Journal of Transnational American Studies

Mohamed El Amine Moumine’s essay, published originally in Moroccan American Studies, edited by Mohamed Benzidan (2010), as an account of the development of American Studies in Morocco, is here republished on the heels of a significant international conference held in Marrakesh, Morocco, in December 2012 on the timely topic of the Arab Spring’s impact on the teaching of American Studies in Arab universities. The conference, organized by Professor Moumine and the Moroccan American Studies faculty at Université Hassan II Mohammedia–Casablanca was a continuation of the inaugural Cairo conference in 2004, which Moumine describes as the event that opened discussions among Americanists from the US and Arab countries on the topic of American Studies. Observing that “Morocco was the first nation to recognize the newly sovereign United States in 1777,” Moumine speaks from the perspective of a long-held diplomatic bond between these two nations. Detailing the role of “comparative cultural pedagogy” in Université Hassan II Mohammedia–Casablanca’s Moroccan American Studies programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, Moumine’s essay offers an exciting example of transnational American Studies at work.