de l’Institut

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Bellin P. 1955, L’enfant saharien à travers ses jeux, Journal de la Société

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Bergson H. 1932, Les deux sources de la morale et de la religion, Paris :

PUF.

Bett H. 1926, The games of children, London: Methuen.

Bloch M.- A. 1948, Philosophie de l’éducation nouvelle, Paris : PUF.

624
Blondel N. 2014, Céramique, vocabulaire technique, Paris : Éditions du
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Bourdieu, P. 1980, Le sens pratique, Paris : Éditions de Minuit.

Brougère G. 1995, Jeu et éducation, Paris : L’Harmattan.

Brougère G. 2008, Préface. In Rossie J. –P., Cultures Ludiques

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Brougère G. 2012, « Le jeu peut-il être sérieux ? Revisiter Jouer/Apprendre

en temps de serious game », Australian Journal of French Studies 49(2):
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Bruner J. S., Jolly H., & SylvaK (éds) 1976 [1933], Play: Its role in
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Appendix 2

Children as toy makers and toy users:

Television relevance in Anti-Atlas rural child play

Luisa Magalhães and Jean-Pierre Rossie

Centre for Philosophical and Humanistic Studies

Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences
Catholic University of Portugal, Braga

2021

637
INTRODUCTION

Within the scientific area of communication sciences, communication

sociology seems to emerge as a preferential field in studying play and toys
in interactive play contexts. Playing, with or without toys, is an extremely
important activity for children’s development. It provides the opportunity
to create, choose and exchange roles and situations that often reflect real
life contexts. In consumption societies these roles are also frequently
inspired by media contents and then television viewing is of major
relevance. This we call mediated play.
The interest in the topic of mediated play arose when in the beginning
of February 2011 Khalija Jariaa, the local research assistant (endnote),
reported about the play activity of some boys in Ikenwen, a Moroccan
Anti-atlas village. The recent electrification of Anti-Atlas villages has made
television viewing easily available as provider of news and entertainment.
So, children gained daily access to TV programs. It remains to be proved
that television can also become a source for Moroccan and other non-
western children to develop their play activity using handmade as well as
industrial toys, and by choosing play characters from television series,
documentaries, and news items. Meanwhile, it became possible to observe
play activities under the media literacy perspective. This allowed research
to be conducted from a combined sociocultural anthropology and
communication sciences approach.
One of the observed players made a toy rescue helicopter representing
the rescue helicopters that saved people from the flood in the Casablanca
area which started on November 30th, 2010 and that he had watched on
some TV documentary. Remembering older examples of play activities
inspired by TV programs, Authors started to realize that probably a
fundamental change in the play world of Moroccan rural children was
taking place. Their play is based on TV programs about topics such as
European tourists visiting Morocco (observed in November 2007), the
police investigation of a gang of Moroccan hashish smugglers (observed in
August 2009), the Palestine-Israeli conflict (observed in December
2009), the above-mentioned flood in the Casablanca area (observed in
January 2011) and the commemoration of airplane pioneers flying from
Spain to Dakhla in the 1930s-1940s (observed in January 2011).

638
 As said above, it was only when Khalija showed how an Ikenwen boy
made a rescue helicopter picking up victims of the flood in the Casablanca
area – whereby some girls offered him their self-made doll becoming
rescued women – that the shift in source of inspiration for these children’s
play was recognised. This ‘discovery’ of the impact of TV on Anti-Atlas
children’s play was then shared with Luisa Magalhães.
In the analyzed example the topic for play comes from the
broadcasting of and subsequent commenting on a case of smuggling that
involved police investigation and eventual success. Two handmade police
cars are used as well as a plastic revolver and a plastic bag. One hour of
pretend play resulted in the mapping of 16 play scenes, along which there
were two movements of changing roles and one short break. Eight
characters were involved, played by four boys aged six to ten, plus one
other friend who intruded but did not get to play.
The village Ikenwen where this play activity of a group of boys took
place is in the region of the fast-growing coastal town Tiznit in
southwestern Morocco. The small village Ikenwen, where Khalija Jariaa
was born in 1975, forms together with several other villages the rural
commune Tighmi situated on the lower mountain slopes of the Anti-Atlas.
It is located at 29 km from Tiznit. Ikenwen has about 30 inhabited houses
and the about 150 inhabitants live for the larger part from agricultural and
livestock activities. There is a primary school with six classes. Ikenwen is
still somewhat traditional, but all houses have one or more TVs with
eventually up to four parabolic antennas. The number of TVs and parabolic
antennas in each house is explained by the number of nuclear families
living in one house and by the men and women looking to different
programs. Adults living in important Moroccan towns like Agadir,
Marrakech, and Casablanca or in Europe but grew up in this village, and
their children, surely influence the local adults and children when visiting
their village of origin.

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METHODOLOGY

Communication Sciences theories aim at understanding the processes of

communicating within human interaction. They consist in developing
research upon conviviality principles and finding out rules of
communication that explain fundamental issues in social interaction and in
social development.
Child play has powerful functions, among others for human
interaction. Yet, it often remains, for no good reasons, outside scholarly
research. In trying to describe and understand children’s play and toy
activities, ethnographic fieldwork has proved to be an adequate method.
When observation is supplemented with photographs and questioning the
players the gathered information becomes more accurate. The sociocultural
context in which the play activities take place being of primordial
importance, it is fortuitous that this specific research is part of a broader
investigation on Saharan, North African and Amazigh play and toy cultures
and that in the Anti-Atlas it is done in collaboration with locals.
(https://ucp.academia.edu/JeanPierreRossie).
In the context of this study, fieldwork provided data for analyzing the
following dimensions of human communicative interaction:
• The dimension of narrative, in which characters and actions shall be
dissected to reach the sequential organization of play scenes and their
value in space-time. This will allow us to understand the dynamics of
role play by identifying the elements that are involved.
• The dimension of mediated play, in which the role of receiver shall be
stressed to approach the recently acknowledged impact of television
viewing in Moroccan Anti-Atlas villages. This dimension shall try to
relate television viewing to the represented plot.
This study addresses some narrative concepts (Propp 2000) to establish a
starting point and to define play activities as narrative plots. Furthermore, it
develops some concepts of Roman Jakobson’s model (Jakobson 1963) that
relate to the corresponding contents regarding the elements of source,
reception, code, and context. Bridging between two different schools in
Communication Studies, Processual (Shannon 1949) and Semiotics (Peirce
1938-1958; Saussure 1978), this has proven to be an operative model for a
variety of reasons, one of these being its interest in the internal structure of
the exchanged messages.

640
THE NARRATIVE DIMENSION

In the consumption world the purchase of toys is common among adults

and play is often conditioned by the characteristics of each toy. An
industrial toy will define the play rules providing the children with an
instructional plan that they may follow or not. When instructions are
considered, play is somewhat ‘organized’ by the toy and its creators and
children’s activities are guided to obtain a certain result. So, the result of
the play activity may depend upon the type of toy, as it may define the play
themes and even organize the play context.
Play in the open air became a rare event for urban children in
consumption societies whereby inside play is the preferred modality. This
is due to safety reasons, as parents and other educators prefer to have the
children at home, in school or in other safe places than in the streets.
Because of this ‘enclosure’, children must stay inside and become
dependent on television and other media. Children’s leisure time is almost
totally controlled by adults, even in the sphere of play.
In consumption societies, television and other media are an important
element in children’s lives. In some extreme cases, television is considered
as a reliable babysitter, in the sense that it keeps children at home, at the
same time providing entertainment and safety. The viewed contents include
various formats, such as film and animated series, documentaries, and
advertising. So, children become viewers who strongly adhere to
broadcasted images, for example, of industrial toys, among other products.
Research data show that there is a strong conflict among educators
and industry about what needs to be done to control the tendency towards
consumption. However, the fact remains that as children continue to be
television addicts, they are unconsciously transforming themselves into
extremely demanding consumers whose power is feared by every adult.
Parental mediation and control seem to be the possible solution for this
problem, as well as physical outdoor exercise and dynamic outdoor play.
On the contrary, play in Moroccan Anti-Atlas villages is an open-air
activity, in which children react to real life contexts by interpreting them
through role play with little adult interference. However, quite recently
there also appears a different kind of role play based on images and
information broadcasted by television. This constitutes a specific change in
children’s interaction with the outside world. It implies that children

641
become aware of contexts that are distant from and foreign to them. It also
implies that they are informed through television about new worlds they are
acting out in play. These new worlds slowly but surely become part of
Moroccan rural children’s play and toy culture.
Ethnographic research shows the scope of themes that these children
usually develop in their play activities as being themes related to their
experience of real-life contexts. They are reported to play accordingly to
their view of adult occupations related for example to male and female
tasks, handcraft, transport, trade, ceremonies, and festivities. The
interesting part of the approach is that this play context can be said to be
inspired by television programs, in a rural zone where television has not yet
reached the pervasiveness it beholds in the western countries. The proposed
example refers to the representation of a police success in trapping an
important gang of hashish smugglers as broadcasted on television and
discussed upon by local adults.

The play actions

An ethnographic description of this play activity, with 11 photographs, is

found in “Moroccan boys’ play inspired by TV: The gendarmes and
hashish smugglers” (Rossie J.-P. & Jariaa Kh.) published as Appendix 2 in
Saharan and North African Toy and Play Cultures. Technical activities in
play, games and toys (Rossie, 2013, p. 344-355, available on
https://www.academia.edu/5180649).
Observation sees the boys staging characters and embodying attitudes
of either policemen or smugglers. They act ‘as if’, following the rules they
established through the model taken from both television and adult
references. Conflict was staged between the two poles, right and wrong,
and this led action to a final climax in which every boy became a
policeman, therefore sharing a final joy as direct consequence of their
morally ‘good’ performance. Meaning is conducted along the boys’
dialogues and is developed in communicative interactions based on the
acknowledgement of hierarchy and of moral behaviour. These boys seem to
have developed a strong sense of social justice because as soon as they
decided about the attitude that their characters would perform, they
transformed ‘bad’ characters into ‘good’ ones, and they agreed about the
correctness of the inflicted punishment.

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 A specific aspect of the play of these boys lies in the fact that they
transform themselves into characters evolving in the play scenes. When
toys are used, they are merely instruments that serve to reinforce the
intended action and its meaning.
The action of the characters staged by the boys involves dialogues in
which assertiveness and power are conveyed. This can be confirmed by the
expressions of binomial feelings of authority, respect, anger, fear, and
influence. The expression of these feelings creates processes that
correspond to communicative interactions framed by the conditions of
subordination, threat and command that underlie to the general context of
this play.
The boys move across exterior public areas and action is set in
narrative and fictional terms that include different characters and spatial
representations involving different forms of performance. However, it can
be observed that play motivation beholds an underlying link to TV contents
since boys perform manhunt following the TV program. Narrative
structures involve the nuclear occurrence of an action performed by some
characters against some others, within a spatial setting and a particular
time. The next section will therefore approach the characters at play. An
overview of the players, roles and characters is given on the last page.

Characters at play

Through play children enter an alternative universe that is related, among

others, to aspects of fantasy and freedom of choice. This allows the player
to be someone else because it allows him/her to stage roles largely
connected with the adult working world. Play also makes it possible to
choose between sceneries, sometimes coming from daily life, television,
readings, and adult conversations. Play characters may include the
representation of conflict, eventually implying the use of weapons and
special vehicles. In the boys’ play, two handmade police cars, and a plastic
revolver are used by male characters. There is also a constructed discourse
related to the creation of the gendarme/inspector character, a positive
character that every boy wants to play by the end of the activity.
Two major elements are at stake in the playful representation of
conflict. The first element consists of the set of characters containing
authoritative hierarchical features whereas the other characters lack these

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features. This is made evident by drivers using police cars, the expressed
attitudes and the communication processes developed during play. The
second element is related to the choice of the playground. In this play
conflict is represented outside in association with the public space where it
remains possible to give orders, threaten smugglers, fire a revolver, and put
criminals in prison.
The struggle between good and evil has been a widely used theme
since oral and written narrative plots were produced. In this case boys
reproduce this theme by creating play situations in which characters are
used to represent scenes of pursuing and chasing. This role play includes
both sides of the universal narrative scheme as the characters are chosen
under the hedge of some acknowledged stereotypes like the good: the
gendarme/inspector and the bad: the smuggler. Moreover, by the end of the
observation hour, it becomes evident that the smugglers are caught, as can
be assumed by inference since the two smugglers also become an inspector
and a gendarme at the end of the play, and the hashish is found by an
inspector. The boys act with a male attitude staging ‘protective’ characters
that are rewarding the right attitudes and punishing the wrong ones.

The gendarmes

Gendarmes can be considered as a police force designed to protect the

village people from outsiders and their possible threats. Therefore, playing
the gendarme serves as an expression of the boys’ choice between good
and evil, as well as a metaphoric representation of the power and authority
involved.
Along the scenes there are five gendarme/inspector characters that in
a first move, request, interrogate and threaten other characters. In a second
move, they instruct, command and release. At the end they search and find
what they are looking for, concluding play with a sense of fulfilled task,
through victory, culminating in the finding of the hashish.
The gendarme character fulfils six out of the eight conditions Frank
Hartley (1952: 27) elicited while referring to children’s play the first
condition being “to imitate adults”. The 2009 smuggling of hashish episode
of the documentary series “Barnamaz el-Buliz” or the “Police
Investigation” has led to the creation of this play activity which is taken as
an interpretation of the police search for smugglers. The ethnographer

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infers that both, television, adults, and older children were great sources for
this play activity. Based on this information the players became active
receivers accepting and interpreting information and being able to process
it in a way that allows for the working out of a make-believe play lasting
for more than an hour.
Hartley’s second condition stipulates “to play out real life roles in an
intense way” (1952: 27). Outdoor play is especially intense as it provides
movement and freedom of expression, both verbally and non-verbally.
Children can yell, scream, threaten and moan. So, play is intense and
provides a strong interaction between the boys.
“To reflect relationships and experiences” (Hartley, 1952: 27) is
perhaps one of the strongest behaviours enhanced by play. In this play
activity human relationships, albeit familiar, peer and professional, are an
expression of hierarchy and social power.
A good example of how these Anti-Atlas boys introduce their own
working conditions in play is found in the following scene. When
discussing the advantages and disadvantages of going to prison, the
younger player explains why he prefers prison: “Prison is better for me than
going daily to the mountains with the goats from eight in the morning till
six in the evening”, a task these boys must fulfil when not going to school.
From the beginning of the play activity, the players mirror adult
attitudes towards order, authority and hierarchy, adult attitudes that are
reinforced by television. In play as in the viewed television episode the
success of a police investigation depends upon teamwork, skill, audacity,
luck, and reliable testimonies.
The gendarmes reproduce already in the beginning of this play a
concern about finding the infamous smugglers when a gendarme requests
information from a youngster who immediately provides it. A sequence of
processes starts from this request leading to two culminating points. The
first culminating point occurs when the smugglers are found and put in
prison, the other culminating point happens when the inspector finds the
hashish. This ‘heroic’ deed promotes the inspector to big chief by the end
of the play activity.
The referred sequence of processes evidences a narrative movement in
which the gendarmes, as representative of the good, pursue the obtaining of
a reward. This movement coincides with an important characteristic of
children’s play and is consistent with the narrative effect of providing the

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expected end of the plot. It also expresses in play the underlying social
values of the player’s community. These values imply the punishment of
the bad ones and the rewarding of the good ones.
Processes expressing authority gradually become more intense. First a
gendarme starts by requesting information then an inspector interrogates,
threatens, and orders to put the smugglers in prison. The smugglers are
instructed to stay in prison, but they are released after a while. Finally, all
players become gendarmes and inspectors through a meaningful move that
strongly stresses the way in which the players choose the side of authority.

The smugglers

Smugglers are, by definition, persons who secretly work in selling illegal

goods from Northern Morocco to local and foreign gangs and dealers. They
often use weapons for self-protection and hide from authorities. A
smuggler may denounce his colleagues to remain free and continue his job.
Playing the smuggler involves temerity, agility, and skill. It also includes
reacting carefully under police interrogation. Playing this character means
accepting subordination to police officers and escaping orders rather than
obeying them. The smuggled good in this play is hashish. It remains hidden
after the smugglers’ arrest, but it shall be found after their release when the
smugglers become themselves inspectors and gendarmes. When the play
observation ends the authorities claim victory.
During this play activity two smugglers are caught and sent to prison.
They are in a small number, if compared to the number of inspectors and
gendarmes that are staged at the end of the activity. This outnumbering is
direct evidence that the players choose the side of authorities, as if they
would be staging on behalf of traditional moral values regarding justice and
authority. The smugglers are acting in smaller number than the gendarmes
and are placed in an inferior level of social behaviour. So, they are
condemned by the gendarmes as well as by the players.
The expression of feelings remains one of the most important
advantages of play activities because it constitutes in this case an
opportunity to exhibit the player’s perspectives about the way society
develops as provider of rewards and punishments. When expressing their
feelings as ‘good’ or ’bad’ characters, these players adhere to the way
society would value these characters and their performances.

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 Both smugglers are sent to prison, showing subordinating behaviour
and accepting orders. Assertive attitudes of expressing opinions,
disagreeing, and making statements occur between the two smugglers,
when they go to prison.
The age difference between the two characters may explain the type of
reasoning they offer about ‘prison’ as a place to live. The older player,
Lahoucein (10 years), does not accept the idea of prison being a ‘good
place’ and prefers the village. The younger player, Smaïl (6 years),
considers prison as a better place than the village, because there he does not
have to work all day like he must do at home when there is no school.
Another dialogue, this time between Smaïl (6 years), and Mohamed (8
years) stresses again the weakness of the younger one. This shows an
interesting concern about protecting younger people who do not have
enough strength and temerity and therefore must either stay protected in a
’comfortable’ prison, or at least be protected from authorities’ anger. In
both cases there is the underlying idea of providing protection to the
younger ones, something older and wiser children must do.

