al-Riḥlah al-sifāriyyah in Marocco. Il viaggio in Europa del kātib Idrīs al-Ǧu‘aydī (1876)

In the nineteenth century, the genre of the riḥlah sifāriyyah gained considerable momentum in Morocco, as it represented an important source of knowledge of the European world for the Moroccans. However, it also contributed to the diffusion of stereotypes by authors who, strongly influenced by their traditional conceptual background, looked at the European reality through a conservative perspective and in clear contrast to it. Idrīs al-Ǧu‘aydī left for Europe in 1876 as kātib with the diplomatic mission led by the Ambassador Muḥammad al-Zubaydī. He described this journey in his riḥlah titled Itḥāf al-Aḫyār bi-Ġarā’ib al-Aḫbār (The Precious Gift of Prodigious News [made] to the Most Eminent People), in which he adopts – both for his personal inclination and for his cultural formation – a different perspective. al-Ǧu‘aydī travelled in the “new European world”, being receptive to new places and emotions provoked by meeting people, and showing that he wanted to look at the European world with realism, beyond the disorientation that sometimes he felt in front of “difference”.