Sm. Sci. Med. Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 819-829, 1992 0277-9536/92$5.00+ 0.

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Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved Copyright 0 1992Pergamon Press Ltd

THE RISE OF FEMALE HEALERS IN THE

MIDDLE ATLAS, MOROCCO
JOGIEN BAKKER
Faculty of Socio-Cultural Sciences, Free University, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam,
The Netherlands

Abstract-In this article the author seeks an explanation for the remarkable rise of women healers in the
Middle Atlas mountains in Morocco. Two groups of women healers are being treated: the women
herbalists in the marketplace and midwives in the rural region of a Berber tribe called Ait Abdi. An
attempt is made to understand the role of women in healing among the semi-nomadic Berber tribes in
the past. Apparently, indigenous Berber women as well as men played a minor part as reputed healers.
This situation hardly changed over the years. It is Arab men, who settled as Qoran savants or visited the
local markets and the local holy tribes (Chorfa) more or less monopolised the prestigious healing activities.
It is argued that this was possible, because they had better accepted forms of legal and traditional
legitimacy at their disposal. The development that is taking place among the more professional traditional
healers nowadays consists of a replacement of male Arab and Chorfu healers by Arab and Chorfa women.
In fact, men suffer a loss of prestige as traditional healers, whereas many women gain in this respect. This
loss of male prestige in traditional healing is explained by the decreasing significance of a traditional means
of legitimation and prestige of which healing is a part: God’s transmissible blessing called baraka. The
last paragraph attempts to clarify why this collapse of traditional prestige afflicted dominant status groups
(such as male Chorfu) more than sub-dominant groups such as Arab, Chorfa women.

Key words-women healers, Morocco, traditional medicine, herbalists, midwifery

1. INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH century (Section 2). The historical circumstances will

be linked to the position of male and female Berber
In September 1987 I started fieldwork to prepare a
healers in the past (Section 3) [l]. It will be shown
dissertation concerning modern and traditional medi-
how these social features partially still determine the
cal systems in the Middle Atlas region of Morocco.
position of the woman healer nowadays (Section 4),
During my stay in this area, which is inhabited by a
but also how the main changes in the healer’s position
Berber tribe called Ait Abdi, I became increasingly
seem to lie in their prestige (Section 5). This will lead
interested in how the position of the traditional healer
alters under the influence of changing social struc- us to some concluding theoretical considerations
about the relationship between healing the prestige
tures other than the introduction of a-more or less
structures in the Middle Atlas (Section 6).
competing-modern health care system. I came to
believe that the affiliation of traditional healing to
Moroccan prestige structures is a more potent con- 2. SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AIT ABDI
cept for the dynamics of the existing ‘pluralistic BEFORE COLONISATION

medical system’ than a competition model which

Before the French conquered the area o_f the
holds two supposedly opposite medical systems as
Middle Atlas, the Ait Abdi were a predominantly
main actors.
nomadic tribe breeding sheep of outstanding quality.
This notion is illustrated by the remarkable rise of
The only sedentary communities in this area con-
traditional women healers in the mountainous region
sisted of a small settlement close to both the market-
of the Middle Atlas. Truly a remarkable rise, as it
place and the old Sultan’s army stronghold at Ain
took place more or less independently of a rather
Leuh, and a village inhabited by three Chorfa-
rapid introduction of modern health care in the area.
lineages. Chorfa [2] are considered to be holy because
It is furthermore a notable development because the
their patrilineage is believed to stem from the
newly established healers are all women. Thus, the
Prophet. The nomadic movements of the Ait Abdi
question to be treated in this paper is the following:
consisted mainly of a yearly cycle between high
Which mechanisms in Moroccan Berber Middle Atlas mountains and plateaus (altitude:
society have led to a growth in the number of 15OG2200 m) in summer and in winter a lower and
female traditional healers in the Middle Atlas more accessible area (700-1100 m) in the so-called
rural region? Central Plateau. The higher area is called jbel. Here,
snow falls in December, January and February, and
In order to answer this question I will first explain in summer it is cooler and wetter than in the lower
part of the socio-economic situation of the Middle plains. This means that in jbel food for cattle can be
Atlas Berger tribe Ait Abdi at the beginning of this found until autumn begins. Then vegetation ceases to

