At the solemn welcoming and investiture ceremony, presided over by Rahma Bourqia, member of the Academy, and attended by the Advisor to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, André Azoulay, along with eminent figures from the fields of culture and politics, the two new resident members, Mohammed Noureddine Affaya and Mohammed Achaari, were awarded the Academy's official insignia. Both delivered introductory speeches and presentations in their areas of expertise.
In his inaugural lecture, Affaya addressed a challenging topic that intertwines the redefinition of values with regard to women in a 'complex society'—one that has undergone significant transformations in its dynamics, relationships, cities, culture, and politics—with questions about the possibilities of offering an adequate understanding of these changes.
Affaya explored the concept of values in relation to terms commonly used by academics and researchers, often thought to express the same meaning or carry the same connotation.
In a parallel lecture, Achaari reflected on his relationship with language as one marked by both 'acquisition and loss.' He described this as the acquisition of letters, alphabets, and sacred words, alongside the loss of a primal oral tradition that exists at the intersection of the sensual and the spiritual, between memory and imagination.
Mohamed Noureddine Affaya is a professor of modern philosophy and aesthetics at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities at Mohamed V University, Rabat. He has held various positions, including as a member of the Higher Council of Audiovisual Communication (2004-2011) and a permanent expert to the "knowledge society and information" commission of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (2011-2017).
He also served as a member of the Higher Council for Education, Training, and Scientific Research (2014-2019), editor-in-chief of the journal Basamat (1991-1995) as well as managing director of the journal Écrits philosophiques (2014-2017).
Mohammed Achaari, after studying law and attending the National School of Administration, worked in journalism, particularly in cultural journalism, where he served as editor-in-chief of several of its periodicals and supplements.
Achaari engaged political experience as well, which led him to the Lower House in 1997, then to the government of the Alternance in 1998, where he was appointed Minister of Culture, later also to the Ministry of Culture and Communication, before returning solely to the Ministry of Culture in 2002 and leaving the government in 2007.
He is the author of several books of poetry and novels, including "L'Arc et le Papillon", which won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2011.
MAP: 23 January 2025
