Urban Restructuring, Power and Capitalism in the Tourist City

Rezensionen / Stimmen

"Urban Restructuring, Power and Capitalism in the Tourist City: Contested Terrains of Marrakesh" is an important addition to both the literatures on tourism and on Islamic cities. It sheds light on the processes of branding Marrakesh which made it into a world destination. The book provides a serious assessment of the roles played by the state, the NGOs and the private sector in the heritage industry. It raises interesting questions about the politics of patrimony and the role of urban governance which have significance beyond Morocco.

Nezar AlSayyad, University of California, Berkeley

This is a brilliant analysis of the conflicting agendas through which a city becomes a global commodity. The production of Marrakech as a major touristic destination rests upon an assemblage of conflicting interventions, technologies, knowledges, and agents, including governmental officials, NGOs, private investors, and international gentrifiers. The book takes us to a fascinating journey that starts at colonial land laws and urban planning, and ends with the exploration of people's subjectivities and their unconventional modes of resistance to the neoliberal commodification and governance of their city. This is a must read for anyone interested in the situated processes through which urban space is made, felt, lived, governed and consumed. Scholars interested in global urban studies, neoliberalism, postcoloniality, political authoritarianism, governance, and resistance will find this study extremely insightful.

Zakia Salime, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

This is a fascinating study about a city in rapid transformation. Critically engaged and well-documented. Khalid Madhi convincingly exposes the interrelation between money, power and resistance in the remaking of Marrakesh. It reveals the many frictions behind the facade of a "world class destination" where traditi