Emily Keene
{{Infobox person
| name = Emily Keene
| image = Emily Shareefa of Wazan in 1910.png
| alt =
| caption = Keene in 1910
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date text|1849}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death year and age|1944|1849}}
| death_place = Tangier, Morocco
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Writer
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works = My Life Story
| spouse = {{marriage|Sharif of Ouzzane|1873||reason=divorced}}
| children = 2
}}
Emily Keene, Cherifa of Wazan or Ouzzane of Morocco (1849–1944) was a British expatriate, adventurer and travelogue.{{Cite journal|last=Chaouch|first=Khalid|date=2013|title=When East Meets West in Emily Keene's My Life Story (1911)|journal=Middle Ground: Journal of Literary and Cultural Encounters|volume=5|pages=277–296}} She went to Morocco in 1871 as a governess and fell in love with the Sharif of Ouzzane, a powerful regional governor in Morocco. She married the Sharif of Ouzzane in 1873 even though there was strong opposition from both families.{{Cite book|title=My Life Story|last=Keene|first=Emily|publisher=Edward Arnold|year=1912|location=London|pages=1}} This was one of the first widely known cases of interracial marriage between a British expatriate and a Moroccan. She is known for bringing vaccination to the region.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58976869|title=Tale of Moroccan Romance|date=1940-01-21|work=Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954)|access-date=2019-04-22|pages=2}}
She had two sons, one of whom succeeded his father as the Sharif of Ouzzane. She eventually divorced the Sharif after finding out about an extramarital affair. The Sharif died in 1891.{{Cite web|url=https://pippasperegrinations.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/finding-emily-keene-shareefa-of-wazzan-tangier-morocco/|title=Finding Emily Keene, Shareefa of Wazzan: Tangier, Morocco.|last=pippabiker|date=2013-05-18|website=Pippa's Peregrinations|language=en|access-date=2019-04-22}}{{Better source needed|date=July 2023}} Keene's son Moulay Ali ben Abdeslam then became Sharif of the region. He served as an officer in the French Army.
She was a prolific writer and notetaker of her daily life, which was collected and published under the title My Life Story, published in 1912.
She died in 1944 in Tangier.{{Cite book|title=The British Bride of Tangier|last=Bekkaoui|first=Khalid|publisher=Moroccan Cultural Studies Centre|year=2011}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{commons category-inline}}
- [https://archive.org/details/mylifestory00wazarich/page/n8 My Life Story (1912)], accessible online
- [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1873p1v2/d2 The wedding of Miss Emily Keene] described in a January 22, 1873 letter from Felix. A. Mathews, US Consul in Tangiers, to Hamilton Fish, US Secretary of State.
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Category:British expatriates in Morocco
Category:19th-century British writers
Category:19th-century British women writers
Category:19th-century British memoirists