819
820 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
JOGIEN BAKKER
grow because of the oncoming cold, so that it is
necessary to descend to the plains (azarghar), where
the fertile soils are covered with green plants and
cereals once again. In the plains late autumn re-
sembles a second spring season, although a com-
paratively less abundant one. Winter is usually spent
in the plains, and it is only in the month of April
that the nomads gradually start moving towards jbel
again. By the end of June the migration to jbel needs
to be completed, because by that time the sun shines
so strongly that all the plants of uzarghar start to
shrivel, which makes feeding the herds or cultivating
the fields virtually impossible. The climate in the jbel
is much more favourable then.
This general design of semi-nomadic movement
does not mean that the whole tribe decided to move
all at once. These decisions were usually taken by a
much smaller group, the tigemmi or minimal patri-
lineage, which was made up of 5-20 households of
brothers with their wives, sons and their wives, and
grandchildren. The group total could amount to 50
adults or more, who lived together in a circle of ‘big’
tents. Every tribe had a council that yearly assigned
the herding grounds to the smaller segments of the
tribe, the tigemmi.
As literature indicates, the tigemmi was by no
means a very stable social unit [3]. Moreover, depar-
tures of individual family members who had to search
for food and water or to work in a distant field were
other important events that caused active migration
movement within the tigemmi. It is my impression
that these factors caused considerable deviations
from the general trekking design.
In short, people lived in small circles of ‘big’ tents,
while individual shepherds and agriculturists inhab-
ited dispersed ‘small’ tents. In the latter case, neigh-
bouring tents may have been separated by half a
kilometer or more. Tent circles were likely to be even
further apart. And although the whereabouts of
households within the tigemmi were often clear, the
movements of many men-and to a lesser extent their
women and children-probably remained quite a mys-
tery for their fellow tribesmen outside the tigemmi.
I would like to suggest that due to this nomadic
system, where every household more or less took care
of itself [4], few ‘professional’ healing specialisations
were able to develop. For a professional specialis-
ation it is necessary for a healer to have a reputation
beyond the narrow circle of his or her family or
tigemmi. In my view, this is the main distinction
between an amateur healing specialisation and a
more professional healing specialisation. Another
criterion, such as earning a livelihood with one’s
specialisation, would not have been a suitable indi-
cation for professionalism. In the pre-protectorate
nomadic society of Berbers healers did not receive
payment but rather a voluntary gift (ftah). Healer
families that were actually able to live on these
donations were rare. The only ones that were privi-
leged to do so were widely recognised Chorfa fUmilies.
However, in addition to their healing activities they
performed ceremonial and mediating political tasks,
for which they were also rewarded in the same
donatory fashion.
Yet, among the Ait Abdi everyone was a semi-
nomadic raiser of sheep and, at the most, cherished
something that should be considered a family hobby,
such as making music or poetry, riding in fantasias
or, indeed, curing certain diseases. I believe that
healers within this tradition had difficulty in attract-
ing customers that were not from their own tigemmi.
Healers who were constantly on the move were
simply too hard to trace and therefore could not
gather together enough clients to achieve the repu-
tation of a true specialist. Only the weekly market or
another collective social occasion might have given
them the opportunity to exercise their specialisation.
This meant that the more prestigious healers in the
Ait Abdi area were usually not found among the Ait
Abdi themselves, but were more likely to be encoun-
tered in the villages of the sedentarised Chorfu [5], or
at the weekly markets where Arab surgeons regularly
passed. Among those commonly respected for their
healing abilities were also the local Qoran savants the
fqih-s. The fqih-often an Arab who did not orig-
inate from the Ait Abdi region-lived on gifts and a
salary offered by the community, while taking care of
the mosque tent. In addition he often served as a
tailor and as a public writer and also provided for
Qoran-inspired healthcare. The only Berber healing
activities with some prestige were linked to the local
saints and the ceremonies around them. The execu-
tors of these ceremonies, the moquddem -s, were often
men of prestige and wealth. However, their character-
istic powers as spirit masters were only shown on
those special events, which did not occur more than
two or three times a year. We can in fact establish
that in the Ait Abdi area-and this may have applied
to many other semi-nomadic Berber tribes-the Arab
population (Chorfu, fqih-s and Arab surgeons)
almost completely monopolised the prestigious heal-
ing activities. In fact, this is in general still the case
within traditional medicine today. Especially fqih -s
remain to be important traditional healers [6].
At this point it becomes interesting to know more
about the position of women within the Berber
community. Could they have become healers, as is
stated in an article by Daisy Dwyer [7] about the
Berbers living in the surroundings of Taroudannt?
She even tells us that: “Most curers in Taroudannt
(. . .) are women” [7, p. 5891. In order to understand
the position of women as healers in the Aid Abdi tribe
we need to know more about the tigemmi.
The tigemmi is a patrilineally organised social unit,
in which inheritance went from father to son (and not
to the daughters!) and where marriage took a strict
patrilocal shape. The fact that material and symbolic
inheritance was-in the dominant ideology-solely a
masculine matter meant that women were usually
excluded from important religious functions, which
 The rise of female healers
were legitimated by a divine force called baruka. One
of the chief means of acquiring this indispensable
symbolic asset was by inheritance. This meant that
sons, and sometimes nephews, were considered ap-
propriate inheritants and that women were virtually
excluded from access to baraka. In Weberian termin-
ology [8]: the traditional legitimation of healing was
monopolised by mean. An exception would only
occur when the woman’s father did not have suitable
heirs to pass ‘the blessed virtue’ on to. Then he would
allow his (eldest) daughter to inherit the symbolic
power, to assure himself that buruka would remain
confined within the circle of his closest relatives and
would eventually be transmitted again to a male
descendant, grandson or a great-grandson.
This is the version men present when asked about
the inheritance of buruka. I agree with Dwyer that, in
a way, it is possible for buruku to be transmitted
through bilateral, and not only through uni-patrilat-
era1 lines. I too have found examples of women
healers who inherited their special talents from their
mothers. However, it is a striking coincidence that all
the rather prestigious female healers I interviewed,
who had acquired their abilities through their mother
and intended to pass their powers on to their daugh-
ters, never originated from the Ait Abdi region. The
few Ait Abdi women healers I have known who
claimed to have received their talent through their
mothers had a rather limited reputation. There are no
indications known to me that the situation in this
respect was different in the past. Berber women did
occasionally use the possibility of matrilineally inher-
ited healing power but it did not bring them widely
recognised prestige. Thus, we may conclude that it
was quite problematic for a woman to obtain the
miraculous power of buruku by inheritance.
Nevertheless, there were other means: buruku could
be given to a woman, e.g. by charity of a saintly
person or in a dream during a night passed near a
saint’s tomb. To be brief, some women might obtain
a healing profession through charismatic legitimacy.
However, this charismatic form was usually con-
sidered less prestigious. It means that, in the past as
well as in the present, the status of women healers
among the Ait Abdi is somewhat different from the
situation in the Taroudannt region as described by
Dwyer. Among the Ait Abdi most curers are certainly
not Berber women and in those cases where female
Berger healers were encountered they scored lower on
prestige when compared to Arab women healers,
Chorfa-specialists or masculine Berber spiritmasters.
Generally speaking, it can be stated that women’s
status in the religion of a semi-nomadic Berber
society-which includes the veneration of local
saints-was weaker than female religious status as
Dwyer pictures it. It was really very rare for a woman
to occupy a religious function as caretaker of a saint’s
tomb or as a prominent member of a fraternity. On
the other hand, compared to many other regions in
Morocco, Berber women in the Middle Atlas had
821
greater freedom of movement (i.e. they were allowed
to go to the weekly market once they were or had
been married) and could enter more freely relation-
ships with men [9]. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSR
3. POSITION OF TRADITIONAL HEALERS IN THE PAST
The healers considered in the following paragraph
were involved in wide-ranging healing activities, but
nevertheless shared one characteristic: none of the
healers considered here operated on a full-time basis.
The only ones who tried to earn a living with their
profession were the men and women in the market-
place. The others were raisers of sheep, Qoran experts
or housewives in daily life.
Fqih -s
In traditional Berber society healing activities
could be exercised by several people. First and fore-
most was the fqih, the Qoran savant. He had the
ability to heal by using texts of the Qoran in prayers
or amulets and by mixing the ink of Qoran writings
in water. But these were not his sole healing activities.
Usually he had some knowledge of herbs and assisted
local rites at saints’ tombs where, among other things,
people asked for good health. I think that it was one
of the great advantages of thefqih that he lived at a
more or less fixed place, near the mosque tent.
Therefore he could be easily located. He could also
help with all kinds of ailments: he was, what I would
like to call, a ‘general practitioner’. His legitimacy
was based on his knowledge of the Qoran and of the
application of baruku within the Qoran for health
purposes. His professional ability to heal was deter-
mined by a set of rules and is in this respect compar-
able to the way modern health care is legitimated
today. In a reference to Weber again, we might call
his buruku a form of legal legitimacy. Within Islam
legally legitimated baruka is absolutely unobtainable
for women, and in former days for almost all the
Middle Atlas Berbers. Even today the fqih takes an
important place in Berber society both as a religious
expert and as a medical specialist.
Chorfa
Other healers who were usually easy to trace were
those who had inherited their special buruku together
with their descent from the Prophet Mohamed. These
descendants are called Chorfu and in Morocco they
can be looked upon as an elite whose authority was
based upon the inherited holy power of buruku. The
holy village on Ait Abdi grounds, which I mentioned
earlier, was in the past well-known for their healers
(especially of rabies) and their holy ancestral tombs,
where cures for many diseases could be found.
Truvelling healers
Other groups of specialised healers were of the
travelling kind, who occasionally visited the local
822 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
JOGIENBAKKER

