ABSTRACT
The results of ethnographic research conducted across Morocco confirm that various Moroccan actors carry out their duties and undertake actions in a performative manner. The latter transcends all aspects and layers of Moroccan society and helps explain how narratives and counter-narratives are formed, and the way in which actors in Moroccan society display their functions and fulfil their roles. The monarchy has understood the power of national institutions to interpret key societal issues and shape discourses in Moroccan society. Historically, Moroccan women’s groups have contributed to various ‘movement moments’ or ‘mobilization conjunctures,’ which have resulted in the ‘feminization of Islamist women and the Islamization of the feminist movement’. Moroccan women’s groups – similarly to other actors who might present a destabilising factor in Moroccan society – seem to have fallen prey to the State’s co-option and manipulation of their agendas and narratives.