THE COMMUNICATIVE DIMENSION

The role of the ‘receiver’ has been taken as a major factor upon which the
success of communicative processes depends. Theoretical approaches
regarding the receiver’s role in such processes have been reinforcing the
idea that it is part of his/her responsibility to ensure the dynamics of
communication itself (Jakobson 1963, 213-214; Littlejohn 2008, 315-345).
Processes occur simultaneously between different actors, involving a set of
elements that must come together to conduct meaning in human
communicative interaction. A communicative act requires a process in
which the circulation of messages is developed between sender and
receiver within a certain context. It also requires a code that must be
common to both as well as a channel through which the message will
circulate (Jakobson 1963, 213-214). Without any of these elements
researching communication processes becomes extremely difficult.
The roles of sender and receiver are not exclusive. They are played
alternatively, one becoming the other, when for example dialogues occur.
However, the receiver’s role must be taken as an active role. Because it is
not just a question of receiving messages, but also a question of interpreting

647
them and of giving them a meaning. To do so receivers must understand the
message according to their developmental level and personal skills.
Jakobson’s model is here used in different sequential ways to explain
the development of the process that is at stake when an adult broadcasted
content inspires children’s play activity. The elements in this model must
be understood within a relationship that involves a permanent exchange of
messages. This exchange needs three more or less formal conditions so that
it can function. First, it needs to be enacted in a common code, well known
to both, sender and receiver. Then, it needs to be transmitted by a physical
device that may send the physical signal from one point to the other, for
example from the television studios to the households. Such a transmitter is
called the contact channel and its function is to ensure that the mechanical
devices work, and no signal is lost underway. The third element is the
context, related to the background or environment that is relevant for a
specific process of communication. When a message is uttered by a sender,
it will reach a receiver and be granted a meaning, because the receiver has
the necessary background to understand it. This background or context
relates to the sociocultural environment of both sender and receiver and this
is the case for interpersonal interactions, as well as for broadcasted
messages. The following diagram illustrates Jakobson’s model and is
discussed below in relation to the gendarmes and hashish’s smugglers play.

CONTEXT

SENDER RECEIVER

MESSAGE

CHANNEL CODE

Figure 1 - Jakobson (1963: 214) adapted by the authors

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 Jakobson’s scheme is here developed to provide for explanation of the
three interconnected levels of occurrence that are staged by Moroccan rural
boys across the duration of the play activity. The events share the medium
as well as the code that are used by children. In the case of these boys, the
large public open space area used for play constitutes their playground.
Our analysis shows the evidence of active reception, and it involves a
series of representations that refer to the same event, namely the police
investigation on the trafficking of hashish. This series of representations is
hereby presented as if Jakobson’s model could be ‘’re-framed’’ into three
different sequential levels of occurrence or of events. In each level there
occurs a change in the designation and in the action of each sender /
receiver interaction. Therefore, in the first place, there is a macro level, in
which there is a police investigation of a Moroccan hashish smuggling
gang with international connections as it had previously been broadcasted
by a Moroccan television channel. Second, on the medium level, this
broadcasted television programme has been viewed by children and adults
in the concerned Anti-Atlas villages. Third, on the micro level, a boys’
playgroup has creatively worked out the broadcasted programme in a play
activity. The boys’ creativity clearly evidences an activity that comes out of
the mirroring / copying and pasting of the TV program.

MOROCCO

2M
INTERNATIONAL LOCAL RURAL
TELEVISION COMMUNITY
STATION

POLICE
INVESTIGATION

PHYSICAL
TRANSMITTER AUDIOVISUAL
SYSTEM

Figure 2 - The macro level of the communicative process

649
The diagram above shows the elements that constitute the macro level of
the event. These are inserted in circles filled with one concept each that
must be understood as the constitutive elements of a communication
process as according to Jakobson’s model. The macro level results from the
television producers having access to information about this police
operation dismantling an important gang of smugglers. So, reporters gather
the necessary information and edit the message that is broadcasted. The
used designations are detached from Roman Jakobson’s theoretical model
of communication (1963). So, in the centre of this diagram, the ‘police
investigation’ is the message that the Moroccan television channel ‘2M
International’ has broadcasted. It performs the role of the sender and it uses
a physical channel of the television station. This message is encoded by
means of audiovisual signs that the receiver, in this case the rural
community decodes and understands. Eventhough there is no possibility for
the community to give any direct ‘feedback’ to the sender, there are
conversations about the message taking place among adults and older
children. These conversations, although not directly replying to the sender,
constitute a process of ‘transmitting the message’ to the youngsters who
actually use it as an indirect source of information. Hence, instead of a
formal “receiver” role, the community acts as if they were in a spiralling
row of reactions to TV, by re-telling the whole story / plot over and over
again.

ANTI-ATLAS
VILLAGES

2M
CHILDREN
INTERNATIONAL
AND ADULTS
STATION

"BARNAMAZ
EL-BULIZ"

PHYSICAL
TRANSMITTER AUDIOVISUAL
SYSTEM

Figure 3 - The medium level of the communicative process

650
The medium level refers to the television program Barnamaz el-Buliz that
is the message received within the context of the Anti-Atlas villages. It
refers to television program as a source for communication in the
community, conversation children overhear and possibly integrate in their
play. In this context children and adults receive and interpret the audio-
visual coded message edited by journalists through the physical transmitter
system of the 2M International television station. This is the level at which
little information can be provided, less than inferred. The access to the
program recording was impossible to get from 2M International so far.
However, it is also the more commonly known level of broadcasting when
considering westernized TV programs and schedules, so the authors limited
their text to the acknowledgement of the series as an intermediate level of
communication.

OUTSIDE PUBLIC
PLAY AREA

BOYS
PLAYERS PEFRORMING
CHARACTERS

PLAY ACTIVITY:
GENDARMES AND
HASHISH SMUGGLERS

VERBAL / NON
NON VERBAL/ VERBAL
VERBAL BEHAVIOUR
BEHAVIOUR ARTIFACTS AND
TOYS

Figure 4 - The micro level of the communicative process

The micro level refers to the message enacted in the play activity
“Gendarmes and hashish smugglers” taking place in a context of a specific
open-air playground. The players are the senders as well as the receivers.

651
Their interaction takes place through non-verbal and verbal behaviour
encoded by toys, gestures and dialogues that are channelled through
different modalities. Therefore, this is the level where it is possible to
observe the degree of inspiration for the play activity, that can also be seen
as a evidence for TV influence in play among non-westernized patterns and
children.
Every abovementioned player is now an active receiver, and this is the
level in which the three groups of receivers are processors of the initial
information. Also, reception becomes transformation through the play
action. The journalist and program editors are maybe the first to provide
their interpretation of the event and adults and the children in the village
are the receivers. All these receivers are directly influencing the players’
reasoning and their interpretation of this event. However, children are the
ultimate receivers of the broadcasted message, a message that can be
commented upon by the adults of the community in which the children
grow up. The boys, as players are the more creative receivers because they
manage to reformulate both the television producers’ view and the adults’
and older children’s view to create their own interpretation of the event
under the form of play.

CONCLUSION

The limits to this paper have led the authors to elect a specific example to
work about and to illustrate both the narrative and the communicative
dimensions of play. This example is acknowledged to be inspired by media
contents, especially by television contents, as explained in the introduction.
There are, nevertheless, other dimensions that can be explored, either
considering this example of boys at play or considering other examples,
regarding girls at play. In this second hypothesis, gender can be a relevant
issue that is yet to be studied. Some other examples are to be considered,
regarding the types of toys that are used and the distinct plot / narratives
that may be exposed in further work.
As a first conclusion regarding the present paper, we establish the
connection between the narrative dimension of the television programs and
their possibility of involving the players in non-westernized environments
as an important point of research. The second conclusion refers to the
communication model that was selected as an adequate model that allows

652
for the integration of the play schemes within a larger social scheme that
implies the players themselves as well as the communities and the
broadcasted schedules that are at stake in each case. The third conclusion
constitutes a challenge and regards the widening of this research. In fact,
gendered research has been conducted in western countries proving that
toys and play artifacts can be used according to several guidelines, most of
which are said to be inspired by the television contents. Developing
research based on girls’ television inspired make-believe play in the
Moroccan Anti-Atlas could broaden this gendered research mostly limited
to western countries.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Endnote: Khalija Jariaa, serving first as an informant, developed about

2007 into a trained observer who independently makes observations,
photographs and sometimes short videos of Anti-Atlas children’s play and
toy making activities. Her training and the supervision of her fieldwork is
the responsibility of Rossie Jean-Pierre. The writing out of the observation
protocols was done by Rossie Jean-Pierre with the help of Boubaker
Daoumani, a primary school teacher working in a mountain village near
Sidi Ifni. The players speak Tashelhit, the local Amazigh (Berber)
language. The real first names of the children and the real names of the
locations are mentioned because the children prefer to be recognized as the
actors of the play events and therefore refuse to be given false names.

REFERENCES

Asamen, G. e. J. K., Ed. (1993). Children and television: images in a

changing sociocultural world, London: Sage.

Berger, A. A. (2005). Media Analysis Techniques. London: SAGE.

Jacobson, R. (1963). Essays de linguistique générale. Paris: Points.

Lemish, D. (2007). Children and Television, a global perspective, Oxford:

Blackwell.

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Livingstone, S. (2002). Young people and new media. London: SAGE.

Magalhães, L. (2017). Brinquedos no Intervalo. Publicidade Infantil na

Televisão Portuguesa. Vila Nova de Famalicão: Editorial Novembro,
376 p.

Magalhães, L. and Goldstein, J. (eds) (2018). Toys and Communication.

UK: Palgrave Macmillan, xviii + 309 p.

Pecora, N., Osei-Hwere, E. and Carlson, U. (2008). African media, African

children. Göteborg: Nordicom Yearbook.

Rossie, J.-P. (2013). Saharan and North African Toy and Play Cultures.
Technical activities in play, games and toys. 360 p., 350 ill. - Available on
https://www.academia.edu/5180649

Rossie, J.-P. (2018). Communication in Moroccan Children’s Toys and

Play. In L. Magalhães & J. Goldstein (eds), Toys and Communication. UK:
Palgrave Macmillan, p. 117-136.

Singer, D. G. and Singer, J. (2001). Handbook of children and the media.

London: Sage.

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655
Appendix 3

Videos on play and toys in the Anti-Atlas

Videos available on:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sanatoyplay+rossie+jp

Video: doll and construction play in Sidi Ifni

Rossie, Jean-Pierre & Daoumani, Boubaker (2002). Video 1: Doll Play and
Construction Play in Sidi Ifni, Morocco, 31.1.2002. Filmed by Jean-Pierre
Rossie, Stockholm International Toy Research Centre, Stockholm: Royal
Institute of Technology.

Detailed description of 19 minutes doll play by a 7-year-old girl and a 4-

year-old boy with dolls made by the girl and bought dolls, and of the 26
minutes interview by Boubaker Daoumani with the players and the boy’s
mother. The dolls represent children. The father’s authorization is given on
the video.

PROTOCOL: DOLL PLAY AND CONSTRUCTION PLAY IN SIDI

IFNI

Sidi Ifni, Morocco, 31.01.2002, 19 minutes of play activities.

Followed by 26 minutes interview with the players and a mother by
Boubaker Daoumani.
Parental authorization given by the mother on the video.
Video recording Jean-Pierre Rossie.
Video Panasonic R55 VHS
Players
Fatiha, girl, 7 years , born in Sidi Ifni, first year of primary school, speaks
Moroccan Arabic at home.
Yasin Shmèllal, boy, 4 years 2 months (16.11.1997), born in Sidi Ifni,
maternal cousin of Fatiha, speaks Moroccan Arabic at home.
Language and dialogues
Both players use local Moroccan Arabic.

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Dialogues recorded on the video and on a separate mini-cassette.
Translation of dialogues first in French by B. Daoumani and JP. Rossie
(available in manuscript). Translation from French into English by JP.
Rossie.
Place of action
Small rural city Sidi Ifni, Atlantic coast, Southern Morocco, Avenue Prince
Moulay Abdallah, in front of house number 28, the home of Yasin, this
street lies parallel with the seashore and a camping with several mobile
homes.
Play material
Several self-made dolls and two Barbie-like dolls representing children.
Small Donald Duck at one moment representing the primary school
teacher.
Sticks, rags, piece white textile fabric representing the play space (possibly
a room). Family situation
Mother of Yasin, about 43 years, childhood in Sidi Ifni but her father
comes from the Rif Mountain region in the North of Morocco, sixth year
scientific section of secondary school, housewife but regretting not being
able to make profit of her studies.
Father of Yasin, about 52 years, comes from the Tafraoute region (Agadir),
no paid labor.
Fatiha is a daughter of Yasin’s mother’s sister. Popular class families.
Electricity, running water, television (no parabolic antenna) available in
Yasin’s home.
Special Remarks
In April 2002 Boubaker Daoumani revisited the players to ask some
additional questions. Fatiha states that she always plays with both type of
dolls, the self-made doll and the Barbie-like doll. The reason she gives for
this is that she likes to make dolls and that she has not enough Barbie-like
dolls to play a game necessitating many persons, moreover there are no
little Barbie-like dolls that can take on the role of children.
She also says that she sometimes plays the mother role herself, the dolls
then being her children. But on other occasions the mother role is given to a
doll, the tallest doll, often a Barbie-like doll. She stresses that she does not
only play household and mother-child games as she also enacts for example
wedding festivities with her dolls. Yasin does not play with dolls when

657
playing alone but when playing with Fatiha he is obliged to do so. He will
even accept to prepare dinner, but he never wants to make a doll.
Scenes and dialogues
0. View of the environment and play area with the players.
1. Fatiha (F) makes a doll with a wooden spoon (0’55”).
2. Yasin (Y) clumsily does as if he makes a doll (Yasin’s older sisters who
are out of the image tell him that he must make a doll).
3. Fatiha designs a face on the inner side of the spoon.
4. Yasin takes a pencil and makes a trait on his stick.
5. Fatiha is clothing her spoon doll.
6. Yasin does not do much to make a doll.
7. Yasin must hold Fatiha’s doll so that she can attach a belt to it (3’50”).
Dialogue 1: F “Yasin do as I do. We must make the veil”.
8. Two Barbie-like dolls lean against the wall.
9. Fatiha cuts a rag with scissors, and then tears it further apart while Yasin
is holding the rag.
10. Yasin hits the ground with a stick (5’10”).
Dialogue 2: Y “here it is”.
11. Then he uses the same stick and another one as if he wants to make a
cross shaped doll’s structure (†) meanwhile he sits with his back towards
Fatiha and the play setting.
12. Yasin throws the sticks aside and continues to sit with his back to
Fatiha and the play activity.
Dialogue 3: F to Y “make the house”, Y replies “but wait, wait”.
13. Yasin does nothing for a while sitting with an annoyed face.
14. Fatiha starts to make the † for another doll.
15. Yasin takes a stick and makes a rectangular structure with 4 sticks he
takes from Fatiha (7’10”).
16. Yasin takes a little ball in his hands for a moment.
17. Yasin takes a cloth and puts it in the rectangular he made.
18. Fatiha makes another small † structure for a new doll.
Dialogue 4: F “we are going to make the doll nicer (than all the others).
19. Fatiha lays a doll on the rag Yasin has put in the rectangular frame.
Dialogue 5: F to Y “bring me a stick, the children must be made”.
20. Yasin holds a ball in his hands and plays with it for some seconds.
Dialogue 6: F to Y “see there the children near her (the spoon doll), go and
make them a midday dinner” (3x).

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21. Yasin takes two little sticks, holds them as if he wants to make a †, he
takes a white rag, then drops all this, he takes the sticks back and puts them
together with the lower stick of the rectangular frame (8’40”).
Dialogue 7: Y to F “where is the tajine (the pottery cooking pot)?” F
“prepare it with something”.
22. Fatiha continues to make the new doll.
Dialogue 8: F “see here her girl and there her boys”.
23. Yasin sits on his knees doing nothing and not looking at Fatiha.
Dialogue 9: F to Y “go to make the kitchen (2x)”.
24. Yasin takes a Barbie-like doll with long hair, makes a move as if he is
putting her on the rag in the rectangular frame, looks at the onlookers and
then puts it quickly on the rag (9’25”).
Dialogue 10: Y to F “Where is the kitchen?” F to Y “make them the lunch”.
25. Yasin takes the ball again in his hands.
26. Fatiha shows something at Yasin that lies before his knees.
Dialogue 11: F “see her daughter (3x)”.
27. Fatiha continues to make a doll, she also puts a Barbie-like doll in the
rectangular frame (9’25”).
28. Yasin changes a bit the place of this doll.
Dialogue 12: Y “where is the lunch”, F “go to make the lunch”.
29. Yasin wobbles on his knees and then takes a white rag and two sticks
acting as if he wants to make a †.
30. Fatiha puts her little doll next to the spoon doll and Barbie-like dolls.
Dialogue 13: F to Y “go to make it”, Y replies, “I don’t have a lunch”.
31. Yasin drops the sticks and white rag, and then he takes only the two
little sticks in his hand.
Dialogue 14: F to Y “go to make it”, Y replies “I don’t have the lunch, I”, F
replies “go to make it”, Y replies “I don’t have the lunch, I”, F replies “go
to make it”, Y replies “I don’t have the lunch, I”.
32. Fatiha takes the white rag Yasin was using and covers the dolls with it.
Dialogue 15: F to Y “go to cover them”.
33. Yasin does not do this, so F does it herself.
Dialogue 16: F to Y “give me the sticks”.
34. Yasin gives Fatiha the sticks; she starts to make another doll.
Dialogue 17: F to Y “go first to build the kitchen, go first to prepare for us
the kitchen, go”.

