Summary: | Marrakesh’s Jemaa El Fna square is a symbol which represents the “Ochre City” as well as Morocco’s cultural identity. Its activities, which are proclaimed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity, turn the square into one of the most visited sites for domestic and foreign tourists in the country. After conducting observations and interviews for several months, with the aim of following the tourists on their experience of the square, we shall present a socio-anthropological analysis of the cultural and tourist activities of this particular space, which we shall consider as a syncretic environment. It will be argued that it is necessary to take into account the dialogical relationships which bring together such elements as authenticity and its staging in an interaction which goes beyond a mere contradictory opposition.
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