The Moroccan Association of Semiotics Studies (MASS) was founded in 2008 by a group of scholars belonging to the Universities of Fes, Meknes, Ifrane, Rabat, Agadir and Oujda. Mass has organized two congress in 2008 and 2010 and is preparing the third congress for November 2013 at the School of Arts and humanities, university of Meknes. The proceeding of the two congress edited by Mohamed Bernoussi are available.
The purpose of Mass is to make it possible for Moroccan semioticens scholars to meet and share their ideas and skills. Besides, the association aims at opening semiotics research in Morocco to the international semiotics research by inviting scholars from all over the world for a week at the university of Meknes.
Another purpose is to open Arabian semiotics research to the international research in the two perspectives. First it seeks to sensitize Arab scholars of the necessity to structure this field. Second, it aims to encourage the translation from, into Arab.
These works comprehend the presentations submitted at the first congress of “the Moroccan Association of Semiotics” organized at the Faculty of Letters of Meknes in 2008, and those submitted at the second congress, organized at the same institution in 2008.
So, the reason behind organizing the first congress was to enable Moroccan Semioticians to meet each other, on the one hand, and, to discuss various pedagogical, academic and editorial problems dealing with Semiotic Research in Morocco, on the other hand. For this main reason, participants in this conference were requested to deal with the following themes:
- Semiotic Research in Morocco: methodological problems
- AraboMuslim Semiotics
- The teaching of Semiotics at the Moroccan Universities
- Editing Semiotic researches in Morocco
Mohamed Bernoussi is professor of French literature and semiotics at the school of arts and Humanity, Moulay Ismail University. He coordinates a research team within (Moroccan Group of Semiotics). He edited a special issue of Semiotica : the realm of Signs or the Semiotic research in Morocco.
He has been a visiting professor at school of Arts and humanity of Fes, in the master entitled Mediterranean Culture since 2010. In 2011 he started to lecture at Doctorat school of High Institute of Human Sciences at Bologna University. In 2012 he gave lectures to Master students on Moroccan Culinary Culture at Palermo University. For the time being, he conducts research on the body in the Arab and Muslim Moroccan Culture as well as on Moroccan culture in its diverse and problematic aspects: Amazygh culture, Muslim, Arab and Moroccan Jew cultures.
He published The proceedings of the second moroccan congress of semiotics in 2011: On Moroccan Culture. A semiotics. He has a book under print entitled : Viator in Tabula. Culinary semiotics and traveling narratives. He has just finished a book on Moroccan Culture which encompasses several studies on the Body, the Oral Tradition, the Moroccan Culinary Culture and spirituality.
Driss Bouyahya is a PhD candidate in Political Islam and Political Communication. He holds two Master degrees: one in Applied Linguistics from Phoenix University, Arizona. The second degree is in Communication from Moulay Ismail University, Meknes morocco. His field of interest is Political Communication, Intercultural Communication, Public relations, Post-colonial theory and Cultural Studies.
He has published several papers in international journals. They are outlined as follows:
- The use of humor in EFL classes (2012)
- Teaching writing in Moroccan High schools (2011)
- Students performance in writing between the culture of navigation and the rhetoric of academic writing (2011)
- Street Harassment in Morocco: Meknes as a case study (2010)
- Public Relations practice and Internet Use in Moroccan Companies : Aicha, Meknes as a case study
His current projects are as follows. The first work is on Intercommunication within EFL classes: Conflict resolution between native teachers and Moroccan students. The second project is entitled: Islam-oriented movements’ political communication, PJD Morocco as a case study.
Some members of the Moroccan Association of Semiotics with some invited french semioticians during the second congress organized at Meknes, November 2010.
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