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35. Yasin turns with his finger in his nose doing nothing for the rest
(10’45”).
Dialogue 18: F to Y “but you are going to make the kitchen! (tone is
rising), and go to make them lunch”.
36. Fatiha takes a ribbon lying near Y.
Dialogue 19: Y to F “where is the kitchen, there is no kitchen” Finally
Yasin takes the scissors in hand pushing and hitting things with it, he takes
a stick and tries to make a hole in it with the scissors.
Dialogue 20: F to Y “so, makes it with this, see here (2x) make the lunch
and the rest” (said with emphasis).
37. Yasin slightly turns his head from right to left (negative reply).
38. Fatiha is making the † of a new doll.
40. Yasin continues to manipulate without much purpose the scissors.
Dialogue 21: Y to F “where is it (the lunch)?”
41. Fatiha makes a gesture of impatience.
Dialogue 22: F to Y “where is it?!” “give me, give me and go to make the
‘dwâz’ (plate) and the lunch and the lemonade”, Y replies “where is the
lunch? There is no lunch!”
42. Fatiha designs a face on her new doll, then gives it a dress.
Dialogue 23: F to Y “see here the bride again, see there the girl of the bride
(arûsa)”.
43. Yasin takes a long ribbon and does again as if he is making a doll, he
drops the stick, tries again and then takes one stick and turns the rag around
it (13’05”).
Dialogue 24: Y “let’s go there”. F “go to make us the lunch and all the
rest”. Y “where is the lunch?”. F “make us the meal (plate)”. Y “where is
the meal?”. F “go to prepare us something”. F “go to make the lunch and
all the rest”.
44. Meanwhile Fatiha’s new doll is finished and she puts it with the other
dolls under the rag covering them. Yasin looks for a while at what Fatiha is
doing then he continues to turn the rag around the stick (13’30”).
45. Fatiha takes the dolls away from the rectangular structure, she takes the
spoon doll and lays it in her lap; meanwhile Yasin continues to turn the rag
around the stick.
Dialogue 25: F “see there the lunch, wake up”, Y “where is the lunch, I
don’t see it”.

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46. Fatiha takes a little doll, puts it on her knees and looks at Yasin; while
searching something the doll falls of Fatiha’s knees, she takes the spoon
doll in her hand still searching something.
Dialogue 26: F “take your breakfast”, F to Y “go and prepare us” (13’35”).
While Yasin takes the scissors he replies, “am I your sister?”, F answers
“don’t forget what you have said”.
47. Yasin wants to cut the rag he was turning around the stick with the
scissors but as he cannot cut it he strips the rag of the stick.
48. Fatiha looks for a pencil.
Dialogue 27: F to Y “give me the color pencil (3x), Y replies “where is the
color pencil?”.
49. Fatiha has found the color pencil herself and designs a face on the doll.
50. She puts the little doll against the house wall.
Dialogue 28: F “there they are, the (the children) will leave for school now,
go!”.
51. Fatiha takes the spoon doll and lays it in the rectangular structure.
Dialogue 29: F to Y “go to make us lunch, see they are going to sleep”.
52. Yasin plays disinterestedly with the scissors, he makes a move to cut
the rag but drops it immediately.
53. Fatiha puts two other little self-made dolls in the rectangular structure
and covers them with the lower part of the rag lying under them (14’40”).
54. Yasin looks around holding the open scissors in one hand, he takes a
stick and holds it in one hand meanwhile he looks at the onlookers with an
annoyed expression on his face.
55. Fatiha wants to make another doll and talks to Yasin.
Dialogue 30: “give me the sticks”.
Yasin throws a stick to Fatiha, then he manipulates a ribbon for a while
turning it around his fingers.
56. Fatiha makes another doll (15’25”).
Dialogue 31: F to Y “give me something”.
57. Yasin throws his ribbon and then another rag to Fatiha with a slightly
aggressive gesture.
Dialogue 32: F to Y “go to prepare them the dinner (3x), Y replies, “go
yourself! I am a man not a woman! I, I am a man not a woman”.
58. Yasin plays for a while with the scissors.
Dialogue 33: F to Y “but it is necessary to make them a dinner”.
59. Fatiha continues to make a doll.

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Dialogue 34: F “they will soon wake up, eight o’clock is approaching so
that they will go to school”. F to Y “go and make them breakfast”. Y
replies “tell me, they are going to the school?”, F replies “Yes, they enter
school at eight o’clock”.
60. Yasin still plays with the scissors.
Dialogue 35: F “and eight o’clock is approaching, go to make them
breakfast”, Y replies “go yourself! Am I a woman?”
61. Fatiha designs a face on the doll.
Dialogue 36: F “their big sister has gone to make them a breakfast, she
doesn’t care about you”.
62. Just then Yasin drops the scissors and takes a stone and a little stick.
Dialogue 37: Y to F “see here the breakfast, see it here, see here the
breakfast (2x), F replies “where is it?”, Y replies “here it is”, F to Y “give
me the rag”, Y replies “where is it”.
Dialogue 38: F to Y “like this one, give”.
63. Fatiha throws a rag to Yasin.
64. Yasin opens the rag and gives it to Fatiha (16’50”).
65. Fatiha uses it to make a dress for her new doll.
66. Yasin wobbles again on his knees (17’).
Dialogue 39: F to Y “go to make something”, Y replies “where is the thing,
I haven’t seen it”.
67. Yasin takes the little ball lying against the wall.
Dialogue 40: F to Y “go to make them the ‘dwâz’ (plate) or something,
go!”
68. Yasin gives two small white things to Fatiha.
Dialogue 41: F to Y “go to make them the plate and the breakfast.
69. Yasin manipulates the ball for a longer time in a seemingly annoyed
way.
Dialogue 42: F “they have gone to school”.
70. Fatiha makes a doll.
Dialogue 43: F “they did not come back yet, go make us breakfast! (an
order)”, Y replies inaudibly.
Dialogue 44: F to Y “and so, you have to make the breakfast and the plate.
See, their big sister has gone to make the plate. She doesn’t care about
you”.
71. Fatiha puts this doll with the other dolls against the wall (18’10”).
Dialogue 45: F “see, she is there, wake up! See there, they did wake up”.

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72. Fatiha takes the spoon doll on her lap.
73. Fatiha takes the small dolls in her hand and lays them against the wall.
Dialogue 46: F “see them, they are going to school, they. See them, she has
brought them (2x)”.
74. Yasin plays with the ball and says:
Dialogue 47: Y to F “is this the school?”
75. Fatiha puts the spoon doll on the rag in the rectangular structure.
76. Fatiha blows as if she indicates that it is enough.
Dialogue 48: F to Y “go and take them to the room (possibly the school)
(2x).
77. Yasin wants to cover the doll with the lower part of the rag.
78. But Fatiha puts first a second doll under the rag.
Dialogue 49: F to Y “go to take them back from school (2x).
79. Yasin covers these dolls.
Dialogue 50: F to Y “go bring them lunch at school.
80. Yasin puts two sticks forming the walls of the rectangular structure in
their correct place.
Dialogue 51:F to Y “go to make them lunch and something else”.
81. Fatiha starts playing with the ball.

Interview with the players by Boubaker Daoumani

26 minutes interview recorded on the video and on a separate mini-
audiocassette
Sidi Ifni, Morocco, 31.01.2002.
Players:
Fatiha, girl, 7 years, first year of primary school, speaks Moroccan Arabic
at home.
Yasin Shmèllal, boy, 4 years 2 months, maternal cousin of Fatiha, speaks
Moroccan Arabic at home.
Language : Both players and Yasin’s mother use local Moroccan Arabic.
Translation of interview first in French by B. Daoumani and JP. Rossie
(available in manuscript).
Translation from French into English by JP. Rossie.
Place of action:
Small rural city Sidi Ifni, Atlantic coast, Southern Morocco, Avenue Prince
Moulay Abdallah, in front of house number 28, the home of Yasin, this

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street lies parallel with the seashore and a camping with several mobile
homes.
Interview with the players
Fatiha (F.), Yasin (Y.), Boubaker (B.)
B. What are you making know? Who made this doll?
F. Inaudible.
B. What does this doll do?
F. She does the household.
B. What about the household?
F. She makes the dish and she makes them sleep.
B. For whom is she making the dish?
F. For her daughters.
B. How many children?
F. She has three.
B. And you (Y) what have you done?
Y. I am the man.
B. You are helping her, no? How are you helping her? What are you
making (x2)?
B. And what are the children then doing?
F. They go out, the sleep.
B. These things there for what are they used?
F. It is to sleep.
B. What is that, it is a room?
F. Yes.
B. They sleep there?
F. Yes.
B. And when they wake up what are they doing?
F. They wash their face.
B. Where is the water?
F. Look there, see there the faucet or tap.
B. When they have washed their face what do they do?
F. They take breakfast and go to school.
B. What are they doing at school? But who teaches them?
F. The schoolteacher.
B. Where is the schoolteacher? I don’t see a teacher.
F. Look there he is.
B. Is this the teacher?

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B. Show us the situation when the teacher teaches the children.
F. Look like that he teaches them.
B. What does he teaches them?
F. He teaches them reading and grammar in Arabic and reading in French.
B. Reading in French too? So, they read French!
B. And when they come back from school?
F. Inaudible.
B. Who is making them a dish?
F. Their mother.
B. Where is their mother?
F. Look there.
B. Oh, there is their mother.
B. What is their mother doing at home?
F. She is doing the housework and preparing the dish.
B. But where is the dish, I did not see it?
F. See there.
B Ah this is the dish.
B. What will they do with the dish?
F. The will eat it.
B. I did not see that they were eating the dish.
F. They did not come back for school yet.
B. So we will wait till they come back from school?
F. See there they are coming back from school.
F. See they are eating.
B. How are they eating? Show us how.
B. They are eating isn’t it? And after that?
F. They are going to wash their hands.
B. They wash their hands! Here do they wash their hands?
F. At the faucet or tap.
B. Where is the faucet?
F. There it is.
B. And what is their mother doing after that?
F. She is preparing the room for them.
B. Who has given you the blanket with which you cover them?
F. It is from the house.
B. Where are the dolls you did not make yourself.
B. Where are the dolls you did not make yourself?

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F. There they are.
B. Give them to me. Who did clothe them that way?
F. We bought them.
B. Who did buy them for you?
F. My mother.
B. And this one did your mother buy it too?
F. Yes.
B. Which is the prettiest, this one or that one?
F. That one (she points to the Barbie-like doll with hair).
B. And why is she the prettiest?
F. This one has hair and the other one is bald.
B. It is your mother who did by you this one!
F. Yes.
B. On what occasion, at which moment?
F. During summer.
B. For the Moussem (the yearly festivities in July).
F. Yes.
B. Is it really during the Moussem?
F. Oh yes!
B. And the other one where did she buy it?
F. She bought both of them for me during the Moussem.
B. And why during the Moussem, they don’t exist in the market?
F. They are not sold in the market.
B. Many of these are sold during the Moussem?
F. Yes.
B. Is it really during the Moussem?
F. Ah yes!
B. And the other one where did she buy it?
F. She bought both during the Moussem.
B. And why during the Moussem don’t they exist at the market?
F. They are not sold at the market.
B. Many of these are sold during the Moussem?
F. Yes.
B. And you (speaking to the boy Yasin), what did your mother buy for you
during the Moussem?
Y. She bought me clothes.
B. She didn’t buy you a bride doll?

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Y. Negative reply by shaking his head.
B. You don’t play with dolls?
Y. No!
B. I have seen that you don’t want to play with your sister. You don’t like
to play with dolls?
Y. Reply inaudible.
B. With what do you like to play?
Y. With this (indicates the sticks).
B. What do you make with them?
Y. Reply inaudible or no reply.
B. Takes the Donald Duck in his hands and talks to Y.
Y. This is mine, pointing at the Donald Duck.
B. Who did buy you this?
Y. My father.
B. Where?
Y. At the market.
B. They exist at the market?
Y. Yes.
B. This one (Donald Duck) what was it?
F. The teacher.
B. Is this one the teacher?
F. Replies with a smile.
B. Why is this one the teacher?
F. Because it is a man.
B. Who did prepare the meal you or she?
Y. It’s her.
B. And you, you can prepare nothing?
Y. I am a man!
B. You are what?
Y. A man.
B. Oh! You are a man and you don’t like to prepare a meal isn’t it?
Y. Agreement is expressed non-verbally.
B. Tell me what can you make?
Y. Like this.
B. Like this?
Y. Like this.
B. Like this?

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Y. Yes.
B. But I have seen your sister making this.
Y. No reply.
B. What else can you make?
Y. ----------
B. Who has made the house in which the children did sleep?
Y. Me.
B. It’s you who made it?
Y. Yes.
B. With what?
Y. With this.
B. Show us how you did this.
Y. Shows it.
B. But it is not like that. Show us how the house was really made some
minutes ago.
Y. Starts to make the house.
B. What is missing?
Y. This is left.
B. Where did you get this?
Y. From our home.
B. Who did these nails?
Y. My brother.
B. And what is this. With what are they covered?
F. No it is on it that the children are lying down.
Y. It is here that they sleep.
B. Show us how.
Y. They sleep here, it is done like that (Y starts to prepare the house).
B. It is like that that you do? Where are the children?
Y. They are here.
B. What do you do with them?
Y. Shows how the dolls are put in place.
B. Where do you put them, above or under? Show us how you do it.
Y. Shows how it is done.
B. Now it is night and they sleep.
B. This one you don’t change her (Barbie-like doll) clothes?
F. No.
B. And why they always stay with the same clothes?

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F. It’s only a doll.
B. This one is yours and the other is hers, isn’t it?
Y. This one (the doll with hair) is mine; my sister brought it for me.
B. It’s yours (the doll without hair)? That one is hers and this one is yours?
Y. No! It’s the other one and that one is hers.
B. Take yours (to the girl) and this one is his, he doesn’t want the bald doll.
F. Reply inaudible.
B. OK. Your doll has a name?
F. Her name is Yasmina.
B. And the name of your doll?
Y. Zohra.
B. And the other ones do they have a name?
F. Khadija, Rquia, Fadma, Fatima.

Interview with Yasin’s mother by Boubaker Daoumani

At the end of the 26 minutes interview recorded on the video.
Sidi Ifni, Morocco, 31.01.2002.
Language
Yasin’s mother uses local Moroccan Arabic.
Translation of interview first in French by B. Daoumani and JP. Rossie
(available in manuscript in Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne).
Translation from French into English by JP. Rossie.
Place of action
Small rural city Sidi Ifni, Atlantic coast, Southern Morocco, Avenue Prince
Moulay Abdallah, in front of house number 28, the home of Yasin, this
street lies parallel with the seashore and a camping with several mobile
homes.
Interview with the Yasin’s mother, about 43-years-old
(M) Yasin’s mother, Boubaker (B.)
B. How do you view children’s play?
M. I always let my children play outside at least those that don’t go to
school and those going to school I let them play when there is no school.
B. What about the dolls and other toys?
M. The dolls have been bought for some occasion like feast for example.
The children themselves make the other toys. The mother or the older
children teach the small ones to make toys just as they did themselves.

669
Dolls existed before (in the mother’s child time) but it was only the
Christians (Spanish and other Europeans) and the rich who could buy them.
B. Since when do you live here in town?
M. Since the time of the (Spanish) colonization (1934-1969).
B. How do the children make dolls and why is a spoon used?
M. The children make their dolls with sticks or they use a wooden spoon
because it already has the shape of a head and so it is easy to make a face, it
is not the same as with a simple stick. We plqyed like that in the 1960s.
B. Where are your families from?
M. My father comes from the Rif (North Morocco), my children’s father is
from Sous, Tafraoute region.
B. You know French well, where did you learn it?
M. I learned it at school as I continued until the sixth year of secondary
school, scientific section.
B. Oh fine!
M. Yes, but it is a pity because I stay at home.
B. Tarenja (name of the doll made wit a wooden spoon and used to ask for
rain) is from the Rif?
M. No, it is a name from here and I don’t know how they call it in the Rif.
When my father died, I only was 40 days old. His father came with the
Spanish army to Sidi Ifni before the birth of the mother.
M. We did play with Tarenja to ask for rain. We walked around at night
and people gave us some sugar and money, and with that we organized in a
street a feast with a religious aspect called ‘mârûf’. This is a feast to obtain
something from God and/or to receive blessings and not like the feast today
without Tarenja. Then we walked around with Tarenja and each girl or boy
takes her or his Tarenja that is dressed like an °arûsa or bride.
B. What kind of roles do the children play?
M. They imitate all they see.
B. What are your children doing?
M. I have three girls going to secondary school. Fatiha just started to go to
primary school.
B. And the father?
M. The father is retired and receives some allocation because he
participated in the resistance against the Spanish.
B. No problem with photographing your children?

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M. For Fatiha and Yasin, everybody is allowed to photograph or videotape
the little children when they are playing it isn’t a problem.
B. You don’t direct the play nor intervenes in it. You don’t pay attention
when they are playing?
M. No, we let them play, they can play as they like, they speak as they
wish. Nowadays children also learn to make things at school; there is a
special moment for making objects in wood, with gypsum. So the one who
plays well at home works well at school in the lesson of manual training.
There are children who can make nothing, and they don’t get good points.
Those who play well can thus ameliorate their school notes. These play
activities are a leisure time. Even when a child isn’t intelligent it is possible
that it can create objects better than it can be successful in reading or
writing.
B. And what with the games and toys nowadays?
M. Those who must care about these games are the Sleuh (Amazigh)
because these games come from them. The people who aren’t from here,
the people from the interior are more developed and they buy toys, but our
children play with simple things like rags, wood and all they find at home.

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Video: doll play in Sidi Ifni

Rossie, Jean-Pierre & Daoumani, Boubaker (2002). Video 3: Doll Play in

Sidi Ifni, Morocco, 10.2.2002. Filmed by Jean-Pierre Rossie, Stockholm
International Toy Research Centre, Stockholm: Royal Institute of
Technology.

Detailed description of 39 minutes doll play by two girls of 9 years and one
girl of 6 years with Barbie dolls, other dolls and play objects. The interview
by Boubaker Daoumani with the players has been recorded on
audiocassette. The father of Awatif and Jalila has given his authorization by
writing.

PROTOCOL: DOLL PLAY IN SIDI IFNI

Sidi Ifni, Morocco, 10.02.2002, 19 minutes of play activities.

