Gunpowder Girls: Women and Modernity in the Moroccan Tbourida
Presented by Gwyneth Talley
Thursday, September 8, 2016
3:00-5:00pm
638 Oldfather Hall
Tbourida, also known as fantasia, is a Moroccan equestrian display that has deep roots in the centuries-old cavalry maneuver historically unique to the Maghreb region. It consists of a sorba, or group of six or more horse riders, in traditional clothes, armed with gunpowder rifles, standing in their stirrups, charging their horses approximately 300 meters before stopping in a line and simultaneously firing their rifles in the air. Until recently, men were the sole keepers of this equestrian tradition and were the only ones allowed to ride horses in Morocco. With the growing number of women participating in tbourida, there is an intersection between tradition versus modernity, gender, and human-animal relationships. How does this challenge the current male-dominated tradition? Do women change the tradition? Do they contribute to keeping the tradition alive?
Gwyneth Talley is a native of rural Nebraska, a 2013 graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and currently PhD student in the department of anthropology at the University of California–Los Angeles. She is a National Geographic Young Explorer and 2015-2016 U.S. Student Fulbright Grant recipient to Morocco, where she studied the traditional equestrian practice of the Moroccan Gunpowder Games and volunteered at the American Fondouk in Fes. Her work can be found at:
http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/30/jesus-and-muhammad-share-a-birthday-for-first-time-in-457-years/
http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/24/eid-al-adha-a-joyful-holiday-for-everyone-but-the-sheep/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07cmjtq#play