La política cultural durante el protectorado español en Marruecos: el caso del bereber

Abstract

Due to historical reasons which probably date back to the time of the Inquisition, Spain always kept a tepid and mitigated relation with the so-called Arab-Islamic world, to which the Berber reality is subordinate. The Berbers, which were nevertheless probably the majority during the conquest of al-Andalus, are perceived only as North Africans, Arabs, Moslems or more vulgarly Moros. We know certainly from some teaching attempts of berber language during the Spanish protectorate in North Morocco. However, as the cultural option of the protectorate was the arabization of the country, this experience could not exceed the objectives of a strictly military strategy. At University level, this marginalization finds its most blatant expression in the fact that, despite centuries of common history, the Spanish University has never felt the necessity to develop an specifically Berber studies curriculum. This situation is undergoing deep transformations induced by a dramatic strengthening of the Berber protest movement in North Africa, especially in Kabylia. In Spain the works of some researchers, aware of the ideological conditions that have determined the treatment of this issue, are contributing increasingly to relocate the Berber element back to its rightful place in Spanish historiography.