Followed by 6 minutes interview with the players by Boubaker Daoumani,
interview continued on mini-audiocassette (not translated).
Written parental authorization given by the father of Awatif and Jalila.
Video recording Jean-Pierre Rossie.
Video Panasonic R55 VHS
Players
Awatif Atbib, girl, 7 years 4 months, born in Sidi Ifni, primary school,
speaks Moroccan Arabic at home.
Jalila Atbib, girl, 9 years 3 months, born in Sidi Ifni, sister of Awatif,
primary school, speaks Moroccan Arabic at home.
Malika, girl, 9 years, primary school, born in the village Tioughza (Sidi
Ifni), friend of the other two players, speaks Tachelhit at home and also
Moroccan Arabic.
Language and dialogues
The players use local Moroccan Arabic.
Dialogues recorded on the video and on a separate mini-cassette.
Translation of dialogues first in French by B. Daoumani and JP. Rossie
(available in manuscript in Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne).
Translation of French into English by JP. Rossie.
Place of action

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Small rural city Sidi Ifni, Atlantic coast, Southern Morocco, on the flat roof
serving as terrace of the hotel-restaurant Suerte Loca, owned and run by
Awatif’s and Jalila’s mother’s family, located near the seashore and a
camping with several mobile homes.
Play material
Several Barbie dolls Awatif and Jalila received from family members living
in France and from a few regular hotel clients, a baby-like doll, a few very
small figurines, some teddies, soft or plastic animals.
Toy beauty-set , toy utensils, toy telephones, set of imitation Euro
banknotes, music toys.
Small chairs, tables and armchairs of the hotel, wooden frames to put
cushions on.
Family situation
Mother of Awatif and Jalila, about 40 years, comes from an Arabic-
speaking village near Sidi Ifni, sixth year of secondary school, housewife,
speaks Moroccan Arabic and French. Father of Awatif and Jalila, about 45
years, born in Mesti in the Sidi Ifni region, seventh year of technical
secondary school, speaks Tachelhit, Moroccan Arabic and French,
employee of Maroc Telecom.
The parents of Malika are illiterate.
Middle class family (Awatif and Jalila). TV with satellite antenna, Awatif
and Jalila go to an Internet shop to play games and have a computer at
home used especially to make designs. They encounter tourists on a daily
basis.
Popular class family (Malika).
Scenes and dialogues
Jalila, 9 years, dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans.
Awatif, 6 years, wears jeans and a headband in her hair.
Malika, 9 years, wears a long skirt above knitted pants and her hair in a
pigtail.
0. View of the environment and play area with the players.
1. Malika arranges the 'utensils' on the small chair serving as kitchen.
Jalila arranges the dolls in one place.
Awatif gives two Barbie dolls and a soft doll to Jalila.
2. Jalila takes the lower part of a moving Barbie with the motor and does as
if she drinks.
Awatif manipulates a few dolls and then she combs the hair of a doll.

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Malika continues to arrange the kitchen and takes some beauty-set objects.
3. Malika takes a mirror.
Awatif continues to comb the doll's hair.
Dialogue 1: Awatif says "I shall comb her hair kindly".
Jalila takes the toy phone, makes it ring but doesn't talk.
4. Malika says something about a doll to Jalila, she takes a lady's handbag
and puts it near Jalila.
Dialogue 2: Malika says to Jalila "Where are this doll's earrings?"
Dialogue 3: Malika says "No, these are not the earrings I said".
Jalila puts the phone on the ground and takes the handbag Malika putted
near her.
Dialogue 4: Malika tells Jalila "Put them in the sac and then I shall show
you, OK".
Awatif takes the elastic out of her hair.
5. Awatif tries to put the elastic in the doll's hair but as she cannot do this,
she asks her older sister to help her.
Dialogue 5: Awatif says "Who wants to put an elastic in this doll's hair?"
Malika takes a toy cooker, puts it on the kitchen table and stirs in it with a
plastic spoon.
Dialogue 6: Malika says "Where are the cups, I didn't see them".
Jalila opens the bag, takes the doll from her sister and puts the elastic in the
doll's hair while looking at Malika and replying.
Dialogue 7: "There are no cups".
6. Jalila finds this doll not suited to put an elastic in the hair and takes a
humanized animal with long hair and a long tail (like my little pony). She
starts to put the elastic in the horse's hair.
Awatif looks at her sister and makes the girls laugh by saying something
about Jean-Pierre.
Dialogue 8: "Just like the one who makes the program, like Jean-Pierre,
Jean-Pierre, Jean-Pierre".
Jalila replies "you must do as if the camera isn't there".
Malika continues to stir in the cooker, says something and then takes a
bundle of toy keys.
7. Awatif takes a musical box, winds it up and plays the music.
Malika makes some noise with the keys, takes the handbag, looks in it and
puts something inside.
Jalila continues trying to put the elastic in the horse's hair.

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Dialogue 9: Malika says, "Give me the dolls".
8. Jalila removes the elastic and starts again. Now it works.
Awatif takes something and talks to the girls.
Malika takes the music box and then takes a textile bag.
9. Awatif asks the keys who are around Malika's wrist. She stands up, puts
her slippers on and walks outside the home area. From there she stands
watching for a moment while turning around the handbag.
Dialogue 10: Malika tells Awatif "Go to the market to do errands".
Malika gives the keys to Awatif.
Jalila manipulates two dolls and a teddy, looks at Malika, takes things out
of the small textile bag Malika putted on the ground.
Dialogue 11: Malika says to Jalila "No, it isn't there where they sleep".
10. Awatif comes back, takes of her slippers, and enters the 'room', looks at
the other girls.
Malika and Jalila look at some objects that represent the jewels and talk
about these.
11. Malika found what she wants, namely earrings she tries to put in her
ears.
Malika continues trying to put the earrings in her ears. Then she talks to
Jalila.
Dialogue 12: "Let me use these earrings, my ears are pierced".
Awatif puts the handbag and the keys under the chair serving as kitchen.
She starts the motor in the detached lower part of the moving Barbie doll
with a Hawaiian dress and raï music from Cheb Khaled is played (3').
12. Awatif takes the telephone but puts it immediately back on the ground.
Jalila puts a first earring in Malika's ear.
13. Awatif makes a cup fall from the kitchen table. She takes the telephone
and pushes a button and puts the telephone back on the ground. Then she
lifts the little cup from the ground and lays it back on the table.
Jalila puts the second earring in Malika's ear.
14. Malika takes the handbag and the keys from under the chair serving as
kitchen table.
Dialogue 13: Malika says to Awatif "No, no, go now to make the errands
and only come back when we say you to do so".
Jalila takes the telephone and pushes the buttons.
Dialogue 14: Jalila says "Hallo, hallo, it's you who are asking for me a
moment ago?"

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Awatif takes the handbag, the keys and a second telephone. She stands up
and puts her slippers on.
15. Jalila arranges the table, takes the textile bag, and puts some small
objects in it.
Malika stands up but stays on the carpet in the room. She talks over the
telephone to Awatif.
Awatif responds to Malika over the telephone while walking around.
16. Malika stops phoning to Awatif. She turns around and an earring falls.
17. Jalila lifts the earring from the ground.
Malika takes the earring from Jalila and tries to put it back in her ear.
18. Jalila takes two bags and puts them behind front part of a traditional
tent standing on the terrace and used for the tourists.
Malika asks Jalila to help her with the earring and Jalila does it.
19. Jalila and Malika take something from the ground.
Dialogue 15: Malika says, “Eh crazy girl, come here you, I shall speak to
you, come”.
Awatif enters the room and goes to the other two girls saying.
Dialogue 16: Awatif says, “Hallo, hallo”.
Then she walks out of the room (4'37").
20. Malika takes a telephone, hits the numbers (her way of handling the
phone shows that Malika is less used to do this than Jalila and Awatif).
Dialogue 17: Malika says to Awatif ”067176413, go, go further away".
Dialogue 18: "Did you bring with you the things I asked for?"
Awatif answers a few seconds later while walking around on the terrace
and holding the handbag and the keys.
Dialogue 19: Awatif: "What shall I bring?"
Malika: "You should bring a small tin can of tomatoes".
Awatif: "What are you saying?"
Malika: "A small tin can of tomatoes".
Awatif: "I didn't hear you".
Malika: "A tin can of tomatoes and also a dirham of yeast".
Awatif: “Oh” (said in a way that indicates it is too much).
Jalila is working in the room at the table.
21. Malika stops phoning, puts the telephone between her legs and puts
back an earring that felt down from her ear.
Jalila puts small objects in the small textile bag and then she helps Malika
to put the earring in place, but this is quickly broken off.

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22. Jalila takes the earring and puts it in the bag that she closes with a
string.
Malika opens a box she holds in her hands.
23. Malika drops the box and takes a doll's dress. She shows it to Jalila.
Jalila takes a Barbie doll, places it among the other dolls and takes another
Barbie doll she quickly lays back.
24. Malika takes another Barbie doll and puts the dress on it.
Jalila takes a dress for a small girl, shakes it out and then walks with it to
her sister.
Dialogue 20: Jalila says to Malika "Do you have a hairclip for me over
there?"
25. Malika continues to dress the Barbie doll and walks to the upper left
corner of the carpet.
Dialogue 21: Malika answers "There it is".
Jawila walks back to the place where Malika is standing and takes a
hairclip out of Malika's hair.
26. Malika pulls out the dress that is too big for a Barbie doll and drops it.
Now she hangs the small textile bag over the doll's shoulder.
27. Jalila talks to Malika and comes back to the room where she takes off
her slippers.
Malika turns herself towards Jalila (6'45").
28. Jalila points to something with stretched out arms and says "look".
Dialogue 22: Jalila says to Malika "Give it to me".
She takes the dress dropped by Malika and then puts her slippers on.
Malika continues trying to hang the small bag on the doll's shoulder.
Dialogue 23: Malika says, "Don't come Awatif, stay there a bit longer".
29. Jalila takes another hairclip from Malika's hair but drops it.
Dialogue 24: Jalila says "We will put on their clothes".
Malika shows where it is while continuing to put the little bag over the
doll's shoulder.
30. Malika hangs the small bag on the doll by putting the string over its
head meanwhile she talks to this doll as if it is a child.
Dialogue 25: Malika says to this child (doll) “You are going to school”.
"These one's will stay at home". To one of the other girls, she says "Come
here to teach them".
The school is represented by a wooden frame to put cushions on and used
as a bench.

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31. Malika walks with the child (doll) towards Jalila and says
Dialogue 26: “Go take them to school, go, go!
Jalila answers “wait, wait, not yet”.
Malika runs back to the room.
32. Jalila hangs a doll's dress with Malika's hairclip on a rope fixing the
tent.
Awatif stands near Jalila with her handbag, the keys, and a telephone in her
hands.
Dialogue 27: Awatif tells Malika "You are going to answer the phone?"
33. Malika is putting dolls and teddies on her arm to bring them to school.
Dialogue 28: Malika says each time she puts a child (doll) on her arms
"You are going to school".
Jalila looks at the things Awatif keeps in her hands and then she walks to
the room.
34. Awatif is waiting near the room and imitates a ringing telephone "srr,
srr". She wants to phone to her sister.
Dialogue 29: Awatif says several times to Jalila "Hey, I am calling you".
Jalila doesn't answer the phone call.
35. Awatif reacts by hitting with her foot Jalila's foot.
Jalila now takes a telephone.
Dialogue 30: Jalila to Awatif “hello, who is talking?”
36. Malika sits with some dolls and teddies on the bench. She takes a baby-
like doll and puts a dress on it.
Awatif starts talking to Jalila without using a phone.
Dialogue 31: Awatif: "Hey, you see I didn't find tomatoes".
Jalila: "Yes, and what about the carrots?"
Awatif: "Carrots! I haven't brought them with me yet".
Jalila: "Hurry, the children are still in school. At the same time ask the
teacher if they work well in class".
37. Jalila has a phone in her hand and talks to Malika:
Dialogue 32: Jalila: “Hello, look you did not take one of them with you,
crazy one”,
Malika: “What? Which one of them?”
Jalila: “Look she is at home”.
Malika: “The one who is so small?”
Jalila: “Yes”.
Malika: “This one is still small, that is why I didn't take her along”.

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Jalila: “May God beware us (from this foolishness), bring her to the school
for the little ones”.
Malika: “Bring her to me”.
Jalila: “Eh, eh! (a way to express refusal) I am preparing dinner. Send the
one who is with you”.
Malika: "Go yourself".
38. Malika continues to cloth the baby-like doll while talking to this doll.
Dialogue 33: "Put on your sweater your dirty one".
Malika puts the doll back, takes it again and says.
Dialogue 34: "She doesn't want to grow up, this one".
39. Awatif brings the remaining dolls to the school and gives them to
Malika. Then she goes to sit on the bench and looks how Malika dresses a
doll.
40. Jalila is still in the room, puts on a small backpack and her slippers and
walks to the school area.
Awatif leaves the school, walks towards her sister Jalila but is passing her
while saying.
Dialogue 35: Awatif: "What did you say about the missing carrots? I shall
bring them".
41. Jalila arrives at the school area and sits down with a phone in her hand.
Dialogue 36: Jalila to Awatif “You know how many (children) did not
arrive yet (in school)?”
Awatif: “That one, and that one, they should go to school, isn’t it? Those
two should go to the school for the little ones, not only one?”
Jalila: “Eh! I did tell you two”.
42. Malika sits on the bench. She wants to take the mobile phone out of
Jalila’s hands while saying:
Dialogue 37: “Give the mobile phone so that I talk to this one (Awatif).
You must teach them, you must play the teacher”.
Jalila takes the mobile phone back.
Malika pulls Jalila’s arm while standing up. Then they walk three steps
together.
43. Malika takes the mobile phone from Jalila and gives it to Awatif.
Awatif walks away two steps with the phone.
Dialogue 38: Malika says to Jalila “you will teach them now; you will play
the mistress”.

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44. Jalila stands with her two hands on her hips in front of Malika and talks
to her (10’45”).
Dialogue 39: Jalila says to Malika: “no, I don't want to do this”.
Jalila walks away as if she is angry and speaks like that.
Malika quickly follows her.
Awatif is walking on the terrace.
45. Malika arrives first at the room and lays down the mobile phone.
Jalila walks towards the room and puts off her backpack.
Dialogue 40: Malika says to Jalila "These (children) are to small. You gave
them some milk? You didn't give them anything!"
Jalila replies "I gave them (milk)".
46. Jalila takes some objects and puts these on the little chair serving as
kitchen table. Meanwhile Malika puts some toy-utensils on the kitchen
table saying to Jalila.
Dialogue 41: “Oh! What has she been doing to me in the kitchen a second
time”?
Jalila reacts by repeating exactly the same phrase in an ironic way.
(11’20”).
47. Jalila arranges the utensils.
Malika takes over this job.
Awatif puts down on the carpet the phone, handbag, and keys.
Dialogue 42: Awatif says to Jalila "Eh, put these (plastic flowers) in the
kitchen".
Malika says to both girls "The carrots are they cut?"
Jalila sings "lalalala…".
Malika: "Give me a plate but don't make dirty the other one. No, no, I put it
there especially. Oh! This one she (Jalila) is tiring me".
Awatif: "I shall teach the boys, teach them kindly".
Malika: "Look!"
Jalila: "You don't want me to help you?"
48. Awatif takes two phones and steps off the carpet. She puts on her
slippers, takes the handbag and the keys, and walks away.
Malika arranges the cups.
Jalila wants to help.
Dialogue 43: Malika says to Jalila "Don't disturb me, look what I have
done".
Jalila replies "OK".

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49. Jalila stands for a while with her hands on her hips, she walks to the
other side of the table and pulls out the mobile phone's antenna.
Malika continues to arrange the table.
50. Jalila speaks in the mobile phone.
Dialogue 44: "Hello, Hello".
Awatif sits on the bank with the pupils (dolls)
Dialogue 45: Awatif to Jalila "Hello, what's the matter?"
Jalila answers "Listen, bring the girls now".
Awatif: "OK".
Malika says to Awatif "If you cannot bring them all, leave some".
51. Awatif takes half of the dolls and walks towards the room.
Meanwhile Malika goes to the rest of the dolls and brings them also to the
room".
52. Jalila talks to Malika.
Dialogue 46: "Bring this big one (doll)".
Malika answers "That one, that one it is dressed. If she needed to be
dressed, she is already dressed. What are we going to do to these (dolls)?
They don't want to sit down. Look, what are we going to do with them
now?"
53. Malika starts to put one child (baby-like doll) at the dining table. Then
she takes a teddy and does the same with it.
Jalila comes back with the little girl's dress.
54. Jalila takes a Barbie doll lying on the ground and speaks to it while
moving her finger before it saying, “look you!”.
Dialogue 47: Jalila to Awatif “give me this jar (conical music playing part
of a Barbie doll), give, give”.
Then Jalila takes the moving part of a Barbie doll puts it outside the carpet
and makes it play music.
55. When it reaches the wooden frame serving as school, Jalila says to
Malika.
Dialogue 48: “give me this one (a doll)” (2x), Malika replies “no, no, leave
this one here, I want to put it on top”.
56. Malika finally can take of the little bag of the doll and then puts the doll
back at the table where she is putting all the dolls. (13’50”).
Jalila brings up both her arms and expresses her admiration for Malika’s
arrangement of the dolls by using the stereotyped expression “tbaraka
Allah” said when one sees something wonderful but at the same time

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serving as protection against the evil eye. Dialogue 49: Malika takes the
Hawaiian Barbie saying, “see them”. Jalila looks at her and says, “and the
other one?”, Malika “it’s like she stands upright here, that is why I did
place her like that”.
57. Malika puts the other dolls in a second small chair next to the other one.
She sings “aïdo milad” (happy birthday). Jalila wants to help but Malika
refuses this. (14’20”). Jalila stops trying to help and looks at the scene with
her hands on her hips.
58. Somewhat later Malika sings in English “happy birthday to you”,
“yalala” (15’50”).
59. Jalila is still filming with the moving part of a Barbie figuring a video
camera, meanwhile Awatif continues to lay down. Malika stands up.
Dialogue 50: Malika about Awatif “she will not come to the anniversary,
this one”, Jalila to Awatif “hey, hey, wake up you”, Malika to Awatif “hey,
wake up you”, Jalila “this one, sleepiness has overwhelmed her”, Malika
“hey, it is the anniversary, you crazy one”, Malika “finally I did arrange
them, isn’t it”, Jalila “me also”.
60. Jalila now films Malika (17’15”).
Dialogue 51: Jalila “where is your face?”, Malika “oh my little mother (ih
amwemti, an expression used to indicate astonishment), Jalila I want you
the camera to see them all, crazy one, sees them all”.
61. Jalila speaks to Awatif who lies on the ground (17’35”).
Dialogue 52: Jalila to Awatif “move, so that I can turn this on”, Malika
reacts saying “no, I do not want you to turn this on”, Jalila “no, no, I want”,
Malika interrupts her saying “no, no, leave it”. Jalila insists on doing it.
62. Malika goes to the wooden frame used as classroom and puts the
Hawaiian Barbie on it (18’20”). Meanwhile Jalila continues to film her and
Awatif is lying down.
Dialogue 53: Jalila asks “what are they going to do?” answering herself
“they will come to the anniversary”, “get up, get up”.
63. While Awatif is still lying on the ground, Malika transports the other
children to the wooden frame. (19’30”)
Dialogue 54: Malika to Jalila “turn it (the music) on when it stops, turn it
on, turn it on quickly, quickly, now they will sing”. Jalila now changes the
video camera again into a music player, then she moves her body while
listening to the music, afterwards she uses it again as video camera.
64. Malika deals out the Euro banknotes (22’30”).

