Against the Silence: Multiperspectivity and the Migration Phenomenon in El Motín del silencio by Mohamed Bouissef Rekab

In this article, I argue that El Motín del silencio [The Mutiny of Silence] by Mohamed Bouissef Rekab reveals multiperspectivity and a transcultural view of some of the most problematic aspects both of the migration phenomenon and changing Moroccan society. The novel emphasizes communication as the key to a durable solution to relational problems on individual and collective levels. As the title, The Mutiny of Silence, suggests, silence is challenged in private life as well as in the public space, displaying what Slavoj Žižek describes as "the obscene supplement." On a micro level, social shifts concerning women's roles, religious practices, and questions of identity are examined in the text. The macro level gives voice to political activists struggling to protect the human rights of immigrants, but romance lays bare the limits of social rearrangements within cultural and religious ideologies.