markets to perform surgery. Most famous in the Ait collective healing method. The people who led the
Abdi region were the Arab eye surgeons, who had performance of a hadra within their own tribe were
developed a technique for treating cataracts. In the organised by a tribal brotherhood who generally
marketplace other healers were to be found. First of served the tribe’s most important saint. The members
all, the barber who used cupping techniques when of this brotherhood (RmB) zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZY
zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYX
[1 1] were only recognised
patients suffered from headaches and fever. He was as healing specialists during certain religious events.
also known to perform circumcisions, although This meant that their power was limited to the few
among the semi-nomadic Ait Abdi it was not unusual occasions in a year when the ritual was collectively
for the operation on baby boys to be performed by a performed. In consequence, the occasion was the
woman of the tigemmi. Also, there was the traditional limitation of their prestige. Besides these occasions
dentist who pulled aching teeth at the market. they seem to have been respected as the tribe’s most
Finally, we should mention the travelling fqih - s and courageous warriors. The flow of baraka, however,
sorcerers from the south, who claimed cures for a did not only reach people through these brother-
range of diseases, from fertility problems and veneral hoods. A woman often developed a rather personal
infections to sleeplessness and headaches. relationship to the saint through regular visits to the
tomb and occasional offerings. She could receive
Berber healers baraka for healing by a vision, a dream or another
Besides these more or less non-Berber activities, sign. The saint’s baraka, therefore, was accessible to
one could also find the typical indigenous healer. This men and women, each in their own manner. Women,
was usually a man (sometimes a woman) who had however, hardly ever developed widespread repu-
inherited the gift of healing from his father. These tation. A male ha&a-leader stood a much better
healers could treat a great diversity of illnesses, chance of building a career of some significance.
varying in scope from the massage of aching bones to
the curing of liver diseases by the application of hot Herbalism and midwifery
irons to certain places on the skin [lo]. One could The healing with herbs was not a method exercised
hardly find a tigemmi without two or three of these by specialists but was the domain of the average
minor curers. Some of them managed to obtain a ‘housewife’. She was usually not a real authority in
certain reputation within the tribe or even a wider this respect but she knew enough to be able to collect
environment due to for example a forceful character a range of plants that mitigated diseases such as
or a miraculous cure, but that was only rarely the diarrhoea, vomiting, burns etc. The same is actually
case. true for midwifery. Among the Ait Abdi hardly
any midwife professionals were to be found. Every
Jbar - s woman was considered qabla (midwife, wise woman)
One indigenous Berber healer who stood a better after assisting at two or three deliveries.
chance of building up prestige was the traditional From this great variety of healers and healing
bonesetter or jbar. Bonesetting was a widespread activities we may make certain observations. In this
specialisation among the Ait Abdi tigemmi- s. The healing system Berber women played a minor role. If
jbar- s would treat man and beast in the same fashion. Berber women wanted to claim healing abilities it
The specialisation of bonesetting was usually not could usually only be legitimised in a ‘charismatic’
considered to be hereditary. Men and women who way. They had little access to ‘traditional’ or ‘legal’
would prove to be sufficiently decisive and energetic legitimacy. As shown above, Ait Abdi women were
could build up a reputation as a bonesetter without only healers by exception, they were neither herb-
religious legitimation. Because bonsetting did not or midwife-professionals. This leads us to a second
demand a special religious virtue, a fracture could be observation: their knowledge concerning midwifery
treated by almost anyone who dared to. But if a more and herbs was considered ‘lay’, both within their own
famousjbar was able to inspect the wound a few days tribe and among Arab outsiders living in the area.
later and was not satisfied with the way the bone was Healers with professional prestige, however, were
set by the ‘amateur’, he would unscrupulously break relatively stable-living men originating from outside
the bone again in order to reset it. Especially elder the tribe (healing marketmen, fqih, cherif, and the
(stable-living) rich men of forceful character seem to saint in his tomb).
have been-and still seem to be-the most prestigious In summary, this means that the Ait Abdi healing
jbar- s. Some women were however also known to be system (if indeed we may call it a ‘system’) was
bonesetters. They were called jbara. characterised by:

