The concept of modernity in Moroccan press

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2012 in the subject Cultural Studies - Middle Eastern Studies, grade: B, University of Southern Denmark (Middle East Studies), course: Culture and Religion in Middle East, language: English, abstract: The concept of modernity and democracy has taken up many discussions in the Arab World. A constant feature is the debate as to whether or not the Arab or Islamic World is compatible with the idea of modernity, and understanding this idea from a Western perspective, in relation to a set of abstract values such as liberty or democracy. The aim of this paper is mainly to attempt an analysis of the concept of modernity through the use of the French press in Morocco, concretely three newspapers: the 'independents' Maroc-Hebdo, and ' L´economiste' and the 'officialist' Le Matin du Sahara et du Magheb, The press is not just an interesting media due to the value it holds in providing information on world events, but also due to the fact that it reflects the opinions and points of view of the person, or the group behind the writing; therefore providing an interesting mirror of the society. The press has been chosen as a source in order to examine the Islamic or Arab vision of modernity. The discussion about the treatment of the concept 'Modernity' in the Moroccan press is addressed through the evaluation of several questions: The paper will mainly emphasize the concept of modernity; first talking about the general considerations of the concept in an abstract sense, then focusing on the main topics of discussion, and at last evaluating the paper of tradition in the modernizing initiative, distinguishing two different discourses. This is a work basically descriptive, due to the characteristic of the sources ( primary) which are not opportune for the interpretation. The work will intercalate the text with many quotes, referring to the discussed topic. This work examines the existence of different perspectives on the same topic, through the treatment of the news and the language used. The paper will analyze different news between the years 2011 and 2012. It is mainly based in primary sources, however some secondary sources were also used as a theoretical framework.