Weaving, Tourism, and Women’s Labor, Jbala, Morocco
My research in Tangier and the Jbala region explored how tourism and gendered labor structures transform traditional weaving. I worked with three women, each representing a different relationship to weaving:
Zohra, a weaving instructor at Darna, empowering women through craft
Fatima, a young weaver producing mendil textiles for minimal wages under male intermediaries
and Souad, the first woman in Tangier to own her own weaving workshop, selling directly to customers.
In Khemiss Anjra, I collaborated with Fatima, who represents the exploited labor force of young women weaving under the control of male middlemen. She, like many others, works for extremely low wages, with no control over the pricing or sale of her work. While she is highly skilled, she has been convinced that she cannot sell without male intermediaries, reinforcing a system where artisans remain disconnected from the value of their own labor. Her experience reflects the broader power imbalance in traditional craft economies, where tourism-driven demand accelerates mass production, diminishes technical knowledge, and reduces wages.
At Darna in Tangier, I trained under Zohra Chat, a weaving instructor with over 20 years of experience. Her work goes beyond teaching women to weave for income—she empowers them to see their craft as a tool for self-determination. She is committed to preserving traditional techniques, such as woven lace, which are rapidly disappearing due to the demand for faster, simplified production. During our time together, she introduced me to these nearly forgotten techniques, emphasizing the importance of passing down artisanal knowledge. This exchange underscored how knowledge preservation becomes an act of resistance, ensuring that tourism-driven market pressures do not erase the depth and complexity of traditional craftsmanship.
Souad is the first and only woman in Tangier to own a weaving workshop and shop, a radical act in a male-dominated economy. Unlike most women, who weave behind closed doors for intermediaries, she weaves in public, disrupting gendered norms. She is no longer an invisible producer but a visible artisan, reclaiming agency over her craft, making her a pioneer in redefining women’s roles in public and economic life.
Although these women do not work together, they form a community shaped by shared labor, struggles, and resilience. Their experiences reveal the broader implications of craft, tourism, and gender, making visible the hidden networks that sustain artisanal traditions in a rapidly changing economy.
year
2024













