Thesis : Partner + Stakeholder Meetings and Site Visits

Following the online completion of my thesis project and parallel work experience, I traveled to Morocco to scout the site and meet with former colleagues and future project partners across the Kingdom.

00_Casablanca : 4 days

Landing in Casablanca, I became acclimated to Morocco, learned to navigate within pandemic conditions, and planned upcoming meetings in Marrakech.

01_Marrakech : 6 days

Based with the High Atlas Foundation, I met Director of Development Katie Bercegeay and Programs Manager Sanae Benaadim. We discussed ongoing projects and collaborated on plans for future programs and partnerships.

02/3_Rabat and Fes : 4 days

While in Rabat, I met my former supervisor Sofia Ashooh, former Program Manager of the Legal Aid Clinic at Universite Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah in Fes, now Director of Operations, in person for the first time.

Once I proceeded to Fes, I met the current team in charge of the clinic: Safae Bouhlala, Basma Okbi, and Nabil Bouagba. While in the city, I made a pilgrimage to the Jewish cemetery of the Fes Mellah and experienced the UNESCO World Heritage site Fes-el-Bali (the Medina).

04_Toumliline | Azrou and Ifrane : 4 days

Visiting my thesis site in person for the first time, I noted observations and compared the internal image I had assembled between archival material and my own remote practice.

Living in Azrou allowed me to understand the community nearest to Toumliline, to which it is most directly connected. In a visit to Ifrane, I met Abdelilah Ghmiza, nursery caretaker at Salam Primary School.

05_Tangier, Tetouan and M'Zoura : 6 days

In Tangier, I met architect Nacer Amiar, friend to Ambassador Lamia Radi and the Fondation Memoires pour l’Avenir. He provided an architect’s perspective on Morocco, including an explanation of Tangier’s metropolitan growth through grassroots informal urbanism.

As a visiting scholar, I represented Dr. Steve Davis of UC Dublin on a partner + site meeting at Cromlech M’Zoura outside Assilah with Professor Kamal Targuisti of the University of Tetouan Faculty of Sciences.