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Dialogue 55: Malika “to the ones who are great we will give three and to
those who are not great I shall give only one, one to this one here, one to
this one there”. Jalila reacts “eh no!” (she does not want Malika to separate
the banknotes). Malika whispers “it is on purpose, on purpose”, Jalila “hey
no, no on purpose, it is not my problem this on purpose, daughter of shame
(bint el hram is an insult), if you cut another banknote, I shall show you, we
have only brought them (to our house) with great difficulty”. Quickly after
this discussion Malika asks Awatif, who is taking out objects from a bag
and putting them on the wooden frame, “where is the comb?”.
65. Malika and Awatif phone to one another (23’30”).
Dialogue 56: Malika “tell them that I shall come for the aïd el kebir”,
Awatif “OK”, Jalila walks towards Malika and states “we will all come, not
only you!”, Malika adapts to Jalila’s reaction saying to Awatif “it is to say
we will all come, did you here?”, Awatif “yes”, Malika “oh it is broken of
(the communication), may God give you” (bad things, expression used
when something is not well or goes wrong).
66. Malika takes the phone and talks to Awatif, Awatif has another phone
and replies to Malika, Jalila wants to take the phone away from Malika and
after a short dispute she gets it, Jalila then phones to A. (27’). Later on it is
Malika who tries to take the phone from Jalila, Jalila first refuses but then
gives in. (33’).
Dialogue 57: Awatif to Malika “hello (4x) give me Jalila”, Malika “OK she
is here, take, speak to your aunt Aïcha, derreta” (derreta is an expression
for an insulting joke), Jalila “my aunt Lubna (a modern name) not Aïcha (a
traditional name)”, Awatif “hello Jalila, my mother has said that you will
all come for the aïd el kebir”.
67. Awatif is trying to get the other player’s attention for a while.
Dialogue 58: Awatif “are you playing with me or what are you doing?”,
Malika “wait (3x)”, Jalila to Awatif “hello, what do you want?, Awatif “do
you play with me?”, Jalila “what, do you want?”, Awatif “I phone to you
since yesterday in the evening and you do not want to listen to me”, Jalila
“we have been sleeping yesterday evening and we have closed down the
mobile phone, we have closed it down”, Awatif “OK”.
68. Malika and Jalila discuss about what they shall do with the children.
Dialogue 59: Malika “listen, we will take them to pass summer (have a
vacation) for a while, OK?”, Jalila “no, till tomorrow (2x), not now”, “but

683
crazy you, now that it is warm, get up, take this”, Jalila repeats in an
ironical manner “take this”.
69. Dialogue 60: Malika “hey you, speak fusha Arabic (standard Arabic)”,
Awatif “and then”, Jalila “no, no, you speak ta’arabt (Arabic influenced by
Tamazight: Moroccan Arabic)”.
70. Malika and Jalila are discussing over the phone:
Dialogue 61: Malika to Jalila “not yet, I shall send them (the children) to
you, but I am waiting for a money order to come”, Jalila “money order for
what?”, Malika “shut up (3x), don’t you know the money order?”.
Dialogue 62: Jalila “I shall go out”, Malika “where are you going?” Malika
“that is none of your business”, Malika “where are you going?” Jalila “I
shall go out, is that your business?” Malika “we will find you in that cafe,
OK., with the little ones, OK?”.
Dialogue 63: Jalila “hello”, Malika “where? You will leave for Spain
you?” Jalila speaking in an ironical manner “you will leave for Spain you?
is that your business?”, Malika “you are going as a clandestine or what?”,
Jalila continuing in an ironical manner “I shall go by airplane me, give me
my red bag”, Malika “give her the red bag, watch it if you stay longer than
twenty days once more”, Jalila “I shall stay longer than twenty days and I
shall visit my friends that’s it, I shall stay longer than twenty days, is that
your business? It is not for you to command me the whole day”.

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Video: doll play and construction play in Lagzira

ROSSIE Jean-Pierre and DAOUMANI Boubaker, 2003, Protocol of Video

4: Doll Play and Construction Play in Lagzira (Sidi Ifni), Morocco,
31.01.2002. SITREC-Stockholm International Toy Research Centre, Royal
Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Detailed description of 43 minutes doll play and construction of dollhouses

by a 6-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother with dolls represented by
shells followed by Boubaker Daoumani’s interview with the players. The
authorization given by and the interview with the father are recorded on
audiocassette.

PROTOCOL: DOLL PLAY AND CONSTRUCTION PLAY IN

LAGZIRA

Lagzira area (Sidi Ifni), Morocco, 04.03.2002, 43 minutes of play

activities
Dialogues during play activity also recorded on audiocassette.
Players
Halima, girl, 6 years 5 months (13.09.1995), first year of primary school
Fadil, boy, 8 years 4 months (17.10.1993), brother of Halima, third year of
primary school
Language and dialogues
Both players speak Tachelhit at home and during their play.
Dialogues recorded on the video and on a separate mini-audiocassette.
Translation of dialogues first in French by B. Daoumani and JP. Rossie
(available in manuscript in Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne).
Translation from French into English by JP. Rossie.
Place of action
Isolated house, near the asphalt road in the Lagzira area, 4 km before Sidi
Ifni and at the foot of a hill where the small Amazigh village Lahfart is
located 2 km up road, Atlantic coast, Southern Morocco, in a free area
close to this family’s traditional house. The filming took place on a rainy
day after a rain shower.

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Play material
Numerous shells are used as dolls, the ones enveloped in a white gaze
represent the bride and the bridegroom, the others are their family members
and guests.
Sardine tins figure wedding cars.
Small houses are made with stones and mud.
Part of an old telephone represent a mobile phone.
Family situation
Father 42 years (24.07.1959), unschooled and illiterate, fishing with a rod
in the Ocean.
Mother 40 years (1961), unschooled and illiterate.
5 children, 3 girls and 2 boys between 6 and 16 years, all children are
school going. The older boy sometimes meet tourists staying with camping
cars at Lagzira beach.
Living at subsistence level, no sheep nor goats, collecting mussels. The
family lives in its own house build on its property.
No electricity in the house, no television since a long time.
Special Remarks
Both players show a certain embarrassment and shyness when being video
filmed for the first time probably due to their little exposure to foreigners,
photographing and filming. This has strongly influenced their verbal
behavior as the use of language in their doll play is unusual limited even if
they’re on looking older siblings more than once stimulate them to speak
by saying to the players “why don’t you speak as usual?”.
When Boubaker Daoumani, their primary school teacher, asked them the
following day about their play for the video camera, they clearly stated that
they normally perform during such a play activity the wedding festivities
and do sing songs related to this event of which some examples were sung
on the mini cassette recorder during the interview.
Scenes and dialogues
0. View of the environment and play area with the players.
1. Halima (H) and Fadil (F) drive the car, represented by a sardine tin and
in which the bride and the bridegroom are sitting, clearly tracing the road
they are following, meanwhile they now and then sing or make car sounds
(35”).
2. View of the play area with the houses and surrounding area (2’20”).
3. Close view of the cars being still driven by H and F (2’40”).

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4. While continuing to drive his car F looks at the camera in a seemingly
embarrassed or questioning way (3’35”).
5. An older brother, Saïd (14 years), says to the players to proceed with
their play activity, what they do (3’55”).
6. Close view of a car (5’10”).
7. The players just continue to drive the cars around the path (6’).
8. An older sister, Khadija (10 years), saya to the players “but speak, speak
louder, speak” (6’30”).
9. H and F look at each other (6’50”).
Dialogue 1: F says to H “speak you”.
10. The driving of the cars is continued while both players make car sounds
(7’30”).
11. Saïd approaches the players saying “talk, talk, talk louder, talk” (8’10”).
12. Khadija does the same (8’30”).
13. H arrives first with the car at her miniature house and starts to arrange
the dolls while F still drives his car (8’50”).
14. H puts the parents of the bride and bridegroom in their correct position,
she also arranges the other dolls with the opening of the shell, representing
the head, on top (9’10”).
15. H continues to put the dolls with their head upright (10’).
16. Saïd says to F “go on Fadil, put the car in the garage”. H looks in the
direction of F (10’).
17. H takes a few stones and gives them to F. F sits at his miniature house
just after stopping to drive his car (10’30”).
18. F works at making a wall and H continues to arrange the position of her
dolls (10’50”).
19. F and H continue the same activity but F looks once more quickly at the
camera (11’30”).
20. H looks at F and asks him something while whispering. F throws a
stone or mud to H (11’33”).
21. While making his wall F asks something to H (11’50”).
Dialogue 2: F to H “bring me some mud”.
22. H then walks away (11’55”).
23. F still builds the wall adjoining his small house. Meanwhile H is
walking further away (12”).
24. F looks shortly in the direction of H but continues to build the wall
(12’25”).

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25. H is still searching for mud at some distance (12’50”).
Close view of H building the wall of a small house with stones and mud,
close view of this small house with two cars in the garage (12’50”-15’20”).
26. F speaks to H who answers (15’).
Dialogue 3: F to H “eh!”, answer inaudible.
27. H asks F to come to her (15’20”).
Dialogue 4: H to F “Fadil”, F answers “what?”. This is repeated four times.
Then F says to H “What do you want?” and H answers “come”.
28. F stands up and goes quickly to H (15’25”).
29. F arrives at the place where H is searching (15’45”).
30. F takes a few stones in both hands and returns to his small house
(16’20”).
H follows him quickly with some other stones in her hands.
31. F arrives at his small house putting his stones down (16’45”).
32. H arrives at her small house and puts her stones there; she immediately
starts to manipulate some mud (16’55”).
33. H begins to build a little wall for a small house using only mud and
quite near her first house (17’15”).
F is already working at building a new wall.
34. H and F look at each other and whisper while continuing their activity
(17’25”).
35. Close up of H’s wall making, she has six pieces of mud already lying
nearby on a plastic and takes one of these. She puts it in line with the first
part of her new house wall (17’50”).
36. F is putting stones on the lower part of the angle wall he is constructing
(18’30”).
37. H still tries to adjust the second part of her new house wall to the first
part (18’48”).
F continues his building.
38. H and F talk to each other. H takes the plastic plate with mud bricks and
puts it before her house (19’).
Dialogue 5: F to H “bring some mud, hey you bring some mud, bring that
one there, bring”, H “what?”, F “that mud there, bring that mud there”, H
“what?”, F “bring that mud there, the mud”, H “wait”,
39. F takes the plastic plate with the remaining mud bricks away from H’s
house and puts it next to his house (19’10”).
H continues to arrange her wall.

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40. F rubs some mud from the ground and uses it for the house he is
building (19’30”).
41. H looks at F and talks to him. (19’35”).
F throws some mud to H, she works it with both hands to make it into a
brick, then puts it after the other two bricks.
42. H and F talk to each other while continuing their job (20’20”).
Dialogue 6: F “bring the mud Halima”, H “what?”, F “bring the mud”, H
“what?”, F “bring the mud (2x), bring the mud, hey you! bring the mud
(2x), hey Halima bring some mud”.
F takes the plastic plate and hits the ground with it to make the remaining
mud fall of.
43. H takes some other mud, makes a brick with it and puts it in row with
the other bricks (20’25”).
F uses the plastic plate for a while.
44. F whispers something inaudible to H (20’37”). H walks away.
45. F talks louder to H who is at some distance and looks in her direction
(20’48”).
46. F continues to build his house (21’).
47. Detail of H’s house and of the threshing floor (21’20”).
48. F throws mud on the wall of his second house, then he flattens the sides
of the wall with a stone in one hand and the plastic plate in the other hand
(21’40”).
49. H comes back and gives some mud to F, then she takes the rest of the
mud to the wall she is building (22’25”).
50. H works the mud with both her hands (22’40”).
F throws some more mud on his wall.
51. F and H continue to build their house (22’56”).
52. F takes a few stones (23’21”).
53. F asks H for mud, but she does not do it (23.25”).
54. Finally, H brings some mud to F (23’25”).
55. F then takes some mud away from H’s place (23’30”).
56. H shows her resentment and F throws some mud back to her (23’46”).
57. F and H continue to work with their mud (24’20”).

Interview with the players by Boubaker Daoumani

Players
Halima, girl, 6 years 5 months (13.09.1995), first year of primary school

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Fadil, boy, 8 years 4 months (17.10.1993), brother of Halima, third year of
primary school
Language
Both players speak Tachelhit at home and during their play.
Translation of interview first in French by B. Daoumani and JP. Rossie
(available in manuscript in Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne).
Translation from French into English by JP. Rossie.
Place of action
Isolated house, near the asphalt road in the Lagzira area, 4 km before Sidi
Ifni and at the foot of a hill where the small Amazigh village Lahfart is
located 2 km up road, Atlantic coast, Southern Morocco, in a free area
close to this family’s traditional house. The filming took place on a rainy
day after a rain shower.
Interview with the players
This interview reveals the following information:
- As well Halima as Fadil bring their bride doll and bridegroom doll sitting
together in the wedding car (sardine tin) to the small houses.
- During the construction play Fadil takes the role of a bricklayer because
he already knows well how to build a small house and Halima who is not
yet so qualified is the bricklayer’s helper.
- When Fadil assembles the shells representing the invited people on two
rags he is putting them in place to have dinner.
- When their game is over everything is left in place and protected with
some covers so that the animals will not destroy everything. Yet, this still
happens and at the beginning of new similar play session reconstruction
must take place.
- Fadil and Halima always play together, for example ball games
- During the wedding ceremonies, when driving the wedding car etc., Fadil
and Halima sing Tachelhit songs, as well traditional ones as new ones
heard on the radio or on cassette. These songs are:
1. The large scarf is only nice when accompanied by the henna (on a
woman’s hands and feet), on the foot there is a slipper and this way it is
nicer, my brother (or friend).
2. He won, he got her, the one who has patience, I swear it, he will win.
3. The chain has lost its pieces of gold and its precious stones.
4. The small tea table is well placed, and the beauty (bride) is well seated
next to it.

690
5. If your house (of the family-in-law) is far away, stay the night over with
us. If your house is near go to your place. (kind of joking song sung by the
bridegroom’s family to the bride’s family during the ritual dispute when the
bride is taken to the bridegroom’s place.
6. Religious song in relation to Allah
7. Car from Tiznit you leave everybody here and you run to go where?
(One of the songs their older sister has learned them).
Interview with the players’ father by Boubaker Daoumani
Language
Interview in Tachelhit.
Translation of interview first in French by B. Daoumani and JP. Rossie
(available in manuscript in Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne).
Translation from French into English by JP. Rossie.
Place of action
Isolated house, near the asphalt road in the Lagzira area, 4 km before Sidi
Ifni and at the foot of a hill where the small Amazigh village Lahfart is
located 2 km up road, Atlantic coast, Southern Morocco, in a free area
close to this family’s traditional house. The filming took place on a rainy
day after a rain shower.
Interview with the father
This interview starts with giving the authorization to film the player’s
game. Then the father gives some general information on the household
and its members. He also stresses that Halima and Fadil often play together
on the same spot in front of the house.

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Video: The Sidi Ifni Toy Maker

ROSSIE Jean-Pierre and DAOUMANI Boubaker, 2007, Protocol of Video 2:

The Sidi Ifni Toy Maker, Morocco, 02.02.2002, SITREC-Stockholm
International Toy Research Centre, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

Detailed description of 35 minutes toy construction and toy play by a 10-year-

old boy and his 6-year-old brother; preceded by three minutes interview with the
father and followed by six minutes interview of the players, both by Boubaker
Daoumani. The father’s authorization is given in the beginning of his interview.

PROTOCOL: THE SIDI IFNI TOY MAKER

Sidi Ifni, Morocco, 02.02.2002, 35 minutes and 40 seconds of play activities.

Preceded by 3 minutes interview with the father and followed by 6 minutes
interview with the players both by Boubaker Daoumani. He also interviewed the
father in his house prior to the video filming, an interview recorded on
audiocassette.
Parental authorization given at the beginning of the video.
Video filming by JP. Rossie.
Video Panasonic R55 VHS
Players:
Ilyas, boy, 10 years and 1 month, born on 08.01.1992, third year of primary
school, speaks Moroccan Arabic at home.
Abdallah, boy, 6 years 8 months, born on 24.05.1995, brother of Ilyas, speaks
Moroccan Arabic at home.
Language and dialogues:
Both players use local Moroccan Arabic.
Dialogues recorded on the video and on audiocassette.
Translation of dialogues in French by B. Daoumani (available in manuscript).
Translation from French into English by JP. Rossie.
Place of action:
Small rural city Sidi Ifni, Atlantic coast, Southern Morocco, Avenue Prince
Moulay Abdallah, in front of the house of the family Chaki and the home of
both players, this street lies parallel with the seashore and a camping with
several mobile homes of Europeans (staying for shorter or longer periods during
tourist season between November and March).

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Play material
Rectangular and round cardboard boxes, sticks, strings.
Family situation
See interview with the father of the players at the end of this protocol.
Father: 52-years-old, mother tongue Tachelhit, speaks also Moroccan Arabic
and Spanish.
Mother: 40-years-old, mother tongue Tachelhit, speaks also Moroccan Arabic.
7 children: 5 boys and 2 girls.
Popular class family.
Electricity, running water, television with parabolic antenna.