1. Male domination;
Berber saints 2. Sedentarised prestigious healers;
Often an important saint (usually a deceased one) 3. Who were often tribe-outsiders (usually orig-
was considered to be a master of spirits through inal Arabs);
which possessed people could find a cure by means of 4. Widespread medical knowledge among lay-
a trance dance (hadra). The hadra was in fact a women.
 The rise of female healers
4. THE PRESENT SITUATION OF TRADITIONAL
WOMEN HEALERS
The situation described above is quite different
from the one we find nowadays. In fact, the most
prestigious traditional healers in the countryside of quality of medical advice due to these newcomers.
the Middle Atlas at this moment are poor, female
‘general practitioners’.
The women who are newcomers to the present
Middle Atlas market of medical activity have most
often an Arab, that is to say non-Be&r, background.
These women can be divided into two categories:
1. Herbalists at the marketplace (&h&r-s)
2. And general practitioners zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
(qabla- s) in the new whore”.
villages in the countryside, especially in the
lower plains.
Achaba - s
Herbalists are a relatively new phenomenon at the
Middle Atlas markets. The first women that sold
herbs, other medical materials [ 121as well as medical
and magical advice appeared about thirty to forty
years ago. In the beginning there were only one or
two women. They usually had had an upbringing in category: they suffer a decrease, since their profession
which mothers transmitted the interest for healing
and knowledge of medicines to their daughters. In
the last ten years or so other women have entered
the market, and now the number of &h&z-s has
increased to approx. 7-10 women in the region of Ain
Leuh.
Helga Venzlaff has noted something fascinating in
this respect. At the end of the sixties she conducted
research of the markets of the Azrou region (Ain
Leuh included). Her primary aim was to make an
inventory of the herbs and other medical and magical
materials that could be found at the Middle Atlas
marketplace. She noticed that fqih - s and masculine
herbalists dominated the market and that they had
a rather close cooperation. Market women were
a small, though in Venzlaff’s eyes remarkable,
minority.
Nowadays, however, the women herbalists are a importance.
majority in the Middle Atlas. They even monopolise
the smaller markets [13]. A single merchant-fqih and
some travelling merchants from the south are gener-
ally the only competing factors for them. The biggest
market near Ain Leuh, Azrou, offers more compe-
tition because of its size: the variety, diversity and
specialisation also shows in the herb-selling category.
But even here there are indications that women
dominate the traditional medicines-market [ 141.
The women that have entered the market most
recently were not always educated by their mothers,
as opposed to the older women who started the
business. Even some Berber townswomen have care-
fully tried to start a small trade. In their search for
a money-making job they simply imitated the estab-
lished herbalists, asked some medical advice from the
herb-wholesaler in Fez and maybe learned some
823 zyxwvutsrqpon
magical secrets from friends and family, while the
rest was learned from experience. The older women
complain of the competition, which is tougher than
in former years, and remark on the deteriorating
They call this development bad publicity for their
business.
The women are usually poor; they are divorced
with children to take care of or married to an
unemployed husband. They did not start selling herbs
because it is looked upon as an honourable pro-
fession. But, as one of the younger women stated,
“becoming an richaba is always better than being a
Susan S. Davis has made an inventory of women’s
status in a small Moroccan town-just outside the
Middle Atlas-which includes women healers (she
mentions ‘bath-woman’, ‘Cherzjiu’, midwife’ and
‘magician’). Three of the cited professions fall into
Davis’ category of ‘status increase’. Only the
witch/magician seems to be of ambivalent status
because of people’s general uncertainty about super-
natural, manipulative powers. In the marketplace the
herbalists clearly do not fall in the ‘status increase’-
exposes them to men in a public area. This is, despite
local variation in female liberties, a sensitive topic in
almost every Islamic area. For these women the only
reason to establish themselves as professional herbal-
ists is that that is a less bad solution to their financial
problems [15].
Most of the women herbalists originate from
the southern regions, like Er-Rachidia, Erfoud and
Rissani. For Middle Atlas towns this area is a
notorious immigration area [16]. Many women from
these regions claim to be Chorfa and are known
for their vast medical knowledge. This reputation
attracts many customers who do not seem to mind
that the healer being a woman has therefore lost
prestige. Moreover, women customers are inclined to
increasingly rely on the knowledge of the market
herbalists. Lay knowledge therefore decreases in
In order to complete the picture of the &h&-s we
must add that they are townspeople rather than rural
dwellers. Also they attend to their business on a
full-time, not on a part-time basis. This is an import-
ant difference from the rural qablu- s, who will be
treated in the section below.
One remark can be added to the above. In the
Middle Atlas this relatively new profession for
women has not come into being because of the rise
of a so-called ‘transitional sector’, as can be followed
from the situation in many sub-Saharan countries
[17]. I have never noticed lichaba- s selling penicillin,
antibiotics or even an aspirin alongside their tra-
ditional medicines. In Morocco certain representative
persons of the transitional sector do exist, but these
are mostly market men of the travelling kind who
usually do not live in the region of Ain Leuh.
824 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
JOGIENBAKKER
In short, the changes that occur in the herbalist
branch at the marketplace are the following:
1. Women replace men;
2. Women have become recognised specialists,
while lay-knowledge gradually disappears;
3. The elder women claim to be Chorfa, but
lately this status (and their reputation for
baraka) bears less importance for their pres-
tige as a healer;
4. Their status as women decreases because of
their profession.
Qablas -s
The second category of new traditional women
healers I would like to call qabla-s. In the Middle
Atlas it is a word used for any somewhat elderly
woman who has had some experience in midwifery.
Therefore, the term does not cover all the activities
exercised by the women healers I will describe in this
paragraph. Nevertheless, it is the only suitable term
that comes to mind.
Qabla-s have long been found in Middle Atlas
towns such as Azrou and Ain Leuh. In the rural
areas with the semi-nomadic Ait Abdi, however, the
practice of professional qabla-s is a rather new
phenomenon. It is this development which will be
discussed here. It probably started with the settling of
immigrants from poor southern regions in the low-
lands. Although these people have been living in the
area of the Ait Abdi for several generations [18], they
were never fully ‘Berberised’ and some of them used
their reputation as healers and magicians to earn
a living. In the settlements where they lived they
became midwives and healers, sometimes also for
the surrounding Berbers. But among the nomadic
Berbers midwifery was usually exercised by any
woman who was accidentally in the vicinity of a birth.
I was told that it occurred quite often that after 2
or 3 births a woman would conduct her own delivery
all alone. Women managed these things themselves,
as they used to heal diseases with herbs that they
picked themselves. Because all women developed just
about the same level of expertise in healing, as they
did for example in childcare, cooking and weaving,
no one was considered a healing specialist within the
Ait Abdi. Therefore they could not be considered
professionals in the sense of the term as discussed
above.
The women who are termed professionals in this
paper almost all live in azarghar, the lower plains,
where the greater part of the population is settled,
where the infrastructure of roads is quite good,
but where one might expect that the competition with
modern health care to be comparatively strong. There
are four dispensaries in this part of the region and a
small hospital in Ain Leuh. Also within reach lies
Azrou (at a distance of 1S-30 km to azarghar), which
