Simulating “Elsewhere” in the malls of Morocco: sociability and extraterritorial belonging
Type de matériel :
61
Like most southern countries, Morocco has in the last two decades experienced the arrival of giant shopping centers modelled on malls in the US and Persian Gulf. Initiated by foreign developers in partnership with national investors, these places reproduce the same closed configurations and architectural staging as their models. Their operation relies on a set of mechanisms for channelling flows of customers and visitors, but also on a simulation of symbolic worlds referring mainly to a fantasised elsewhere. Drawing on qualitative investigations conducted on several malls located in two large Moroccan cities, Rabat and Casablanca, this article analyses the material and symbolic construction of these commercial facilities and studies the meaning of the simulation devices they implement and the social response to them. The analysis shows how these fashionable and westernised worlds contribute, particularly for some categories of visitors (young people and women), to new forms of sociability, social interaction and togetherness in the city.
Réseaux sociaux