Scenes and dialogues

0. View of the environment and play area with the players.
Interview with the father recorded on this video (3'): see at the end of this
protocol.
1. Ilyas is putting part of a round cheese cardboard box, serving as
wheel, on the cardboard vehicle using an old metal wire as axle
(3’20”).
Abdallah is looking at his brother's doings.
2. Ilyas puts another wheel on the vehicle.
Abdallah sits down and continues looking at him.
3. Ilyas takes a fourth, round cardboard box and fixes it to the vehicle.
Meanwhile Abdallah is looking around.
4. Ilyas speaks to Abdallah to direct his younger brother's attention to what he is
doing.
Abdallah does as he is told and looks at his brother (4').
5. Ilyas takes a pair of scissors and a piece of cardboard. Then he asks
Abdallah to hold the other end of the cardboard piece, what Abdallah
does.
6. Ilyas carefully cuts several times the front part of the rectangular piece of
cardboard.
Abdallah observes this.
7. Ilyas has made eight cuts parallel to each other's and at more or less equal
distance creating something like a dentition. Then he bends upwards each
second lid.
Abdallah is continues looking at his brother's work.

693
8. Ilyas shows the result to Abdallah. He then cuts of the upward bended lids
with the scissors. (5'06").
Abdallah rubs his eyes.
9. The wind blows away the cardboard vehicle but some on looking children
bring it back.
Ilyas controls the position of one wheel.
Abdallah still rubs his eyes.
10. Ilyas takes the pair of scissors and makes a horizontal cut in the smaller side
of the cardboard box (5'20").
11. In this cut Ilyas introduces the long rectangular piece of cardboard but with
end opposite the tooth like part.
12. Ilyas sees that the cut is not wide enough and enlarges it with the scissors.
Abdallah is looking attentively.
13. Ilyas pushes the long rectangular piece of cardboard up to its middle through
the cut.
14. Ilyas takes another piece of flat cardboard that is somewhat larger than the
small side of the cardboard box.
15. Abdallah takes in his hand the long rectangular piece of flat cardboard by its
tooth like end but only for a second. Then he loses his grip.
Meanwhile Ilyas is pulling the vehicle towards himself to put in place the
two wheels that felt of when the vehicle was blown away (6'56").
16. Abdallah holds one upper edge of the vehicle as if he wants to keep it in
place while Ilyas fixes the wheels (7’).
17. Ilyas takes smaller rectangular cardboard box, puts it away, takes an
even smaller one and then another cardboard box.
Abdallah looks at what his brother is doing.
18. Ilyas takes the pair of scissors and starts to cut in the small cardboard box.
Abdallah stretches out his hand to prevent the wind to blow away the
vehicle.
19. Ilyas puts the vehicle in between him and Abdallah.
Abdallah has taken a flat rectangular piece of cardboard in his hands (7'35").
20. Ilyas cuts out a door in the small cardboard box and takes a long rectangular
flat piece of cardboard he seems wanting to attach to it but then he drops it.
21. Abdallah gets hold of the long flat rectangular piece of cardboard that passes
through the cut in the vehicle as if he wants to put it in place (8'20").
22. Ilyas picks up the small cardboard box and puts it inside the vehicle.
23. Abdallah keeps the vehicle at one upper edge with both hands.

694
 Ilyas takes a ballpoint and starts to design some lines on a rectangular flat
piece of cardboard (8'30").
24. Ilyas designs a perfect circle and some other lines in this circle.
25. Ilyas then takes the scissors and cuts out the circle.
Meanwhile Abdallah holds the vehicle at an upper edge with both hands.
26. Ilyas starts to design on another piece of cardboard.
Abdallah watches this closely (10').
27. Abdallah holds the vehicle and one wheel, while
Ilyas cuts out the designed piece.
Both players look now and then at the talking onlookers.
28. Abdallah sits down and watches his brother.
Ilyas designs two lines on a rectangular piece of cardboard, then folds it.
29. Ilyas shows his younger brother how to do this.
Abdallah watches attentively.
30. Ilyas bends the flat piece of cardboard in such a way that it looks like
the upper structure of a car. Then he places it on another flat piece of
cardboard serving as the basis of the car.
Abdallah continues to watch all this closely (12'20").
31. Ilyas now cuts of the part of the car's basis at the place where the upper
structure stops (12'50").
32. Ilyas verifies if all is well. He then takes another flat piece of cardboard.
Abdallah seems to show his brother where the ballpoint lies.
33. Ilyas takes the ballpoint and designs a small round on the cardboard and cuts
it out. It is as if he wants to attach this round to the car but he puts
everything on the ground.
Abdallah continue to watch closely.
34. Ilyas takes a short iron wire and puts it through the center of the wheel
(14'10").
35. Ilyas takes the basis of the car and at both ends he designs a line. He then
skillfully makes a small cut where the lines are using the big pair of scissors.
36. Ilyas takes the upper part of the car and cuts out two lids that should fit in the
cuts made in the basis.
37. Ilyas bents the middle lid upward and the two side lids downwards. After
doing this he pushes the middle lid through the cut in the basis of the car.
38. Ilyas holds the middle lid with one hand and cuts of the two other lids
(16'10").
39. At the other side he only puts the middle lid in the cut of the basis (16'40").

695
40. Ilyas flattens a little bit the upper structure of the car (the wind is disturbing
his work and blows away some pieces of cardboard).
41. Ilyas takes a long, small rectangular flat piece of cardboard and cuts it in two
with the scissors.
Abdallah recuperates some pieces of cardboard while remaining seated, then
he gets on one knee and crawls somewhat further bringing back several
pieces of cardboard (17').
42. Ilyas cuts the piece of cardboard in the wanted shape.
Abdallah gives a cardboard box to his brother (17'30").
43. Ilyas cuts a T shaped piece of cardboard, tries to fix it at the back of the car
but then puts it aside.
Abdallah is still watching.
44. Ilyas takes a piece of rectangular flat cardboard, puts it down and takes
another piece. At the left side of this new piece, he makes two parallel cuts
up to about half of its length. Tearing off the two pieces at both sides of
these cuts the left half of the rectangular piece of cardboard gets a T shaped
form. Ilyas then does the same with the right half of the cardboard.
Abdallah rubs his eyes because of the sand blown into them by the wind, but
he continues watching his brother (19'25").
45. Ilyas puts the T shaped piece at the back of the car but not being satisfied
with the result he takes it away (19'45").
46. Ilyas puts the car away and looks for some other piece of cardboard. He
takes the small wheel he made earlier and puts it at the front of the car
(20'32").
47. Ilyas takes a piece of flat cardboard, takes off a wheel and uses it as model to
design another wheel.
Abdallah looks around for a while but then concentrates again on what his
brother does.
48. Ilyas also looks shortly around, and then he designs a circle. He cuts out a
new wheel, designs another circle and cuts it also out. Finally, he uses this
last round as a model to cut out one more wheel but without first designing a
circle (22'12").
49. Ilyas takes the car and adjust somewhat its different parts. He puts an iron
wire through a wheel and fixes it at the back of the car.
Abdallah is still watching.
50. Ilyas tries to put the wire into the basis of the car, then he takes the scissors
and cuts of a little part on the side of the basis (24').

696
51. Ilyas pushes a piece of wire serving as axle through the basis at the back of
the car and fixes the wheels. Then he does the same at the front of the car.
52. Ilyas takes the ballpoint and designs some lines on the front of the car
(25'20"). He notices that a wheel is missing and looks for a piece of
cardboard.
Abdallah hives him a round piece of cardboard.
53. Ilyas designs some lines on the wheel then puts a piece of iron wire through
it and fixes it at the back of the car.
Abdallah continues to look at his brother.
54. Ilyas takes the greatest vehicle on his knees and adjust two wheels. He wants
to fix a round cardboard piece at the front of the car but then decides not to
do so.
55. Ilyas puts the car on its four wheels. He then looks for something and finally
takes two small cardboard boxes (28').
56. Ilyas takes the scissors does as if he wants to cut in a cardboard box, then
drops it and takes the other one.
Abdallah sits on his knees, turns his fingers for a moment but then watches
his brother again.
57. Ilyas who is cutting a cardboard box talks to his brother who starts to look
more closely.
58. Ilyas now cuts out a door in the cardboard box (representing a house), opens
the door and designs lines on it.
Abdallah slowly bends his upper body forward and backward and looks at
his hands (28'40").
59. Ilyas puts down his house, takes the large car to adjust a wheel.
Abdallah is moving his upper body more visibly.
60. Ilyas talks to Abdallah who moves his body forward to see better what his
brother does.
Ilyas pulls of a wheel to adjust the wire and then pushes a small piece of
cardboard on it.
Abdallah again moves his upper body forward and backward (29'50").
61. While Ilyas continues to push the small piece of cardboard over the wire,
Abdallah takes a little stick lying before him and plays with it (30'15")
(filming is stopped for about 25").
62. To keep the wheel in place Ilyas puts a small piece of cardboard over the
wire serving as axle.

697
 Abdallah looks at how this is done while continuing to play with his little
stick (31').
63. Ilyas puts does the same with the other three wheels.
Abdallah is looking without much concentration.
64. Inside view of the big car.
Ilyas takes the little car and puts it on top of a small cardboard box. He puts
this car aside and takes the small box in his hands (31'30").
65. Ilyas has made windows n the cardboard house.
Abdallah continues to sit down but without really watching his brother's
work.
66. Ilyas attaches a string to the large car (32'40").
67. Ilyas takes a piece of a plank.
Abdallah has taken the large cardboard house and designs some lines on it
(33').
68. Ilyas finds the nail he is looking for, flattens it with a stone, and then pulls it
through the small plank using the same stone (33'35").
(15" without images)
69. Ilyas hits the nail with a stone, receives some nails from onlookers, takes
another nail and drives it through the plank. He then looks if the nail passes
through the plank (33'55").
(10' without images)
70. Ilyas has attached the small car at one end of the plank with a string and
fixes the other end of the plank with a nail into a wooden block (34'40").
71. Ilyas tries to use this device to make his little car going forward by moving
the small plank to the left (35'30").
72. Boubaker Daoumani begins to talk with the two boys (35'40").

698
Interview with the players by Boubaker Daoumani
6 minutes interview recorded on the video and on a separate mini-audiocassette
Players:
Ilyas, boy, 10 years and 1 month, born on 08.01.1992, third year of primary
school, speaks Moroccan Arabic at home.
Abdallah, boy, 6 years 8 months, born on 24.05.1995, brother of Ilyas, speaks
Moroccan Arabic at home.
Language and dialogues:
Both players speak local Moroccan Arabic.
Translation of dialogues in French by B. Daoumani (available in manuscript in
Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne).
Translation from French into English by JP. Rossie.
Interview with the players
Ilyas (I.), Abdallah (A.), Boubaker (B.)
B. You are going to school?
I. Yes, in the third year.
B. And Abdallah?
I. He is in the first year.
B. Who taught you to make all this?
I. I myself alone.
B. You are doing well in the course of esthetic education, you like this course?
I. Yes, oh yes, I have the mention ‘good’ (7/10).
B. What are you playing?
I. I am constructing houses and I play with my brother.
B. You don't play with the others?
I. Yes, I play with my neighbors: Yassin, Khalid.
B. When you play with your friends, are they boys and girls?
I. No, we only play among boys.
B. The boys and the girls they play separately?
I. The girls play among their own.
B. These toys you made what are they?
I. I have not finished them… There is a tractor, I still must finish it.
B. Why isn't it finished?
I. I need some more cardboard.
B. Where do you get the cardboard?
I. In one or the other shop.
B. What is this (pointing to some sticks)?

699
I. This is a device to turn the small car and to make it go forward.
B. Like a motor of the car?
I. Yes.
B. And what is this (pointing to a cardboard box)?
I. A school.
B. You make other things?
I. I make a lot of things.
B. What kinds of things?
I. I also make cars and airplanes.
B. You just make things?
I. Yes.
B. And you play with them?
I. Yes.
B. How do you play with this car for example? You only turn it around?
I. Yes.
B. And when you make a school, how do you play with it?
I. It is not finished yet.
B. What is still missing?
I. I must add a man. He must stand upright and so I fix him with some tape.
Then I fix to this figure a piece of cardboard so that I can move him.
B. Who is this man?
I. He is the school guardian.
B. You also make pupils?
I. No.
B. You never played with dolls?
I. My little sister does.
B. Your sister doesn't play with the things you make?
I. No.
B. So your sisters play with dolls and you play with all this you make yourself?
I. Yes.
B. If one gives you dolls you will play with them?
I. Shakes no with his head.
B. Why?
I. Laughs and bows his head.
B. Why don't you want to play with dolls?
I. No answer.
B. But tell me why?

700
I. Continues laughing and says: I don't like them.
B. And you Abdallah do you play with dolls?
A. Shakes no with his head.
B. Abdallah you can make things like your brother?
A. Shakes no with his head.
B. So, what is he doing here? Abdallah, you are making toys and he what is he
doing?
I. I am making the toys and everything I am making I give it to him to play.
B. So, you only make toys and he only play with them?
B. Who taught you to make those things?
I. I myself.
B. In school they teach you to make such things and to play with them?
I. Shakes no with his head.
B. Your sisters they don't like to play with the things you make?
I. Yes, they play with them. They also know how to make certain things and my
older brother also knows how to make them.
B. Your older brother is helping you sometimes?
I. No, he doesn't help me. I make things alone and he makes things alone.
B. You always play on this spot?
I. I also play inside my house.
B. I see here these big scissors. Are they yours?
I. No, I got them from the neighbors.
B. Each time you ask for these scissors they give them?
I. No, only for today.
B. When you don't have these scissors what are you doing?
I. I have small scissors.
B. Do you like it that we are filming you today?
I. Shakes yes with his head.
B. When you finish making the toys and gave them to Abdallah, do they stay a
long time with him?
I. No regularly he breaks them when playing as he doesn't know how to
manipulate them well.

701
Interview with Bilal, the father of Ilyas and Abdallah, by Boubaker
Daoumani
First interview recorded on mini-audiocassette, taking place in the house prior to
the video filming. Second interview recorded on the video's first 3 minutes.
These interviews offer the following information on the player's family:
- The forty-year-old mother has done some years of primary school and helps
her children with their school exercises
- The father Bilal works on a big fishing-boat and is away from home for
months. He obtained a diploma of electrician for ships at a Spanish school in
Sidi Ifni.
- This family belongs to the Aït Bamraan Amazigh and is from Sidi Ifni.
- According to their father, the players sometimes speak Tachelhit. During this
play activity they speak Moroccan Arabic.
- This family has seven children, a girl being the youngest one and the older
boys are at work.

These interviews offer the following information on these children's play and
pastimes:
- According to his father, Ilyas finds the inspiration to make the toys in his own
imagination: “when he starts to make toys, he just makes what comes to his
mind”.
- Satellite TV is available in this home and during the school vacations these
boys can watch TV regularly. The father says that when they go to school TV
watching is being limited.
- When asked if TV helps Ilyas to make such toys, the father answers “maybe a
little”.
- On a question about the players imitating their father's occupations, the father
replies that the children always want to play something different.
- The children decide what toys they make, and they also look for the needed
material themselves.
- The children are free to play during vacations but when they must go to school
little time is given for playing. "When it's school time, it is school (that is
important). When it's play time, they (can) play".
- Question: do you think these games and (self-made) toys are useful for them in
relation to their schooling? Father's reply: yes, this helps them a lot.

702
At the end of the interview recorded at the beginning of the video, the father is
questioned about his studies and his ideas on his school time and that of his
children:
- The father has been to the Spanish school (between 1934 and 1969 Sidi Ifni
was a Spanish enclave).
- As main difference between the Spanish school he visited and the Moroccan
school of today he mentions craft teaching such as woodworker or mechanic
and the availability of a place to play, both lacking in the Moroccan school. He
also indicates that when he studied parents were invited at school when their
children did not do their homework and that schoolbooks are too expensive
nowadays.

703
Khalija Jariaa’s short videos:

JARIAA, Khalija (2012). Vidéo : Jeu de poupée. Village Douar Ouaraben,

Maroc, 15", langue tachelhit.

Three plastic dolls have been collected in the wadi - the legs and arms are
missing and are replaced by pieces of reed. The girls made the clothes.
These three dolls represent tourists who come to attend the wedding party.

Two Moroccan girls living in Brussels came to Douar Ouaraben on

holiday, the one sitting in the door opening and the taller girl who is
standing up at the beginning of the video.

The girl from Brussels who sits in the door opening is making a doll with a
reed frame.

JARIAA, Khalija (2012). Vidéo : Jeu de tente. Village Sidi Abou, Maroc,
49", langue tachelhit.

Two sisters, a five-year-old girl wearing a blue pullover and a girl of two
and a half wearing a red sweater, are playing with a tent built by the eldest
sister.
.
Before the tent there is a doll made with a reed frame, a television (a big
package of tea) and a large car (a long reed with six wheels).
At the right side of the tent lay the doll’s clothes the doll, a Baigon box, a
spray against insects, which represents the fire extinguisher that is available
in several houses.

The eldest daughter is holding a piece of reed topped with a plastic bottle
she is pointing towards to the sky saying in Tachelhit A Rabbi qfèfh Amein,
meaning that Allah gives us water.

704
Appendix 4

Museums and associations who received

toys of Anti-Atlas children

The toys of children living in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas, collected since

2002, are part of the Moroccan toys I obtained since 1992. All these toys
and other playthings have been donated to museums or socio-cultural
associations in Australia, Belgium, France, Italy, Morocco and Portugal in
order to preserve, disseminate and promote this heritage.

