The informal sector in a colonial regime: The Jewish economy of the lower classes in Casablanca between the two world wars

The subject of this article is the economic and cultural history of the impoverished Jews of Casablanca between the two world wars. The case study of the lower classes of Casablanca Jewry is based on the informal sector theory in third world countries and includes two focal points: employment (Jewish craftsmen, hawkers, manual labourers, beggars and prostitutes) and accommodation (the residential neighbourhood and its physical and cultural characteristics). The discussion on the ways in which the poor workers were organised in the labour market and in the housing market allows for a critical examination of the basic assumptions in Jewish historiography and the raising of alternative explanations regarding the issue of their status, cooperation, and degree of participation in the urban life of Casablanca in two spheres: the (new) European city and the (old) indigenous town.