offers a wide range of private and state medical
facilities.
The medical activities of these women are diver-
gent. Usually they have become specialists in birth
attendance, but they also have a reputation for
soothing abdominal pains, massage of aching bones
and muscles, treatment of skin disease etc. Although
informants were reluctant to admit it the new tra-
ditional female healers are probably considered to be
magical specialists as well.
The seven qabla-s I spoke to in the Ait Abdi
countryside have a similar background: they
are mainly poor women from the south (Erfoud,
Rissani), they have married into the tribe of Ait Abdi,
their husbands are poor labourers and they all claim
Chorfa status. They started their professions 640
years ago. They all live in houses, so not in tents.
There is no nomadic women among them. One
woman orginates from the Rif and now lives perma-
nently in jbel, the mountainous area. She might seem
an exception, but she also lives in a place with a
somewhat dispersed, be it dense and stable popu-
lation and she, just as the others, claims to be Cherifa.
Also, she lives close to the jbel market, which un-
doubtedly provides her with extra clients every
Monday. She has good connections with some
bchaba-s. As far as I know she is the only qabla in
the mountain area with some reputation. We have to
take into consideration that the mountains are a
pre-eminently nomadic region which is twice as big as
the lower ‘azarghar’ region. The number of fixed
inhabitants is a quarter of that of the Ait Abdi plains.
The proportion of women that originate from outside
the Ait Abdi tribe is much smaller in jbel than in
azarghar [19].
I have no clear indications that the number of
professional qabla-s is still increasing. It was noticed,
however, that younger Arab women who marry into
the region do not lose interest in the healing pro-
fession. This is illustrated by the example of a 30 year
old woman who started her profession as a healer
only 6 years ago after giving birth to twins, a widely
recognised sign that one may exercise massage for
bruised joints and limbs. Now she is gradually start-
ing to provide cures for other diseases and is some-
times consulted as a midwife as well. Although she is,
according to tradition, not a Cherifa, she says she is
“a little bit Cherifa”, because her grandmother on her
mother’s side was one. We could conclude that, after
giving birth to twins, she practically jumped at the
opportunity to gain respect and perhaps earn a few
dirhams from a medical profession. With only feeble
legitimation, she saw a way to expand her activities.
There is reason to believe that other poorer young
women would do the same thing, especially because
the example given is of such recent date.
It is typical, however, that it was again an Arab
woman who seized the opportunity and not a Berber.
Berber women could just as well start medical activi-
ties after having twins, but they hardly ever do, or
otherwise they perform on a very modest scale, often
within the realm of the family.
 The rise of female healers
When the comparison is made again with the status
inventory of Susan Davis, we could say that these
rural general practitioners experience a ‘status in-
crease’, a much better social position than the market
herbalists. Yet their earnings are not as good as the
cichaba-s. The zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
qubla is much more dependent on her
religious legitimation and cannot always ask straight-
forwardly for money in the way the herbalist can.
Also, the qabla who sits at home unnoticed is less women had a far better access to buruku than Berbers
frequently visited by clients than the cichubu, who is had. What we see nowadays is a rise of female general
working visibly at the marketplace.
The development in the rural area resembles the
one in the marketplace but not with all character-
istics. It seems that:
1. Being sedentarised is a necessity in order to be
able to obtain a reputation;
2. Women are in the process of replacing men in
the healing profession, although they do not
dominate yet;
3. Women have become recognised specialists
while lay knowledge is disappearing;
4. Being Cherifa or a proof of buruka is of vital
importance for the prestige of a woman
healer;
5. Women healers gain in status due to their
profession.
In the following paragraphs I will seek an explanation
for the expansion of female medical activities in the
Ait Abdi area, and the way in which it has come
about. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBAfulfil these conditions they started as healers as well.
5. COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT HEALERS AND
THEIR PRESTIGE
In the process of comparing the social situation of
ancient traditional healers to the conditions of the
present traditional healers important resemblances as
well as differences strike us.
An important resemblance would be that general
practitioners can presently-as they were in the
past-be characterised as ‘holy tribe-outsiders’, while
living in a more or less fixed place.
I suggest that we may conclude from this resem-
blance that in a rather dispersed, semi-nomadic so- suffered an important decline. The loss of prestige
ciety a healer will much more easily acquire prestige
if the man or woman is sedentarised and can legiti-
mate the healer position with the socially recognised
trait of holiness (buraka), which is preferably in-
herited through the patriline. Through lack of social
control a tribe-outsider (especially when it is an Arab)
can claim this trait more easily than a tribe-member.
Therefore, it is not surprising that especially exoga-
mously and patrilocally married Arab women be-
come traditional healers. Exogamous marriage was
one of the consequences of French colonisation,
which, by safeguarding the roads, made it possible for
Berbers and Arabs to travel, trade, work, and settle
freely almost all over Morocco. Exogamous and
patrilocally married Arab women have an advantage
825
over indigenous Berber women. First of all, Arabs in
general are much more reputed for holiness and
medical capacity than Berbers. Besides, social control
over the background of an Arab who is strange to the
region is hardly possible. Therefore, even if their
claimed holy status and medical knowledge are ques-
tionable, the benefit of the doubt is always on the side
of the Arab women. Thus, generally speaking, Arab
practitioners that is taking place within the limits of
these social conditions.
Immigrant men may have had the same oppor-
tunity to start as healers, but they were usually
already otherwise occupied: getting a contract for
work or knowing that one could acquire access to
collective pastures were some of the reasons for
migration to the rural area. Also, being a healer
would not have earned the immigrant man and his
family a sufficient income. Female healers use their
earnings as extra money along with the (small) family
income. This is a possible explanation why especially
women of the immigrant Arab population practice as
healers. The few masculine Arab healers I spoke to
were elderly men who stayed at home because the
heavy physical work in the fields had become too
much for them.
Sedentarisation and the possession of buruka are
social conditions that permit the performance of
medical activities. At the moment that women could
It more or less explains why the conditions for
starting medical activities were less favourable for
indigenous Berber women than for immigrant Arab
women. Yet it does not explain why (Arab) women
seem to be becoming more important as healers than
men and are even starting to dominate certain
branches of traditional medicine.
The most striking difference between former and
present healers lies surely in the concept of gender:
men lose prestige as healers, women gain. It is
challenging to find an explanation for the fall of men
in the healing profession.
Most of all the reputation of local Chorfa has
these men experienced becomes apparent in the
stories of healers who stopped practising. They
usually complain of patients that lack confidence in
their ‘baraka’ for healing. The following exposition
should be regarded as a first step towards an under-
standing of the former and present social position of
the traditional healer in Berber society. Two obser-
vations may help to point in the right direction.
1. In the past many of the medical activities
among the semi-nomadic Berbers of the
Middle Atlas were a matter of people in
power: Chorfa-families were the most import-
ant mediators between tribes in times of
conflict, but were prestigious healers as well.
826 JOGIENBAKKER

