whom were forcefully transported across the Sahara and sold in different
parts of Morocco, shares some important traits with the African
trans-Atlantic diaspora, but at the same time they are different. There
are two crucial differences: the internal African diaspora in Morocco
has primarily a musical significance and it lacks desire to return to
the original homeland. This diaspora is positively constructed around
the right to belonging to the culture of Islam, unlike the construction
of the African American diasporic double consciousness. The black
consciousness in Morocco exists just like the Berbers' notion of
collective identity; it does not constitute a contradiction into itself.
Black Moroccans perceive themselves first and foremost Muslim Moroccans
and only secondary participants in a different tradition and/or
belonging to a specific ethnic or linguistic real or imaginary origin.
The Gnawa are a diasporic culture and one finds artistic and spiritual
parallels between the Gnawa order and other spiritual black groups in
Africa: the Stambouli in Tunisia, the Sambani in Libya, and the Bilali
in Algeria. Outside Africa, one can also see a parallel as in the case
of the Candomble in Salvador, Brazil, and the Vodoun religion practiced
in Caribbean countries. The similarities in the artistic, spiritual,
and scriptural representations seem to reflect a shared experience of
many African diasporic groups. As in these other spiritual traditions,
the belief in possession and trance is crucial to Gnawa religious life
and their music has served a patterned function in this belief,
intrinsically linked to the Gnawa religious rituals and to their
specific historic and cultural memories. This paper will reconstruct
the forgotten past of the Gnawa who over many generations, productively
negotiated their forced presence in Morocco to create acceptance and
group solidarity.