Interview — the life and times of Abdallah Laroui, a Moroccan intellectual

Abstract

ABDALLAH LAROUI (b. 1933) is a Moroccan historian and political theorist who has written widely on Arab affairs. He studied in the Colleges musulmans, or Muslim schools, in Marrakesh, Rabat, and Casablanca, attended university in Rabat, and did graduate work in Paris at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques and at the Sorbonne. He entered the Moroccan diplomatic service and served as cultural attaché in Cairo and Paris. He entered academic life and taught at the University of Rabat. He has also taught at the University of California, Los Angeles and has lectured widely throughout North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. He is currently affiliated with the Centre Universitaire de Recherche Scientifique, a government‐sponsored research institute in Rabat where he lives with his wife, Latifa Benjelloun‐Laroui. His books include The Crisis of the Arab Intellectual: Traditionalism or Historicism (1974), L'algérie et le Sahara marocain (1976), Les origines sociales et culturelles du nationalisme morocain (1830–1912) (1977), L'ideologie arabe contemporaine (1982), and Islam et modernité (1987) In the interview, which was conducted by Nancy Gallagher, he explains how his methods and ideas have evolved placing them in the wider historical context of his life and times.