CAES Morocco: Leading Across Differences

 As an American traveling to a non-western country for the first time, something that really interests me is the impact centuries of aggressive imperialism and colonialism affect the attitudes and experiences of locals living in countries like Morocco. Before gaining their rightful sovereignty, Morocco experienced colonization efforts at the hands of France, Spain, and Portugal. The marks of these events are evident, as people here speak French, Spanish, and Arabic. While English may be regarded as a kind of universal language, it does carry a negative connotation in some aspects due to the international behavior of the United States and European nations. As tourism continues to grow, I can only imagine the difficulties that may arise in natives as they witness large influxes of tourists from places that have historically not respected their own cultures, or may act in unintentionally disrespectful ways. Tourism is a valuable industry for many of the local economies, but it is not ...

     Thus far, I have seen no men or women with tattoos in Morocco, which is a Muslim country with a common Islamic religious practice. Muslims believe their bodies are vessels that God graces them with, and they are not permitted to take actions that disrupt their livelihoods and worship. While Islam does not explicitly inhibit the adornment of tattoos in its scripture, believers are asked to consider the social, financial, and spiritual consequences when deciding if getting a tattoo is "haram" (forbidden) or "halal" (permissible) (" What is Halal and Haram in Islam? ", 2024). This being said, tattoos do not inherently contradict these practices. Upon further research, conflict arises when tattoos are compared to extravagance ("israf"), adornment for women ("zeenah"), and the social implications of imitating the "wordly" or purposeless (Qazwini et al., 2025). These practices are considered forbidden, and it is my impression t...

  Blogger #1: Muslim Women in Professional Spaces Before coming to Morocco, I expected most industries to be completely male dominated. I did not even know what percentage of women held a job, or if that was commonplace. Because of this incorrect preconceived idea, I was surprised when we toured Driscoll’s and heard from so many Muslim women regarding their operations while also visibly expressing their religious identity through clothing like hijabs. Due to this stereotype about Muslim women that I believed, I wanted to explore the Muslim identity as it relates to women.   One organizational or societal issue impacting Muslim women is the way stereotypes can affect how others perceive their independence, education, or professional capabilities. According to Pew Research Center’s article “Muslims and Islam: Key findings in the U.S. and around the world”  (Lipka & Hackett, 2017), Muslims are often viewed through simplified stereotypes that fail to reflect the dive...