“Dhar Obarran”: A Translation and Postcolonial Reading of a Rifi Poem
by
Abstract
This study translates and analyses Dhar Obarran from a postcolonial perspective. The poem was composed and sung during the Moroccan Rif War (1921-1926), fought by Spain and later France against the Rifis in northern Morocco. Dhar Obarran, a mountain in that region, witnessed one of the most remarkable battles of the conflict. It ended with the victory of the Rifis, leading to the expulsion of Spanish colonisers. Alongside translating from Tarifit into English, the paper discusses the poem’s binarism through a postcolonial lens, focusing on the interplay of life and death as a means of expressing resistance to oppression. It also highlights the roles of nature and religion in shaping this vision, showing how Rifis turned to faith as a final refuge to renew their courage, belief, and hope.
Keywords
Rif Spaniards Dhar Obarran colonialism binarism life death religion nature
Published in
Licensing Information
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non–Commercial No Derivatives License which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of the Publisher must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