The chronological order of these donations is as follows:

• The Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne, France, 2005/2014, 677

toys. In October 2014 this museum received all the printed, visual and
audiovisual documents I have collected during my research on toy
making and play activities to be kept by the ‘Pôle Documentaire’
(http://www.musee-du-jouet.com).
• The Speelgoedmuseum / Toy Museum in Mechelen, Belgium, within the
project ‘Toys of the World’, 2005, 35 toys
(http://www.speelgoedmuseum.be).
• The Centro per la Cultura Ludica of Turin, Italy, 2008/2010, 272 toys
(http://www.comune.torino.it/iter/servizi/centri_di_cultura/gioco/centro_
cultura_ludica/index.shtml).
• The Etnografisch Museum / Ethnographic Museum, Antwerpen,
Belgium, 2007/2008, 39 toys. In 2011 this museum has been integrated
in the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) of the same city
(http://www.mas.be).
• The Centre de Safi of the Fondation Orient-Occident, Safi, Morocco,
2009, 100 toys (http://www.fondation.orient-occident.org).
• The Associazione La Lucertola, Ravenna, Italy, 2011, 93 toys
(http://www.lalucertola.org).
• The Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, within the theme Play and
Folklore, 2011, 36 toys (http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/books-and-
journals/journals/play-and-folklore).

705
• The Museu do Brinquedo Popular, Associação Desportiva e Recreativa
do Loureiro (http://www.adrloureiro.com), Loureiro (Coimbra),
Portugal, 2018, about 100 toys of Anti-Atlas children.

The mentioned number of toys is only approximate because sometimes a

series of objects is grouped together as one toy, for example in the case of
toy utensils, small houses, and attributes for dolls.
The series of publications called Saharan – North African – Amazigh
Children’s Toy Catalogs contains five volumes published in 2015-2016.

Saharan – North African – Amazigh Children’s Toy Catalogs:

• Donation to Centro per la Cultura Ludica in Turin, 2015, 93 p., 272 ill.
• Donation to Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne, first part: dolls
and toy animals, 2015, 72 p., 127 ill.
• Donation to Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne, second part:
toys related to domestic life, 2015, 72 p., 109 ill.
• Donation to Musée du Jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne, third part: toys
related to technical activities and games of skill, 2016, 57 p., 76 ill.
• Donation to other museums and associations, 2016, 91 p., 133 ill.

706
Appendix 5

Information on playing breastfeeding and

caring for babies by girls from the Anti-Atlas

In September 2007, Karleen D. Gribble, an adjunct research fellow at the

School of Nursing of the University of Western Sydney, asked me for
information about Moroccan girls’ play activities in relation to
breastfeeding and caring for babies. As a male fieldworker, I did not collect
information on these topics, nor did I witness such play activities but I
talked about this matter with Khalija Jariaa. Our discussion on these topics
has yielded some interesting data mentioned hereafter.
Khalija Jariaa, then thirty-two, referred to her own childhood and to the
games of girls living in villages and sometimes in small towns of the
province of Tiznit in Morocco, especially the villages Ikenwèn and Douar
Ouaraben. These play activities with a handmade doll or eventually a
plastic doll start at the age of about five years and last until the girls' early
teens.
Guided by some questions sent by Karleen Gribble, Khalija stressed that
these girls certainly were playing the role of a mother with a baby by
holding a doll in their arms and imitating breastfeeding. They also feed
their dolls representing a baby by using a copy of a feeding bottle and
giving it would-be food with a spoon. In villages, this is a common make-
believe game among girls. The play may start with a pregnant doll going to
a town hospital to give birth, or, if going to a hospital is no option, to give
birth at home. When the baby was born in the hospital, it is brought home.
In both cases, the baby receives breastfeeding and a bit later solid food.
In these games, it also happens that a girl does not play the role of a
mother breastfeeding her child but the role of a woman breastfeeding a
baby whose mother died or even the role of a woman who lost her child
and breastfeeds the baby of another woman. Next to the above-mentioned
play activities with a doll representing a baby, the girls also play at
changing its diapers, washing it and putting it to sleep. So, they imitate the
gestures related to the cleanliness and health of the baby. The girls even
prepare and administer copies of the local medicines for babies.

707
 There is no doubt that the girls play and interpret many situations they
observe in the lives of adult women. Nevertheless, Khalija hesitates to say
that mothers see these pretend games as a preparation for the girls’
adulthood. However, she stresses that mothers and other adult women like
a lot that girls play this kind of games because so doing they learn many
things that will be useful for them later.

708
Appendix 6

Information on the multilingual situation

in Amazigh families

A special but not exceptional case of a multilingual situation in two

Moroccan households can offer an insight about the linguistic complexity
in which younger and older children from the Anti-Atlas are growing up. In
2016, Kelthoum is a four-year-old girl born in Tiznit Hospital; but at the
age of one month, her mother returned with her to Bir Gandouz near the
Mauritanian border situated at 1300 km from Tiznit. In 2005, some
members belonging to an Amazigh family in the village Ikenwèn where
people speak Tachelhit, started to emigrate to that far away city. In 2016,
Fatima, a woman coming from Ikenwèn, lives in Bir Gandouz together
with her three children Meryem (18 years), Souquaina (15 years) and
Mohamed (10 years). The father of these three children is a Sahrawi man
speaking Hassaniya Arabic. In the same household lived three-year-old
Kelthoum, her parents, and Yousef, Kelthoum’s younger brother. However,
the parents of Kelthoum and Yousef decided in early 2016 that it was better
to return to Ikenwèn.
Because of these family circumstances, the following multilingual
situation exists, a linguistic situation that may be different for different
children in the same household. Speaking of the youngest child, Yousef
learned the basics of Tachelhit because his parents spoke that language
when they were in Bir Gandouz. Now that he has been living for a year in
Ikenwèn, where everyone speaks Tachelhit, this language has become his
mother tongue. The basics of Hassaniya Arabic he learned at Bir Gandouz
are forgotten. In Ikenwèn, Yousef goes to a rawd el Atfal, the kindergarten
where Moroccan Arabic, the language of instruction in primary school, is
strongly promoted. In the process, he becomes bilingual. Kelthoum's
linguistic situation is somewhat different. Having lived in Bir Gandouz for
up to her three and a half years, she learned the basics of Tachelhit through
her parents, partly the Hassaniya language spoken by Fatima and her
children as well as Moroccan Arabic she learned in the kindergarten since
the age of two and a half years. Now that she lived a year in Ikenwèn,
Tachelhit becomes her predominant language. A fourth language slowly

709
comes into play because in the kindergarten, some French is taught, French
words that Kelthoum likes to use when she meets tourists who spend the
night in their camper near the house where she lives in Ikenwèn.
Although Kelthoum’s multilingual experience and that of other children
in similar situations is special, almost all Amazigh children and youth are at
least bilingual. They speak one of the three Amazigh languages in Morocco
(Tachelhit, Tamazight or Tarifit) and Moroccan Arabic they learn at school.
In addition, they also learn French from a young age and English in the
secondary school. Although the level of spoken French is very variable, at
least a basic knowledge exists. Regarding English, one can say that some
adolescents make more efforts to learn this language than to learn French.
In February 2017, I met in the fields near Douar Ouaraben with a group of
five about 16 year’s old boys from popular families attending a secondary
school in Tiznit. Although I started to speak in Moroccan Arabic, three
youngsters preferred to continue speaking English with me instead of
speaking French. Monolingual Amazigh people are mostly elderly women
living in villages who did not have the opportunity to go to primary school
during their childhood.

710
Appendix 7

Additional information on
regions outside the Anti-Atlas

Additional information on areas outside the Anti-Atlas provides data that

might have been incorporated into previous volumes of the collection
Saharan and North African Toy and Play Cultures, but which were
obtained after the publication of these books. As this book is the last
volume on pretend games in these areas, this information is grouped in the
same order as before. Afterwards, a note based on The Night of the Masks:
the carnival of Goulmima is presented. Finally, readers' attention is drawn
to a master's thesis written by a Moroccan woman and a doctoral thesis
defended by a Tunisian woman, both speaking about the play and toy
culture of their country.

1 Children’s dolls and doll play

During a few visits to Tan-Tan and a brief stay at Bir Gandouz Jdid, near
the Mauritanian border, some Sahrawi toys were obtained from children or
adults. From the village Omar bel Ayachi, in the province of El Jadida in
Morocco, a few Baba Ashur and Mama Ashur dolls were collected. With a
few exceptions, these toys were used for children's games between 2002
and 2008. At the end of this supplement on children's dolls and doll games
one finds an excerpt about the tlaghnja doll used to ask for rain among the
Ait Khebbach of the Tafilalt in Morocco.

Douar (Tan-Tan)

Five kilometer from Tan-Tan in southern Morocco, on the other side of the
Oued Dra, lays the village Douar that Khalija Jariaa has visited. Sahrawi
families who speak Hassaniya Arabic inhabit this village of about one
hundred houses.
In March 2007, a ten-year-old girl living in this village created a couple
of Sahrawi newlyweds. To the left of figure 614 (p. 712) one sees the aris,
a bridegroom doll made with a reed structure whose lower part of the

711
vertical reed has been cut to represent both legs. This structure is wrapped
in a multicolored fabric and a white tracksuit. A long dark blue shawl
surrounds the head without facial features (H = 9 cm, L arms = 9 cm). To
the right stands the arousa, the bride-doll. The girl made this doll with a
reed structure wrapped in a white undergarment and a tracksuit made of a
piece of dark blue cloth. Its long hair consists of braided dark blue rags.
Like the bridegroom doll, the bride doll does not have facial features (H =
12 cm, L arms = 7 cm).

614

During the same period when Khalija Jariaa visited Douar, two girls made
each a female doll for their make-believe game of the Sahrawi dance called
yerkez, namely a dancer and a spectator.
The dancer doll, created by a nine-year-old girl, consists of a few vertical
twigs to which a wavy twig has been tied horizontally. This wavy twig
represents the typical arm movements of this dance, a dance that can be
seen on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgnU0JjRd_U). The
dancer doll wears a white undergarment and a multicolored tracksuit. Her
hair consists of long braids of dark blue cloth and its head is surrounded by
a long veil (fig. 615, p. 713, H = 32 cm, L arms = 16 cm).

712
 615 616

An eleven-year-old girl has added the spectator doll to this game. Its reed
structure is wrapped with a piece of multicolored and green fabric and the
facial features are not indicated (fig. 616, H = 28 cm, L arms = 11 cm).

Tan-Tan

At the same time when Khalija Jariaa visited Douar she also went to the
city of Tan-Tan, called the door of the Sahara. There, a Sahrawi woman of
about sixty-five years willingly remade the arousa or bride doll sitting in a
dromedary saddle as she did in her childhood around 1950 and that were
used to play a Sahrawi wedding party. This doll is composed of a vertical
reed planted in a cushion of cloth and with a horizontal piece of reed for the
arms. A large black scarf surrounds the whole doll whose lower part is
covered with a piece of white cloth. The nice hair dress is modeled with
paste in which small pearls and long beaded braids have been added (fig.

713
617, H = 18 cm, L arms = 11 cm). This doll represents the young bride
sitting in the dromedary saddle during the customary ride through the
community that is an important part of a traditional wedding ceremony.
.

617

To make the saddle toy, this grandmother built a stable rectangular

structure using twigs knotted by threads. Bands of green and white cloth
surround the bottom of the saddle and a red cloth serves as a rug. Some
yellow cushions complete the saddle (fig. 618, p. 715, H = 19 cm, L = 28
cm, B = 18 cm).

714
 618

Three years earlier in 2004, Khalija Jariaa brought back from Tan-Tan a
plastic doll dressed by a girl as an arousa or Sahrawi bride (fig. 619). The
comparison of the two Tan-Tan dolls demonstrates the simplification of the
symbols of the traditional doll on the plastic doll.

619

Two girls from Khalija Jariaa's family, originally from Tiznit but living in
Tan-Tan, play a doctor's visit in August 2006 using two teddies transform-
ed into doctor and sick child (fig. 620-622, p. 716). Five-year-old Meryem
explains to her three-year-old sister Souquaina her hospital experience.

715
 620

621 622

Bir Gandouz Jdid

716
Bir Gandouz Jdid

In March 2008, I had the opportunity to visit briefly Bir Gandouz Jdid, a
new coastal town near the Mauritanian border. I took this opportunity to try
to contact some Sahrawi families. With the help of a teenager, I was able to
enter his family's tent and talk with a mother and her daughters. After
explaining the purpose of my visit, a twenty-year-old woman suggested to
show me how she made dolls years ago. On the floor of the left side of this
woman dressing a doll, lays a doll frame in the shape of a cross (fig. 623).

623

This woman also made a Sahrawi couple whose son was made by a
thirteen-year-old girl (fig. 624, p. 718).

717
 624

The mother doll wears on a structure of twigs a piece of dark blue

underwear, a scarf of the same color and a white tracksuit. A pearl necklace
embellishes this mother doll which has facial features drawn on the fabric
surrounding the head (fig. 624 on the left, H = 16 cm, L arms = 12 cm).
The father doll wears on a structure of two branches tied in the shape of a
cross, a single white tracksuit. The young woman wrapped the top of the
vertical twig with tissue to form the head on which she drew facial features.
This father doll wears a long dark blue scarf (fig. 624 on the right, H = 17
cm, L arms = 12 cm).
The thirteen-year-old girl, who made the boy doll, dressed two cross-
shaped sticks with a tracksuit and a dark blue scarf that hides the face (fig.
624) in the middle, H = 8 cm, L arms = 5 cm).

718
 On this occasion, the forty-two-year-old mother created two dolls, an
arousa and an arîs, a Sahrawi bride and a Sahrawi bridegroom (fig. 625).
The structure of the bride doll consists of a sheep bone fixed in a cushion
representing a sitting position. She is dressed in an undergarment and a
dark blue scarf, while the tracksuit is a piece of white cloth. A white metal
necklace hangs around the neck and a floral decoration was put on the
tracksuit (H = 27 cm). The structure of the bridegroom doll is made of
sticks surrounded by white cloth with a dark blue headscarf covering the
head. This male doll has a reduced size and has no decoration (H = 17 cm,
B = 12 cm).

625

This mother also recreated a toy tent for the dolls like she did in her
childhood (fig. 626, p. 720).

719
 626

Chemaia

The village Chemaia is located near the road from Safi to Marrakech, in the
province of El Jadida. Its inhabitants speak Moroccan Arabic.
In January 2008 during the Ashura feast, an about sixty-year-old
grandmother from the village Chemaia, remade the Baba Ashur and Mama
Ashur dolls as she did create as a child (fig. 627, p. 721, H + = 27 cm, L
arms + = 26 cm). They are bone-frame dolls used for ritual play during the
Ashura period at the beginning of the Muslim year. During this period, the
girls of this village continue to enact this incredibly old doll play
incorporating the burial of dolls (Rossie, 2005a, p. 187-191).

720
 627

628

721
Imjâd - Ikenwèn

The dolls above, again representing Baba Ashur and Mama Ashur, were
created in 2007 by a playgroup of Imjâd village with girls of about twelve
years old (fig. 628, p. 721). While Khalija Jariaa watched these girls, they
asked her if such dolls are also made in Ikenwèn. It was then that Khalija
remade a Baba Ashur and a Mama Ashur as during her childhood in
Ikenwen (fig. 629). Dolls that look like those made in Imjâd. According to
Khalija Jariaa, the clothing of Baba Ashur and Mama Ashur is remarkably
similar in the provinces of Tiznit and Sidi Ifni. These games of Baba and
Mama Ashur are still played today in this region. The game begins about
two weeks before the ten-day period called Ashura. Each girl can make
several pairs of Ashur dolls. This game also incorporates the burial of the
dolls that is done on the seventh day of the Ashura period. A burial of the
dolls which is done in Imjâd in the wadi and in Ikenwèn near a cemetery, at
the beginning of the night when it is already dark and without the
knowledge of the boys. Once the dolls are buried, the boys go in search of
these dolls, unearth them, and throw them to the ground.

629

722
Aït Khebbach

In 2006, Marie-Luce Gélard published an important article “Une cuiller à

pot pour demander la pluie. Analyse de rituels nord-africains
contemporains”. In the English summery she writes:

A spoon to ask for rain. In this contribution, the study of the rain
obtaining ritual (Aït Khebbach tribe, Tafilalt, Morocco), is the starting
point to analyse the tlaghnja, putting on stage a spoon transformed into
a dummy, adorned with feminine attires and intended to open the ritual
procession of rogations for the rain. The attentive examination of the
objects used in the tlaghnja making (ladle) illustrates the importance of
semiological points of view, suitable to analyse linguistics, gesture and
symbolic elements. The whole of the games appearance accompanying
the ritual adds to the language and entreaties on behalf of the rain. If
the tlaghnja putting on stage highlights the ritual framework ceremonies
particularly directed towards a representation of bettering and
parturition, for Aït Khebbach people this procession gives the occasion to
state their identity as part of the Berber world.

Information on the relation between Moroccan children and telghenja are

found in Saharan and North African Toy and Play Cultures. Children’s
dolls and doll play (Rossie, 2005a, p. 190-192) or with the name belghenja
in this book (fig. 435-441, p. 313-317).

723
2 The animal world in play, games and toys

This supplement begins with the description of a chance encounter with the
five-year-old son of a potter from Safi, followed by a few toy animals
offered by a boy from the Aourir village.

Safi

In July 2007, during a visit to a potter's workshop in Safi, I saw his five-
year-old son playing with a series of animals the boy modeled with clay his
father gave him. These clay animals, being fired in the potter's oven,
represented a horse (H = 8.5 cm, L = 13.5 cm), a cat, (H = 4 cm, L = 10
cm), a dog (H = 3.5 cm, L = 9.5 cm) and a hen (H = 8 cm, L = 7 cm). The
boy had also created a forest with 14 trees, twigs fixed in a piece of clay. In
figure 630, one sees the boy moving his animals in the forest.
After a brief discussion with the potter, it became obvious that this game
served as fun for his son as well as an initiation to making pottery.

630

724
Aourir

In 2005, during a visit to the Aourir village in the Essaouira region, Khalija
Jariaa received from a nine-year-old boy, two toy goats he had sewn with
pieces of goat skin (fig. 631, H = 32 cm, L = 20 cm).

631

The same boy also created a turkey whose head and legs were cut in a
rubber sole. The body of the turkey consisted of a black plastic bag (fig.
632, H = 22 cm, L = 28 cm).

632

725
3 Domestic life in play, games and toys

In March 2008, during a brief stay at Bir Gandouz Jdid, close to the border
of Mauritania, I received a few toys of Sahrawi girls.

