Narration in Moroccan Talk Shows

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to analyze the narrative structure of the stories of women subjected to violence. Specifically, we will analyze the stories narrated by these women in a Moroccan TV talk show called “Qesset Ennass” (The story of people). The framework of Critical Discourse Analysis will be adopted in order to understand the elements of discourse being articulated in a Moroccan context. We have mapped the stories onto a six part structure of narrative, which has been an effective tool in locating the way in which the women establish cognitive scripts related to the necessity to take action to make sure that the nasty situations they live in would change. The six parts structure of narrative consists of the abstract, the orientation, the complication, the evaluation, the resolution and the coda. Our purpose within this framework is to scrutinize the structure of the Moroccan discourse about the violence committed against women so as to understand how narration plays a pivotal role in legitimizing/delegitimizing women’s discourse. Within this analysis, we will be concerned with answering questions related to the way women represent themselves, their situations, and the general Moroccan context on TV.