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Ben m'sik community museum

The Ben M’sik Community Museum (BMCM) is a burgeoning museum housed at Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Ben M’sik, Casablanca, Morocco, located at the heart of the diverse Ben M’sik neighborhood of Casablanca. The decision to create the Ben M’sik Community Museum is an indication of its commitment to establish deeper contacts with the community it serves. The BMCM’s mission supports the University’s own mission of increasing the number of interactions with partners belonging to its socio-economic environment.

Ben M’sik is the largest, poorest, and most densely populated of Casablanca’s six districts. It has long been considered a “holding room” for successive waves of migrants-most recently from the drought-stricken Chaouia and Doukala regions of Morocco. The cultural and ethnic diversity of this neighborhood, where such differences are echoed in the Arabic and Amazigh languages spoken by its residents, underscores the need for a shared space of representation that is simultaneously a gathering place where different voices and views might be understood. Since the 1980s, the local government has recognized the needs of this vast and complex community and has worked to improve social conditions by establishing cultural and social institutions in the area.

The museum displays a collection of artifacts, old kitchen utensils, old instruments for weaving traditional clothes and carpets, traditional musical instruments and photographs.

ABOUT US in Arabic
ABOUT US in French

OUR MISSION

To preserve memory by interpreting, exhibiting, and promoting the stories of the diverse populations of the neighborhood and its region.

1000
The Year of Creation
+ 1
National & International Events
1
Stories

OUR STAFF

Dr. Abdelkader GONEGAI

Dean of Faculty of Letters and Humanities Ben M'sik
Cultural Actor and Manager

Dr. Samir EL AZHAR

Director of the Ben M'sik Community Museum

Dr. Mohamed Amine MOUMINE

Cultural Consultant

Dr. Abdelmajid BOUZIANE

Project and technical Consultant

teamS

Testimonials

I have been fortunate to be engaged with the Ben M’sik Community Museum from its inception. The hard work of Professor Samir El Azhar and the undergraduate and graduate students at Hassan II ensures that the museum tells the diverse stories of the neighborhood, capturing what might otherwise have been lost. It is a very important institution that has few peers in the country or on the continent.

Dr. Catherine Lewis

Assistant Vice President of Museums, Archives & Rare Books, Kennesaw State University

The United States of America

Ben M'sik Community Museum
2020-08-30T16:09:31+01:00

Dr. Catherine Lewis

Assistant Vice President of Museums, Archives & Rare Books, Kennesaw State University

The United States of America

I have been fortunate to be engaged with the Ben M’sik Community Museum from its inception. The hard work of Professor Samir El Azhar and the undergraduate and graduate students at Hassan II ensures that the museum tells the diverse stories of the neighborhood, capturing what might otherwise have been lost. It is a very important institution that has few peers in the country or on the continent.
I have now been to Beni M'sik three times this year.  Every time I go I am more impressed with the ways in which the Community Museum project is providing the students in the Department of English new ways to learn English and develop a new sense of project-based learning in Morocco.   In our visit last Friday, the students' recent work in gathering oral histories from members of the community and their efforts to transcribe their raw data into Moroccan Arabic and then English represents a real change in the way learning takes place in Morocco.  It gives them a sense of worth in their own community, creates an exciting record of contemporary Moroccan urban social & economic history, and allows for new ways to learn English in Morocco.  The Museum grant has allowed for this work to go forward, and there are a variety of related projects in local public schools.  Frankly, I am impressed.

Dr. James A. Miller

retired Executive Director of the Moroccan American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (MACECE)

The United States of America

Ben M'sik Community Museum
2020-08-30T16:10:57+01:00

Dr. James A. Miller

retired Executive Director of the Moroccan American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (MACECE)

The United States of America

I have now been to Beni M'sik three times this year.  Every time I go I am more impressed with the ways in which the Community Museum project is providing the students in the Department of English new ways to learn English and develop a new sense of project-based learning in Morocco.   In our visit last Friday, the students' recent work in gathering oral histories from members of the community and their efforts to transcribe their raw data into Moroccan Arabic and then English represents a real change in the way learning takes place in Morocco.  It gives them a sense of worth in their own community, creates an exciting record of contemporary Moroccan urban social & economic history, and allows for new ways to learn English in Morocco.  The Museum grant has allowed for this work to go forward, and there are a variety of related projects in local public schools.  Frankly, I am impressed.
I have worked in the museum world my entire professional life, and it is museums like the one at Ben M’sik that I find especially inspiring. It may not be a big, fancy building, but it does exactly what museums are supposed to do: it documents the cultural heritage and stories of a community. What is especially appealing about the Ben M’sik Museum is that it was created in and with the community, so the artifacts and stories are all an expression of what is meaningful to the people who live here. That is the purest definition of a public museum. It is also a testament to the fact that museums can exist in many forms and serve a range of people, from a local neighborhood to an entire nation.