The most courageous warriors in Berber completeness, especially since the ideas that are being
tribes received the right to heal [20]. One suggested are still new to myself. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedc
acquired, for instance, the individual right to
do massage after killing a person, and after
6. HEALING AND PRESTIGE STRUCTURES IN THE
admittance to the fraternity of courageous MIDDLE ATLAS
men (Rmri [21]) one was allowed to enter the
elite of men that lead the trance dance, a For a theory of prestige I turn to Ortner and
collective healing activity. I gathered from Whitehead, who wrote an introduction to: Sexual
this observation and similar research data M eunings: the Cultural Construction of Gender and
that the curing of disease was looked upon as Sexuality [22]. They write about ‘prestige structures’.
a sign of zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
baraka of authorities in religious and I believe that the concept of baruku should be
political life. The act of healing was a confir- regarded as a form of divine prestige. In fact, when
mation, a legitimation for people in powerful a description of the sources of prestige is compared
positions, and therefore an instrument to to the signification of buruku in the Middle Atlas
gather baruku and prestige. (Of course, heal- society, it seems that buruku draws on the very same
ing served other functions as well, but they sources as prestige [23]. According to Ortner and
bear no importance for the point I would like Whitehead, the main sources of prestige are, briefly
to make here.) summarised, wealth, political power, personal skills,
2. The second observation is that presently local and accessiblility to these sources under the con-
Chorfu and RmB still exercise medical activi- ditions of the effective use of these assets plus a
ties, but that these Chorfu and Rmri are no certain generosity and concern for the social good.
longer the people in authority. Their auth- All these things are sources for buruku just as they are
ority has to a great extent been replaced by for prestige. But in order to understand the concept
local chiefs and chief assistants appointed by of buruku we should add one more condition: the
the government, and these powerful people capacity for supernatural intermediation.
do not need to combine their political func- In Morocco buruku has always been a very con-
tions with medical activities. This means that crete indication of one’s social powers and prestige,
medical activities at this level have lost their just as much as the possession of sheep or military
power supporting function. Among these strength. In fact, these things were seen as visible
people the concept of buruku is largely out of proof of buruku. However, it was also necessary to
use. Nowadays it is rather the opposite which prove one’s supernatural powers, which was in fact a
is becoming more and more important: the justification for the strong social position one occu-
healers use the glorious past (being Cherif zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGF
or pied. It is my suggestion that in the process of proving
Rmci) to legitimate their right to exercise supernatural powers the visible results of healing
medical activities. played a major role. It is as close as an earthly person
can come to performing a miracle, while at the same
These two observations more or less establish a very time it shows a clear concern for the social good. This
notable development in the social position of tra- is a reason why buruku and, as a consequence, healing
ditional medical healers. The reversal of a traditional is important for powerful status groups (such as
medicine-which legitimates local authority-into Chorfu): it legitimates their powerful position in
a marginalised authority-which legitimates tra- society. Especially to the Arab elite groups legal,
ditional medicine-gave some impoverished, mar- formal and charismatic legitimacy were all available
ginalised people the opportunity to gain respect and to reinforce their claim to supernatural power.
livelihood by professional healing. Among these On the other hand, I would say that for marginal-
people we find many Arab women for whom their ised groups healing as a source of buruku is sometimes
reputation as medically and magically knowledgeable even more important. Since they possessed neither
persons of potential holy origin has proved especially material goods nor political power, it was their only
advantageous. hope to acquire buruku and prestige through magic,
So far I have described the social circumstances miracles and healing. Stated in this way, it is obvious
that channel the conditions under which the healing that they could only hope to legitimise their claims by
specialisations are exercised. But we also noted that charisma. Of the three possibilities mentioned, heal-
many men do not seem to need the prestige of healing ing seems to be the easiest to perform in the open,
any more, whereas women need both the money while it also expresses ‘concern for the social good’ in
(especially the Lichubu- s) and the prestige (qublu- s). a most distinctive manner. In Morocco a phenom-
From this we learned that healing, prestige and, as a enon like this could be observed in the activities of
consequence, gender seem to be closely related to one several brotherhoods-which were accessible for the
another. common man and woman-that specialised in trance
In the next paragraph I will suggest some theoreti- dancing [24] and in the collective healing rituals of
cal ideas about the relationship between traditional some Berber tribes, that clearly reestablished a feeling
medicine and prestige. I do not claim theoretical of tribal prestige (information from my own field-
 The rise of female healers 827

