Moroccan researcher translates key colonial text on Taza region

Moroccan researcher Abdelilah Biskmar has translated "Taza and the Riata," a significant colonial-era monograph by French officer Louis Voinot, into Arabic. The book, originally written in the early 20th century, offers a detailed look at the history, geography, and ethnography of eastern Morocco, particularly the Taza region and the surrounding Ghiyata tribe.

Voinot's work was produced during a period of French colonial expansion, aiming to subdue resistant Moroccan tribes. The translated text is divided into three main parts: Taza, focusing on the city and its surroundings; Ghiyata, detailing the tribe's geography, demographics, customs, and traditions; and History, chronicling the region's political and military past through various Moroccan dynasties up to the Rif War and the French occupation of Taza.

Biskmar's contribution goes beyond a literal translation. He provides a critical scientific perspective in his introduction and within the text itself. Biskmar aims to deconstruct the colonial underpinnings of Voinot's document, which he argues was intended to facilitate military intervention and economic exploitation by providing insights into the local population and tribal structures.

The translator also addresses linguistic and conceptual challenges, noting Voinot's tendency to apply Catholic church terminology to Islamic spaces. Biskmar corrects numerous factual errors in the original text concerning Taza's historical landmarks. This translation aims to make a historically important document accessible to researchers and enthusiasts, allowing for the study of its historical and geographical content while consciously separating it from the ideological context of the French protectorate era.