SACRIFICE OF BLACK COWS

An acclaimed Moroccan novel about resisting colonialism and environmental destruction

An oasis community in Morocco hopes to stop a devastating drought by sacrificing black cows to satisfy the spirits. But the wise elder Bassou secretly plans a different solution: to sabotage the motorized pumps that have lowered the water table and nearly destroyed the subsistence farming and herding that support the local way of life. The young newlywed Yidir agrees to help him and eventually becomes a part of the broader fight for Moroccan independence from French colonial rule.

Portraying an indigenous community undergoing radical change, The Sacrifice of Black Cows reflects on notions of modernity and tradition, science and spirituality, free will and fate, and considers the moral obligations of individuals and community. First published in French in 1992, the novel received international acclaim and is regarded as the single best work about Amazigh culture in southeastern Morocco. It was adapted into the award-winning film Atash (Thirst) by the Moroccan director Saâd Chraïbi in 2000. Here, it is presented in a riveting new translation by Paul A. Silverstein.

Moha Layid (1945–96) was a novelist, military officer, and legal scholar. Born in the Gardmit qsar near Tinejdad in southeastern Morocco, Layid left home at seventeen and became a schoolteacher in Tetouan. Later he became a decorated military officer in the Moroccan Royal Guard and Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie, and he served in the cabinet of King Mohammed VI when he was crown prince. Layid received advanced degrees in military law from the Université Mohammed V de Rabat and the Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas and was named a chevalier of the Order of the Throne by King Hassan II in 1989.