Bir Gandouz Jdid

As already shown in figure 626 (p. 720), this forty-two-year-old mother has
redone a toy tent for the Arousa doll. The base of this small tent is made
with a cardboard box (fig. 633) surrounded by a multicolored fabric (fig.
634, p. 727).

633

726
 634

Finally, the base and superstructure of this toy tent are covered with white
fabric (fig. 635).

635

727
 The thirteen-year-old girl who made the boy doll (fig. 624, p. 718),
shows in figure 636 how she cuts out a tin can to make a cooking pot that
then she did put on top of three stones and some twigs by way of an open
fire (fig. 637).

636

637

728
 In this context, a nine-year-old girl arranged a well using a cardboard
box that she wrapped with strips cut from a moped’s old tire (fig. 638, H =
13 cm, L = 9 cm). With pieces of the same tire, she also made the two
small buckets hanging over the well.

638

List of illustrations of appendix 7

614. Couple of Sahrawi newlyweds, p. 712, Douar (Tan-Tan), 2007, photo

Jean-Pierre Rossie.
615. Dancer doll, p. 713, Douar (Tan-Tan), 2007, photo Jean-Pierre
Rossie.
616. Spectator doll, p. 713, Douar (Tan-Tan), 2007, photo Jean-Pierre
Rossie.
617. Bride doll sitting in a dromedary saddle, p. 714, Tan-Tan, 2007, photo
Khalija Jariaa.
618. Toy saddle, p. 715, Tan-Tan, 2007, photo Khalija Jariaa.
619. Plastic doll dressed as a Sahrawi bride, p. 715, Tan-Tan, 2004, photo
Jean-Pierre Rossie.
620. A girl explains to her little sister her experience at the hospital by
using teddy bears, p. 716, Tan-Tan, 2006, photo Khalija Jariaa.

729
621. Doctor teddy bear and patient teddy bear, p. 716, Tan-Tan, 2006,
photo Khalija Jariaa.
622. The sick teddy bear in hospital, p. 716, Tan-Tan, 2006, photo Khalija
Jariaa.
623. Young Sahrawi woman creating her childhood doll, p. 717, Bir
Gandouz Jdid, 2008, photo Jean-Pierre Rossie.
624. A Sahrawi couple and their son as dolls, p. 718, Bir Gandouz Jdid,
2008, photo Jean-Pierre Rossie.
625. Two Sahrawi dolls representing the bride and the groom, p. 719, Bir
Gandouz Jdid, 2008, photo Jean-Pierre Rossie.
626. Toy tent with doll-bride, p. 720, Bir Gandouz Jdid, 2008, photo Jean-
Pierre Rossie.
627. Baba Ashur and Mama Ashur dolls, p. 721, Chemaia, 2008, photo
Khalija Jariaa.
628. Baba A Ashur and Mama Ashur dolls, p. 721, Imjâd, 2007, photo
Khalija Jariaa.
629. Baba Ashur and Mama Ashur dolls, p. 722, Ikenwèn, 2008, photo
Khalija Jariaa.
630. Little boy modeling clay in a potter's workshop, p. 724, Safi, 2007,
photo Nicole Piret.
631. Two goats created by a nine-year-old boy, p. 725, Aourir, 2005, photo
Khalija Jariaa.
632. A turkey created by a nine-year-old boy, p. 725, Aourir, 2005, photo
Khalija Jariaa.
633. A Sahrawi mother remakes the structure of the toy tent from her
childhood, p. 726, Bir Gandouz Jdid, 2008, photo Jean-Pierre Rossie.
634. Then she covers this fabric structure, p. 727, Bir Gandouz Jdid, 2008,
photo Jean-Pierre Rossie.
635. The Sahrawi toy tent with the bride doll, p. 727, Bir Gandouz Jdid,
2008, photo Jean-Pierre Rossie.
636. A Sahrawi girl cuts out a tin can to make a pan, p. 728, Bir Gandouz
Jdid, 2008, photo Jean-Pierre Rossie.
637. The toy pan is put on a stove made with 3 stones, p. 728, Bir Gandouz
Jdid, 2008, photo Jean-Pierre Rossie.
638. Model of a bucket for a toy well, p. 729, Bir Gandouz Jdid, 2008,
photo Jean-Pierre Rossie.

730
4 The night of the masks. The Carnival of Goulmima

The document La nuit des masques. Le carnaval de Goulmima. Buwkeffus

à Goulmima, without date or author is available on http://www.ecoliers-
berberes.info/masques.htm (retrieved on February 5, 2021). The texts
between “ ” mentioned below have been faithfully translated from the
original document.
As in the region of Tiznit (Rossie, 2008a, p. 317-321), playful practices
take place during Ashura in the small Amazigh town Goulmima, located
sixty-six km south of Errachidia in northeastern Morocco. This Ashura
period is happening during the first ten days of the lunar year.
“The young and less young people greet it (Ashura) during ten days with
daily rites of water jets. Young men and women splash water on each other
to consecrate the idea of water as a symbol of life, fertility, and a manifest
expression of love... On the penultimate day, heralds with masks and drums
go door-to-door to collect dates, sugar and other food to prepare Imensi or
the dinner of Ashura.”
Unlike the Imachar masquerade of Tiznit, which begins only after the
Ashura period and lasts a week, the theatrical manifestation with ritual and
profane aspects takes place in Goulmima on the night of the tenth and final
day of Ashura.
“(This is) a great masquerade called Udayen n Ashur (the Jews of
Ashura) or Mghar kechbou (Lord in rags) or also Buwkeffus (the mask of
ash), three names that refer to different aspects of this carnival of masks...
The young but also the seniors, and incidentally the children, put on their
mask and carnival costume to begin the tour of the village. Masks were
made in the wood of the date palm or cut into a sheepskin. More recently,
ready-to-wear masks are bought on the market. Faces can also be painted
with a mixture of ash and oil. That night, only Tamazight with a Jewish
accent or Judeo-Berber is spoken... The Amazigh Jews once inhabited the
part of the Ksar called Lmellah whose large door overlooks the great river
in Goulmima. The poetics of this night of the masks also reconnects with a
high degree of theatricality and prose. Masks give solemn speeches that
take stock of what is wrong within the community and even at the national
level. Without taboo, they criticize and satirize individuals or dishonest
practices in the community. The mask then breaks taboos (sexuality, lies,
social hypocrisy, oppression, unemployment, corruption, divorce, gossip,

731
etc.), expresses the setback of social and cultural practices, puts the
community before its flaws and weaknesses and redresses its faults in a
style of derision and humor. The masks also frighten, make laugh and
present aspects of an exaggerated priapism.”
At the bottom of the htm file with this document, there is a link to a 14-
minute video showing images of the Goulmima Masquerade in 2008 and
available on YouTube. More information on this night of the masks can be
found by searching ‘Carnival of Goulmima’ on Google search.

732
 As far as I am aware, very few studies on the North African play and toy
heritage have been carried out by researchers from these countries.
Therefore, it is with great satisfaction that I present to the reader the master
thesis of Sanae Said, Autour du Patrimoine Culturel de l’Enfant au Rif et
chez les Jbala : « à la Recherche d’un Corpus » (2016) as well as the
doctoral thesis of Ahlem Hayfa Ben Thabet, Jeux et Jouets d’Enfants de
Tunisie : Formes, Fonctions et Enjeux (2017).
With the agreement of these authors a presentation of their work is
offered below.

5 Children’s cultural heritage in the Rif

and among the Jbala

Said, Sanae. (2016). Autour du Patrimoine Culturel de l’Enfant au Rif et

chez les Jbala : « à la Recherche d’un Corpus ». Mémoire de Master, Aix-
Marseille : IREMAM, Université Aix-Marseille, 82 p., 16 ill.

In her dissertation Sanae Said offers interesting information on the child

culture in the Rif and among the Jbala, especially the areas of Temsamane
and Tetouan. The topics covered are the lexicon of children’s language, the
lexicon of the child's environment, the names of children's games and their
description, lullabies, rhymes and songs of rituals.
In the section about children’s play one finds the name of the games and
their description in the language of the Rif followed by the description in
French (p. 42-46) and the name of the games and their description in the
Jbala language followed by the description in French (p. 60-62).
These are all games of skill except for three games of make-believe:
- The doll play in which the child uses a ‘munika’ that is created with
small pieces of fabric and branches and often representing the mother or
the bride (p. 44).
- The construction of small houses is a work of girls that they use for their
collective games. The small house is called “ṯiḥendura / ṯixxamin /
ṭixuma” and this play activity takes place after the rain when the earth
gets wet to facilitate the construction of small rooms etc.” (p. 45).
- The creation of a car or tractor called “tunubin or tractu(r)” for which
children use waste material (p. 46).

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 Sanae Said speaks in the introduction about the present situation and the
future of this children’s culture in the Rif and among the Jbala (p.9).

“As for the toys that children made themselves, they are today replaced by
games from the industry offered by adults. In the same way, collective
games have given way to individual games and in particular to video games
that offer the child a virtual world. The phenomenon of globalization is
widening and hence the urgency to collect the memories of people in these
two cultures that are being lost”.

6 Children’s play and toys in Tunisia

Ben Thabet, Ahlem Hayfa (2017). Jeux et Jouets d’Enfants de Tunisie :

Formes, Fonctions et Enjeux. Thèse de doctorat, Tunis : Ecole Supérieure
des Sciences et Technologies du Design, Université de Manouba, 366 p.,
56 ill. – This thesis is available in the Library of the Ecole Supérieure des
Sciences et Technologies du Design.

The summery and contents in French, offers an overview of this thesis.

The objective of this research, at first, is to present the theoretical and

methodological reflections on a research effort that aims to understand the
toys, their shapes and explain their functions. In a second time, study the
stakes that these toys can arouse. The issues were studied taking into
account the first results that the study of forms and functions made possible
to obtain. Finally, the analysis of selected toys will help to better
understand the toy and rethink our ways of configuring our reports to the
latter.
The link to the toy object, appears as a frame throughout this search.
Our interest in child-made toys is based on the idea of creating new
answers in a context where the industry is struggling. The child who
designs his own toys is part of a design process because it can be the
engine of expression and innovation in his creative vision, but also can
create a promising new approach that will develop a platform for sharing a
creative know-how allowing to restore and update a tradition in the face of
modernity.

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Table des matières

Introduction générale 1

Première partie : Cadre Scientifique et théorique 9

Introduction 9

Chapitre 1 : Définitions des concepts clefs 10

Introduction 10
Section 1 : Typologie du jouet et du jeu 10
Sous-section 1 : Qu’est qu’un jouet : proposition de définitions globales 11
Sous-section 2 : Qu’est-ce qu’un jeu ? 16
1- Distinction entre jeu et jouet 16
2- En quoi l’objet permet-il la diffusion d’un jeu 21
Section 2 : Le jeu comme guide de l’action 27
Sous-section 1 : Théorie de l’action 27
Sous-section 2 : Le joueur : l’enfant 32
Section 3 : Convergences et divergences entre le jeu et le jouet 33
Sous-section 1 : Convergences entre le jeu et le jouet 33
Sous-section 2 : Divergences entre le jeu et le jouet 34
Sous-section 3 : Le processus créatif 35
1 Préparation 36
2 Incubation 36
3 Illumination 36
Conclusion du chapitre 37

Chapitre 2 : Les attributs et les fonctions du jouet :

vers un nouveau régime du jeu-jouet 39
Introduction 39
Section 1 : Fonction du jeu-jouet 39
Sous-section 1 : Le jeu-jouet entre fonctionnalité et non fonctionnalité 41
Sous-section 2 : Le jeu-jouet est un produit matériel 49
Section 2 : Evolution et fonctionnement du marché du jouet 53
Sous-section 1 : Définition de l’industrie du jouet 53
Sous-section 2 : Evolution de l’industrie du jouet 54
1 Les années 60 : une industrie en croissance 54
2 Les années 70-80 : ouverture du marché des jouets 56

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 3 Les années 90 : innovation, concurrence et compétitivité 58
3-1 Qu’en est-il de l’industrie américaine des jouets 59
3-2 Qu’en est-il du reste du monde industriel du jouet 63
4 Les années 2000 : Bouleversements technologiques,
économiques et sociaux 64
4-1 Explosion des technologies numériques 64
4-2 Jouets et transformation technique 66
5 Actuellement : le nouveau régime des jouets 68
5-1 Les jouets du nouveau régime : quelles spécificités ? 68
5-2 Examen de quelques jouets du nouveau régime 69

Chapitre 3 : Cas d’étude : Le « Tamagotchi » 79

Introduction 79
Section 1 : Démarche suivie pour l’analyse de cas 79
1 Démarche 79
2 Questionnement 80
Section 2 : Caractéristiques formelles 80
1 Typologie 80
2 Naissance 81
Section 3 : Caractéristiques conceptuelles 82
1 Analyse du concept 82
2 Etude des caractéristiques conceptuelles 84
2-1 Principe de développement et de dépendance 89
2-2 Principe d’inutilité et d’autonomie 91
2-3 Principe de réaction et d’échange 91
Section 4 : Caractéristiques techniques 92
1 Péripéties 94
2 Structures de l’objet 94
3 Spécificités techniques 95
4 Progression du Tamagotchi 96
Conclusion de la première partie 104

Deuxième partie : Cadre méthodologique et hypothèses 105

Introduction 105

Chapitre 1 : Réflexions épistémologiques et méthodologiques 105

Section 1 : Choix de la démarche scientifique 105

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 Sous-section 1 : Entre induction et déduction : la Grounded Theory 106
Sous-section 2 : La démarche expérimentale 109
1 Observation directe 110
2 Analyse des expériences 110
3 Instances 112
Section 2 : Hypothèses 115
Section 3 : Terrains et population d’enquête 116
1 Description du terrain d’enquête 116
2 Description de la population totale 121
2-1 Critères de sélection 122
2-2 Situations et protocole de l’enquête 123
Section 4 : Nature des données collectées 125
1 Nature des jouets créés 125
2 Matériel utilisé dans les objets créés 126
3 Techniques adoptées pour les jouets créés 126
4 Usages des jouets réalisés 127
Section 5 : Obstacles rencontrés et les dispositions pour y remédier 128
Conclusion 131

Chapitre 2 : Description des expériences réalisées 132

Introduction 132
Section 1 : Expérience de conception à partir de la récupération 134
1 Protocole de l’expérience 136
2 Stratégie et mise en œuvre pour le déploiement de l’expérience 139
Section 2 : Expérience de conception à partir d’une technique 140
1 Conception à partir de la technique de palmier tressé 141
1-1 Protocole de l’expérience 141
1-2 Stratégie et mise en œuvre pour le déploiement de l’expérience 142
2 Conception à partir de la technique de l’Origami 142
2-1 Protocole de l’expérience 143
2-2 Stratégie et mise en œuvre pour le déploiement de l’expérience 143
Section 3 : Expérience de conception à partir de la méthode de modelage 144
1 Protocole de l’expérience 145
2 Stratégie et mise en œuvre pour le déploiement de l’expérience 145
Section 4 : Expérience de conception à partir de la DAO 146
1 Protocole de l’expérience 148
2 Stratégie et mise en œuvre pour le déploiement de l’expérience 148

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Chapitre 3 : Cadre analytique et conceptuel 150
Introduction 150
Section 1 : Le résonnement de conception : étapes et instances 150
Sous-section 1 : Les étapes de conception 151
1 Phase 1 : l’étape d’exploration 151
2 Phase 2 : l’étape de modification 152
3 Phase 3 : l’étape de narration interactive 153

Sous-section 2 : les instances de la conception 153

1 La préparation du dispositif technique 154
1-1 Les principes de configuration 159
1-1-1 Analyse et résultat du paramètre couleur 165
1-1-2 Analyse et résultat du paramètre forme 178
1-1-3 Analyse et résultat du facteur environnement 181
1-1-4 Analyse et résultat du paramètre affectif 183
1-2 Les indicatifs d’exploration 185
1-2-1 Facteurs d’importance 185
1-2-2 Facteurs d’habitude 186
1-2-3 Facteurs de nouveautés 186
2 Modification du dispositif technique 187
2-1 Analyse du paramètre forme 187
2-1-1 Les fondements et les liaisons entre forme et fonction 188
2-1-2 L’identité des objets créés 194
2-1-3 L’interaction avec l’environnement 198
2-2 Analyse du paramètre matériel par rapport à la
phase de modification 208
2 2-1 Spécificités du matériel utilisé 209
2-2-2 Le choix du matériel est tributaire du projet 210
2-2-3 La logique dynamique entre le matériel et le dessein 211
Sous-section 3 : L’interaction narrative 212
1 Le jouet conçu est un support d’exploration d’un
monde alternatif 212
1-1 Le réel comme dispositif 212
1-1-1 Le réel comme existant 215
1-1-2 Le réel comme référent 216
218

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 1-2 L’imaginaire 219
1-3 L’intermédiaire
2 Résultats des enquêtes sur l’exploration d’un monde alternatif 223
Section 2 : Analyse d’une expérience type 226
Sous-section 1 : Analyse du parcourt créatif de l’enfant IED 226
1 La démarche 226
2 Le monde alternatif de l’enfant 227
Sous-section 2 : Caractéristiques formelles et conceptuelles 231
1 Jeux-jouets du faire semblant : le monde des animaux 231
2 Jeux-jouets de fiction : le monde des transports 232
3 Jeux-jouets d’acquisition : l’anatomie humaine 236
Conclusion du chapitre 236
Enjeux et perspectives 239

Conclusion Générale 249

Bibliographie 252

Annexes 274
Annexe 1 : Illustrations et Figures 275
Annexe 2 : Schémas et manuels 289
Annexe 3 : Approches et analyses du jouet 297
Annexe 4 : Structure du système ESAR 310
Annexe 5 : Stades de développements de l'enfant 313
Annexe 6 : Jouet á résonnance sexués 322
Annexe 7 : Guide d'observation des expériences 332
Annexe 8 : Guide d'entretien enfants 334
Annexe 9 : Guide d'entretien parents 338
Annexe 10 : Conte "Le mariage du loup" 341
Annexe 11 : Reportages et interviews 344
Annexe 12 : Dessins d’enfant en DAO réalisé avec l’aide du
logiciel PAINT 345
Annexe 13 : Traitement des données SPSS paramètres : « couleur » 350

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