Preserving Morocco's Judeo-Spanish culture in the 21st century

Jewish-Hispano-Moroccan culture is rich in over five hundred years of history. It was forged, after the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1492 and 1496, by combining loyalty to a peninsular memory with the multiple contributions found or rediscovered on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar.
The ḥaketía (language of the Spanish-speaking Jews of northern Morocco and the Oran region) is a reflection of this; from a foundation of medieval Spanish and Hebrew, it has been enriched by Portuguese, much Arabic, Tamazight, modern Spanish and a few words of English. It's a language that is "ineffable as well as unknown", according to the Tangier writer Ángel Vázquez (1976), but has remained predominantly oral.
The mass departure of Moroccan Jews from their homeland led to the emergence of the Moroccan Jewish community. The mass departure of Jews from Morocco in the mid-twentieth century and their dispersal around the world (Canada, USA, Venezuela, Israel, Spain, France, etc.) had a paradoxical effect: it greatly weakened this culture and its language, but at the same time provoked an awareness of its long-depreciated value in a colonial context.

As a result, it enjoyed a surge of interest in this new diaspora; numerous initiatives were able to see the light of day from the late 1970s onwards, such as the creation of associations, community events, the production of shows, literary texts and scientific studies, notably in Canada and Venezuela, Spain, France, Israel and Morocco. Since the beginning of the 21st century, we have witnessed an intensification of actions to safeguard its extremely threatened tangible and intangible heritage in all the countries of its diaspora and in Morocco. These are often individual projects, but also the declared will of the highest authorities in countries such as Morocco, Spain and Israel. Among the most notable recent achievements is the opening of the Beit Yehouda Museum in Tangier (2022).
Given the extreme fragility of this language and its culture, we are aware that we are living in a moment of rapid transition between the transmission of memory and heritage.
Our symposium aims to bring together all the players and stakeholders involved in the preservation of the language and its culture. Our symposium aims to bring together those involved in, and observers of, initiatives to preserve the Spanish-speaking Jewish culture of northern Morocco today, in order to question this historical impetus and make it visible.
We will address aspects relating to the heritage of the Spanish-speaking Jewish culture of northern Morocco. We will address aspects concerning tangible (places, objects) and intangible (language, literary and cinematographic representations, historical narratives) heritage, as well as the social, confessional and political aspects of this issue.

Languages: French, Spanish, English, ḥaketía.