Three Moroccans in Georgetown University Symposium on Arab Novel

Three Moroccan writers participated in a symposium on the Arab Novel: visions of social reality, sponsored by the Arab contemporary studies center of the Georgetown University.

Ahmed Taoufiq, Mubarek Rabii and Ahmed El Madini, all of them university professors and novel writers, participated in the three-day symposium that was meant to inform westerners on Arab culture and civilization and to straighten up stereotypes.

During the opening session Friday, participants criticized orientalist writers who circulated negative images on Arabs in a bid to maintain the supremacy of the west and at the same time blamed Arab intellectuals for the poor efforts made to improve these images.

Director of the center, Ms Barbara Freyer Stowasser, expressed thanks to all those who contributed to the organization of the symposium, including Moroccan minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, Mohamed Benaissa, and the Arab League, and said the event is an opportunity for Americans to better know Arab culture and literature.