Geertz’s methodology, combining participant observation, interviews, archives, and cartography, provides a dense and precise description of the suq, which he presents as a model of a “bazaar economy” applicable to other traditional markets. However, some critics point out that this morphological approach tends to freeze social categories and

This comparative approach makes it possible to question Western analytical categories without falling into exoticism or Orientalism. The authors reveal the sophistication of Moroccan cultural systems while making them intelligible to an international academic audience. The most salient anthropological aspect is the demonstration that intercultural

The book develops an anthropological approach in which symbols, rituals, and cultural representations are not mere social embellishments but constitute the very structures that organize society. The authors show how Moroccan symbolic systems—religious, economic, and legal—work together to create a coherent social order. The analysis reveals in

The book makes lasting theoretical contributions to several fields of anthropology. In economic anthropology, it deconstructs Western economic models to propose a culturally situated understanding of traditional economies, theorizing the mechanisms of imperfect information economies in non-Western contexts. In symbolic anthropology, it develops an

The Sefrou suq finally offered an ideal terrain for experimenting with collaborative ethnography: Geertz, his wife Hildred, and Lawrence Rosen combined their expertise to simultaneously observe different aspects of the suq: legal practices, economic interactions, and forms of moral regulation. This multi-voiced approach enriches the “thick descri