Networks of the Sacred in the Atlas: Igudar and Zawaya, Intercessory Repositories of pre-Saharan Morocco

Abstract

How does the collective granary (agadir) of the Atlas survive “modernity” when everywhere else in the Maghreb it has died out? Years of research in the Atlas (in 2000–2019, identifying 300 active, disused or ruined granaries) support the notion of there being a wider community, beyond blood ties, whose identity is affirmed by the collective institution of the sacred agadir. For on fixed dates each year all the tribes with an active granary bring their offerings or gifts to the southern zawaya, on the fringes of the Sahara, and thus renew their oaths of allegiance to the great regional saints. Over the past two decades we have been able to identify more than a hundred active granaries in the Central Atlas, the High Atlas and the Anti-Atlas, and have ourselves endeavored to restore them in an attempt to ensure the survival of this emblematic resource.