work data). But also outside Morocco the importance ties for a social mobility oriented towards the higher
of healing can be observed among marginalised strata: they have turned away from these skills.
groups. For example, a very prominent part of slave Admiration for such qualities can only be earned
culture in the United States consisted of conjuring among people who are marginal themselves. This
and healing [25]. This means that in the past the elite means that healing as a visible proof of buruku has
needed the bar&a of healing to legitimate their social become an instrument for relative social mobility.
position, but for the lower strata the ‘baraka’ of Buruku itself has become a form of relative prestige.
healing signified a possibility for social mobility. Perhaps nowadays buruku is best translated by the
In general, however, healers that would adhere to term Rabinow uses: specialness [28].
the divine prestige of the elite (often an ascribed In our case, the qublu- s in the rural area are poor
status) had the best chance to build up a good Arab women, poorer than most Berber women. The
reputation. only thing that distinguishes them from the Berbers
Ortner and Whitehead state that societies with only is their Chorfu status. I consider it possible that they
one single prestige structure are rare. The prestige try to prove this with healing activities. I did not
structure of ‘gender’ is inevitable in every society. I check my research data for this idea yet, but it is
would say that-in our case-‘ethnicity’ is important certain that it improves their status as women. It is
as well considering the distinction that is made be- an improvement of poor Arab women among less
tween zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Chorfu, Arabs, and Berbers. I will make an poor Berber women: it is a relative improvement.
attempt to explain how buruka finds a place within Traditional healing has become a question of relative
the prestige structures of gender and ethnicity in prestige.
the case of the rise of female healers in the Middle This relative prestige seems to be less important
Atlas. for the richubu- s at the market. The object for the
During the colonisation period the concept of herbalist is money: she has to try to make a living out
buruku disintegrated, especially in the higher strata of of her profession, even though she knows that she will
society. Before the Berber tribes were ‘pacified’ by the suffer a status decrease as a woman. For her as well,
French, they were constantly struggling for power however, there seems to be relative prestige in the
and space. The only more durable power institutions healing profession. Not among women in general, but
were to be found with the holy (often sedentarised among a special category of women: the publicly
and arabised) tribes, who had the ascribed status of exposed. It protects them from the reputation of
Chorfa. Within this scheme a constant effort to hold whores.
on to baruku was necessary to remain in power. This As a conclusion I suggest that qublu- s and
changed with the invasion of the French: they ap- cichubu- s, as marginalised groups in society, use
pointed local chiefs in their service, while courts of marginalised prestige to achieve relative social accep-
justice replaced the intermediating role of Chorfu. tance [29]. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPO
The new state related elite could do without buruku
now. They had the French to keep them firmly in the
saddle; buruku, for them, had become a superfluous 7. FINAL REMARK
form of prestige and a needless legitimation of their
position in society. The final point I would like to make is this: the
Where a traditional form of local leadership is development which is taking place in traditional
disintegrating and divinity is totally or partially sep- medicine in the Middle Atlas cannot simply be ex-
arated from it, this holy forcedivorced from the plained by the rise of modern health care. It is true
old social hierarchy-is often claimed by marginal that some categories of traditional medicine are
groups or individuals who use this claim as a new vanishing, but can this process only be understood in
source of prestige and base of power. Nicholas the light of a lost competition to a superior modern
Thomas [26] describes this process for several so- medical system?
cieties, a process which seems to have taken place in As shown above, this cannot be the case since,
the Middle Atlas on a small scale. apart from the vanishing of healers, new categories of
Now that powerful men are no longer interested in traditional medicine are emerging, notably female
‘baraka’ it is women (and other marginalised groups general practitioners and herbalists. It also seems
and persons) that have taken over this divine form of that traditional healers formerly depended greatly
prestige to use it for their own ends. The marginalised on the existing power system, because traditional
prestige structure of buruku is used by a marginalised authorities needed medicine to prove their own reh-
group within the prestige structure of ‘gender’: gious and political value. Because of the devaluation
women. This is a process that Ortner and Whitehead of this power system under French colonisation and
might have called the “fusing of prestige structures” the current Moroccan Makhzen, many healers
1271. suffered a loss of prestige. This would mean that
Moreover, because the elite no longer chose to modern medicine is not the direct cause for the
make use of the prestige structure of buruku and (partial) disappearance and devaluation of traditional
healing, it has become difficult to use healing activi- medicine [30].
828 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
JOGIENBAKKER
REFERENCES
1. Historical information about kinship, power relations
and healing activities among the Ait Abdi in pre-
colonial times was gathered from elderly Berbers, unless
literature references in the text state otherwise. They
could either memorise how their society was formerly
organised, or were still able to recall what their parents
had told them about it.
2. In this paper the popular French transcription of Arabic
words will be followed. This is the tran&ription that is
used in Morocco on traffic signs, on television etc.
Chorfa is the plural form of Cherif, the title which is
used for a holy man, whose descendance is traced
from the Prophet Mohamed. Cherifa is the singular
form used for a woman. Literally Cherifmeans noble or
honourable one.
3. Beaudet G. Les Beni Mguild du Nord. Etude g&o-
graphique de 1’8volution r&ente d’une confkderation
semi-nomade. In Revue de Geographic du Maroc 15, 17,
1969.
4. Every household head had its own number of sheep,
there were no common mills and other facilities except
for the common grounds and the perhaps mutual
storehouses. Hart tells us that this is “. . a standard
feature of Berber socio-economic life in the Central
Atlas,. . .” (Hart D. G. The Ait Sukhman of the
Moroccan Central Atlas: an ethnographic survey and a
case-study in socio-cultural anomaly. R.O.M.M. 38, (2),
141, 1984. This did not mean that the clan had no
collective social structure: the ‘jejemari’regulated things
like penalties for stealing, blood money, the decision to
go to war etc. Also several religious events were collec-
tive such as the rain ceremony every spring and autumn
and the maintenance of holy places on the tribe’s
grounds. Yet, self-reliance was a matter of the individ-
ual-extended-family.
5. It is perhaps clarifying to distinguish between the social
categories of Chorfa and Arabs. Arabs in Morocco are
those groups who speak Arabic. Although it is histori-
cally speaking not always a realistic standpoint, this
language group is supposed to stem from the Arab
invaders of the Middle Ages. Chorfa, on the other hand,
are the descendants of the Prophet; therefore, they are
in the strict social sense always Arabs. Arabs, among the
Middle Atlas Berbers, are usually outsiders with a
reputation for knowledge (since they speak the language
of the Qoran and the intellectual world). Thus. in terms
of religious prestige there is a hierarchy: Berb&s at the
bottom, Arabs above them and Chorfu at the top.
6. See for example: Akhmisse M. Mbdicine, Magie et
Sorcellerie au Maroc ou [‘Art Truditionne/ 13. The markets they visit are the same ones every week.
de GuPrir.
Casablanca, 1985.
I. Dwyer D. H. Women sufism and decision making. in
Moioccan Islam. In Women in the Muslim World
(Edited bv Beck L. and Keddie N.). zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
DD. 585-599.
fiarvard cniversity Press, Cambridge,‘i!%.
8. Cited in MacCormack, C. P. Healthcare and the con-
cept of legitimacy. Sot. Sci. Med. 15B, 423428, 1981.
9. The Berber woman was certainly an important econ-
omic force in work on the land and with cattle. In some
cases she might act as a representative of her husband
in commercial activities if he himself or his grown-up
sons were prevented from handling them. Also, Berber
widows were allowed by the clan council to hold in
usufruct a part of her husband’s possessions. The widow
would in this case take care of her own affairs, although 14. Personal communication: P. van ‘t Zelfde, Dutch stu-
often aided by an adviser. Beaudet G. Les Beni Mguild
du Nord. Etude giographique de l’bvolution r&ente 15. Davis S. S. Working women in a Moroccan village. In
d’une confkderation semi-nomade. In Revue de GPogra-
phie du Maroc 15, 1969. Women were usually married
within the clan, which means that the clan-endogamous
marriage was predominant. It can be observed that a 16. Venema B. Ecological Crisis and Local Power Constel-
sort of cousin’s marriage was normal, which probably
meant that a marriage within the cigemmi happened
quite frequently. However, the following associations
were not allowed: a son with the second wife or his
father, nor with his father’s sister, an uncle could not
marry his niece and an aunt could not marry her
nephew. Also, marriage was forbidden between sisters
and brothers with a milk relationship, between a nurse
and her suckling and between the husband of the nurse
and her girl-suckling. A husband could marry several
wives, but never two sisters at the same time. Lt.
Desnottes, Forces d’occcupation du Maroc Occidental.
Bureau des Affaires Indigdnes Itzer, 1992, in Archives
Diplomatiques.
10. This seems to be a techniaue widesnread in all Islamic
regions of the world, from Africa south of the Sahara
to Indonesia. Ammar S. MPdecins et Medecine de
I’lslam: de I’Aube de I’lslam ci I’Age d’Or, p. 251.
Editions Tougui, Paris, 1984.
11. The information on Rmci I draw almost solely from my
own fieldwork: publications on the subject can hardly be
found. Yet, according to my sources of information,
Rmri took a role in Berber society that greatly resembled
the role of Chorfa: they were mediators in conflict, were
religiously pious men and were the prominent leaders of
ceremonies organised around local saints. They can be
described as indigenous Berber Chorfa. Their social
organisation, however, does not resemble that of
Chorfa. Rmci is not a hereditary ascribed status, but a
voluntary achieved one. It depends on conduct and
courageousness if someone is accepted as cibid Rmci
(slave of Rmd). In some tribes a combination of descent
and outstanding qualities lead to Rmh status: those
tribesmen who are the closest descendants to the ances-
tor-saint stand a good chance of becoming the leaders
of the tribe’s Rmri provided that they show pious
conduct and a straightforward character. In a forthcom-
ing dissertation I will elaborate on the subject.
12. Helga Venzlaff has conducted an elaborate research into
the wares of herbalists in the Middle Atlas. She dis-
tinguishes four categories of consumption: (1) Meal
spices, (2) Health remedies, (3) Magical medicines,
(4) Beutifiers. Many herbs and spices are used
for different means. Henna for example, the herb
that is used to redden skin and hair, is considered
curative (against infection of wounds), magical
(against the evil eye) and beautifying. In Venzlaff H. Der
Murokkanischer Drogenhtindler und seine Ware. Ein
Beirrag zu Terminologie und Volkstiimlichen Gebrauch
Traditioneller Arabischer Maleria Medica. Wiesbaden.
1977.
They follow the schedule of the Beni Mguild markets,
which means that they visit the same six markets every
week on six different days (there is no market on Friday,
as in most of the country). Azrou is the centre, is the
biggest market and has the greatest variety of produce.
In consequence, some of the smaller markets are not
always visited regularly by all the women: sometimes
they miss a day because they expect that bus fares will
be more than the profits of the herb sale. Because some
markets are too small altogether for seven to ten women
selling medicines, some of them have sought an altema-
tive for one or two days outside the Azrou weekly
markets cycle. They can only do this if they can afford
the bus fares. Other women simply stay at home.
dent in Morocco for the Free University of Amsterdam.
Women in the Muslim World (Edited by Beck L. and
Keddie N.), pp. 416-434. Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, MA, 1978.
lations: the Case of the Middle Atlas. Paper for the
 The rise of female healers 829

