Lineage, genealogy and practical politics: Thoughts on David Hart's last work

Abstract

Authority in Morocco has often been based on lineage. Thus genealogy has been a crucial part of dynasty and regime legitimation, as David Hart has shown. However, discourse based on genealogy is neither history nor an accurate description of socio-political order as the genealogical memory rarely extends beyond six generations. As a result, alongside this 'great tradition' of genealogical authority is a parallel little tradition based on power, as demonstrated by the role of 'arsh and sanctuary as well as by the maraboutic tradition of resistance to foreign occupation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. For David Hart this linkage between ideology and practical politics was the key to ..