Dr. Lisa Roberts

Principal and Museum Consultant, Chicago

The United States of America

Ben M'sik Community Museum
2020-08-30T16:13:06+01:00

Dr. Lisa Roberts

Principal and Museum Consultant, Chicago

The United States of America

I have worked in the museum world my entire professional life, and it is museums like the one at Ben M’sik that I find especially inspiring. It may not be a big, fancy building, but it does exactly what museums are supposed to do: it documents the cultural heritage and stories of a community. What is especially appealing about the Ben M’sik Museum is that it was created in and with the community, so the artifacts and stories are all an expression of what is meaningful to the people who live here. That is the purest definition of a public museum. It is also a testament to the fact that museums can exist in many forms and serve a range of people, from a local neighborhood to an entire nation.
By turning to the history of everyday life, the Ben M'sik Community Museum plays a crucial role in re-directing museology in Morocco.  Through its collection of objects and oral histories, and through its engagement with the neighborhood and learning community that house it, the museum ensures that a rich history of migration and life in Casablanca are not forgotten

Dr. Katarzyna Pieprzak

Author of Imagined Museums: Art and Modernity in Postcolonial Morocco

Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Williams College, Massachusetts

The United States of America

Ben M'sik Community Museum
2020-09-12T17:51:16+01:00

Dr. Katarzyna Pieprzak

Author of Imagined Museums: Art and Modernity in Postcolonial Morocco

Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Williams College, Massachusetts

The United States of America

By turning to the history of everyday life, the Ben M'sik Community Museum plays a crucial role in re-directing museology in Morocco.  Through its collection of objects and oral histories, and through its engagement with the neighborhood and learning community that house it, the museum ensures that a rich history of migration and life in Casablanca are not forgotten
As founder and curator of DAR BELGHAZI Museum, the first private museum in Morocco, I have dedicated my entire life to preserving Moroccan cultural heritage. I have met Professor Samir El Azhar who made me acquainted with this remarkable initiative of the Ben M’sik Community Museum that has owned an outstanding national and international appreciation.  In fact, this project gives students the opportunity to show their attachment to museology, art, history, patrimony, etc. The Ben M’sik Community Museum plays an important pedagogical role of orientation and raising awareness. It is a good model for other Moroccan universities to follow.

Mr. Belghazi Mohammed Abdelilah

Founder and Director of Dar Belghazi Museums and Expert in the Moroccan ethnographic art

Morocco

Ben M'sik Community Museum
2020-10-16T20:13:04+01:00

Mr. Belghazi Mohammed Abdelilah

Founder and Director of Dar Belghazi Museums and Expert in the Moroccan ethnographic art

Morocco

As founder and curator of DAR BELGHAZI Museum, the first private museum in Morocco, I have dedicated my entire life to preserving Moroccan cultural heritage. I have met Professor Samir El Azhar who made me acquainted with this remarkable initiative of the Ben M’sik Community Museum that has owned an outstanding national and international appreciation.  In fact, this project gives students the opportunity to show their attachment to museology, art, history, patrimony, etc. The Ben M’sik Community Museum plays an important pedagogical role of orientation and raising awareness. It is a good model for other Moroccan universities to follow.
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Ben M'sik Community Museum

OUR PARTNERS

Contact Info

Ben M’sik Community Museum

Faculty of Letters and Humanities Ben M’sik

Hay El Baraka, B.P. 7951, Ben M’sik, Casablanca

Phone : 212 522 70 50 97 – 212 522 70 50 98 – 212 661  63 41 59

Fax : 212 522 70 51 00

Opening hours : Monday to Friday, 10:00 – 16:00

About Us

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