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ABOUT INLAC

The International Institute for Languages and Cultures (INLAC) aims to foster dialogue between cultures and peoples, especially between the Islamic world and the West. The global unrest and the tragic events of September 11, 2001 have highlighted the urgency of promoting communication between civilizations and societies, especially the youth of the Islamic World and the United States. INLAC was founded as a structured forum for such a communication through both academic and cultural channels.

INLAC is a private non-profit institute which is accredited by the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education. It welcomes students from top International, American and European universities and offers a combination of courses, seminars and homestay in a unique environment. Its facilities include a modern library, seminar and screening rooms, and a computer language lab, as well as offices for program directors, faculty, and staff.

INLAC is located in the twelve-centuries old Medina of Fez which boasts Al-Qarawiyyin University, the oldest university in the Islamic world. As such, the Institute combines the quality of courses with the essence of the place. Alongside the credit courses, the Institute brings together academics, theologians, politicians, and social activists to discuss the urgent issues of our time. These range from new divinities, inter-religious, and inter-cultural dialogue to conflict resolution, youth concerns, development, human rights, social justice and much more. INLAC is proud to be a beacon of cross-cultural understanding that fits very well with what Fez, an ancestral Islamic city, stands for. The Institute does not only teach students but it seeks to break ignorance and taboo through immersing them in the insights and wisdom of the great 14th century scholars like Maimonides, Aurillac, and Ibn Khaldun who, although coming from different horizons and religions, inhabited Fez and worked together. INLAC adopts an integrational strategy whereby courses, seminars, volunteer work, and university auditioning are combined. Students are therefore expected to participate actively in the learning experience. INLAC organizes research workshops, luncheon seminars, and other forums to encourage new perspectives on the Middle East and North Africa. The events showcase new research by both established and younger scholars and foster discussion of current events and policy issues relating to the region.

MOHA ENNAJI

is Senior Professor of Linguistics and Cultural Studies. He was head of the English Department at the University of Fez, Morocco, and the director of Arab Studies at Rutgers University. Moha Ennaji has taught various courses to American students from Rutgers University, Purdue University, William and Mary University, Dartmouth College . and others. He has published extensively on language, gender, and cultural studies with a focus on North Africa Moha Ennaji has taught various courses to American students from Rutgers University, Purdue University, William and Mary University, Dartmouth College,

and others. He has published extensively on language, gender, and cultural studies with a focus on North Africa. His most recent publications include Women Writing North Africa, co-authored with F Sadiqi et al (2009), Migration and Gender in Morocco, co-authored with Fatima Sadiqi and published by the Red Sea Press, USA in 2008; Multilingualism, Cultural Identity, and Education in Morocco (2005, Springer, New York), A Grammar of Moroccan Arabic (2004, University of Fez publication). He is the editor of Language and Gender in the Mediterranean Region (2008 IJSL Issue, Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin). Dr. Ennaji has also published numerous articles in international journals. He was a Fulbright visiting scholar at the Universities of Arizona, Washington, and Pennsylvania. He is the President of the South North Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Migration Studies and the Director of the international journal « Languages and Linguistics » since 1998. He is also the Director of the Festival of Amazigh Culture at Fez since 2005. He is currently working on a book about Muslim migrants in Europe and on Amazigh dictionary.

FATIMA SADIQI

is a former Fulbright Scholar and recipient of a Harvard Fellowship. She is Senior Professor of Linguistics and Gender Studies at the University of Fez and Founding Director of the Isis Centre for Women and Development. She is also a UN Gender Expert and an active member of numerous international bodies and projects that deal with language, women, and gender issues. From 2007 to 2009, she served as Director General of the Fez Festival of Sacred Music.Fatima Sadiqi has taught courses to American students from Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Rutgers University, University of Wisconson

Mansfield University, and others. She has written extensively on Moroccan languages and Moroccan women’s issues. She is the author of Women, Gender, and Language in Morocco (Brill, 2003), Grammaire du Berbére (L’Harmattan, 1997), Images of Women in Abdullah Bashrahil’s Poetry (The Beirut Institute: 2004). She edited and co-edited a number of volumes, among which Migration and Gender in Morocco (with Moha Ennaji, Red Sea Press: 2008). She co-edited a volume with Moha Ennaji on Women in the Middle East and North Africa: Agents of Change which has been published by Routledge in October 2010. Her other co-edited volume with Ennaji on Gender and Violence in the Middle East is under press and will be published by Routledge in 2011. Fatima Sadiqi is currently working on Moroccan women’s empowerment from a beyond Islam perspective.