Holland-Morocco Conference, Rabat, March 1 I-18th, 28. Rabinow P. Symbolic Domination, Cultural Form and
1990. Historical Change. University of Chicago Press,
17. Among others Slikkerveer L. J. Medisch Pluralisme in Chicago, 1975.
Noord-Oost Afrika: Multiple Utilisatie van Gezond- 29. Although the argument about marginalisation may
heidszorg in Balik (Ethiopii). Ph.D. Dissertation, Rijk- bring I. M. Lewis’ book Ecstatic Religion to mind, I
suniversiteit Leiden, 1983. choose not to deal with it in the text for fear of
18. Beaudet G. Les Beni Mguild du Nord. Etude Gto- confusion. I do not wish to raise the question of ‘thinly
graphique de 1’Evolution Recente dune Confederation disguised protest movements against the dominant sex’,
Semi-nomade. Revue Geographie du Maroc zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC
15, 17, because it does not seem to concern the case of female
1969. healers in the Middle Atlas. I have nevertheless
19. Sources: Erat Civil d’Ain Leuh, Statistiques, 1988 and surmised that his classification of peripheral and central
Rkensement de la Sante Publique, Circonscription Ain ‘cults’ (in my case: healing activities in general) will
Leuh, December, 1988. Ain Leuh contains almost 5000 prove to be especially valuable, when I will try to
inhabitants. The whole Ait Abdi region, including Ain establish the meaning of healing activities for marginal
Leuh, is inhabited by approximately 28,000 people; and elite groups in Moroccan society. However, the
6000 of them are fixed inhabitants of the jbel area. Birth treatment of this theme is beyond the scope of this
rates are up to 2.5 (Ain Leuh) to 3% (region). paper. Lewis I. M. Ecstatic Religion: An Anthropological
20. See: Corjon F. Maladies, Soins, Rites Magiques de Study of Spirit Possession and Shamanism. Har-
Protection ou d’Expulsion du Ma1 chez les Enfants mondsworth, England, 197 1.
Berberes du Moyen-Atlas, p. 5. Bulletin d’Enseignement 30. More literature helped form the ideas for this article,
Public au Maroc, 1932. although it was not directly referred to in the text.
21. Rmri is derived from an Arabic word which means ‘to On Moroccan history :
throw’ or ‘to shoot’ (with bow and arrow). It refers to Brignon J. a.o. Histoire du Maroc. Hatier, Casablanca,
the holy wars fought against the Christians. The patron 1967.
of the Rmci, Sidi Ali ben Nacer, is supposed to have been Bidwell R. Morocco under Colonial Rule: French Admin -
one of the cleverest and most courageous warriors in istration of Tribal Areas (1912-1956). Frank Cass,
these wars. London, 1973.
22. Ortner S. B. and Whitehead H. (Eds) Introduction. Ibn Khaldun (translated by Monteil V.) AI-Muqaddima:
Sexual Meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender Discours sur I’Histoire Universelle. Tomes I, II, III.
and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Beyrouth, 1967.
1981. Laous E. I’Habitation chez les Transhumants du Maroc
23. Compare Gellner E. Saints of the Atlas. Weidenfeld and Central. Hespetis, VI, 1935.
Nicolson, London, 1969; p. 12: “. the possession of On traditional medicine :
‘baraka’, a concept used by them (people of the Atlas Greenwood B. Cold or spirits? Choice and ambiguity in
J.B.) which is as close to the sociologist’s notion of Morocco’s pluralistic medical system. Sot. Sci. Med.
‘charisma’ as one could hope to find.” lSB, 219-235, 1981.
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