Spirits, Stories, And Their Influence On The Moroccan Culture Of Tuhami?

Spirits, Stories, and Their Influence on the Moroccan Culture of Tuhami
By telling stories, Tuhami, the title subject of Tuhami: A Portrait of a Moroccan allowed Crapanzano, author and anthropologist, to understand the thought processes and beliefs of his culture, even though these stories often did not depict the reality of Tuhami’s life. One example of these “unreal” stories is presented in the very first pages of the book, in his anecdote of how he came to work for the pasha’s son. In the account, he receives the placement by pure chance when the son sees him playing and automatically wants Tuhami to work for him. However, after Tuhami tells the son who is mother is so that he may ask for permission, his mother does not acknowledge Tuhami
Tuhami’s mother and Mme Jolan played very large roles in his life. His mom rarely acknowledged him and often mistreated him. In contrast Mme Jolan gave him both a home and a job for many years, taking care of him, but also showed signs of thinking of Tuhami as a possession. When her sister wanted Tuhami to come live with her, Mme Jolan refused to let Tuhami go with her and took him back to her home rather than let him choose for himself. In regards to the spirits, Tuhami blamed the death of his childhood friend on ‘A’isha Qandisha, saying that she punished him for badmouthing her. Lalla ‘A’isha is considered to be one of the most powerful jinniyya and Tuhami mentioned that she forces men to be unkempt to ensure that they truly desire to be with her. In exchange for this, she offers to give them whatever they desire. Similar to this, Tuhami was married to ‘A’isha Qandisha and blamed her for many of his shortcomings in society. These accounts showed that the spirits can become scapegoats for the Moroccan people to blame rather than feel the guilt of “what ifs” of situations. Crapanzano states “It is they who command” (76), explaining that the humans do not control their fate, but rather the saints and