Image(s) francaise(s) du Maroc avant le Protectorat : (XVIIe-XXe siècles)

摘要

By analysing the images that the French make of Morocco before the Protectorate, we have hoped to reflect on the specificity of this literary genre from the narrative and discursive schemas that it sets out to make use of. The study of these mental presentations or images in their genesis and typology presupposes a multidisciplinary approach, for, as it appears, it is crucially important to relate literary analysis, and the history of ideas to this study while being, at the same time, aware that cultural images of a country may not truly reflect the political and historical reality of a given time. These images are, however, related to a cultural backdrop which is historically determined. In order to seize the presence of theStranger, the Other, his or her image in a text, it is essential to take into consideration the conditions that contributed to the production of that text. Therefore, an image consists of a group of ideas that are conjured up about the Other or Foreigner evolving in a literacy and socialisation process. It is in the above mentioned perspective that the present paper attempts a chronological, synchronic and an interdisciplinary approach. Thus, by shedding light on the multi images made about Morocco and its inhabitants since the 17th up to the 20th century, we hope to trace whether there or does not exist a filiation of the other in the French perception. Hence,some contextualisation is of the essence in order to encompass the background of thisperception of the Other. Naturally, we have had recourse not only to texts which were produced by travellers across Morocco, but also to historical, ethnological as well as sociological documents addressing this issue. Also, the enlarging of our reflection field to touch on other disciplines, such as human and social sciences, will allow us to come into grips with how the concept and presentation of the Other could reveal the functioning of an ideologicalinstance, be it exotic or racist, which is historically traceable. For exemplification sake, we also wonder if a Christian author is not influenced in his vision of the Muslims and Jews in a way or another. We could also wonder if the outlook of the travellers of the Grand century has not been altered by the contribution of the ideas of the century of light which is based on the dominance of reason as well as a certain scientific and academic rationality.