Euro-African Memories: Colonial and Postcolonial Spanish Legacies in Morocco and Equatorial Guinea

Despite the fact that there were significant differences between Moroccan and Equatorial Guinean colonisation, it is clear that a series of socio-cultural, linguistic and evangelising practices of Spanish colonialism did leave an imprint on these two countries as did other European colonial experiences. First of all, we know for a fact that socio-cultural policies created two separate legal frameworks (one for colonists and one for the autochthonous population), but we do not know exactly how most of the everyday conflicts and tensions that used to arise between the two groups were solved. Second, other practices that were carried out as part of the colonists' hispanicisation language policies lingered in Morocco and took root in Equatorial Guinea, eventually leading to unequal management in both territories. In Morocco, this lack of equality allowed for the development of Amazigh and Arabic languages, while the Guinean case was very different: there was a huge wave of rejection tow... Read more

Despite the fact that there were significant differences between Moroccan and Equatorial Guinean colonisation, it is clear that a series of socio-cultural, linguistic and evangelising practices of Spanish colonialism did leave an imprint on these two countries as did other European colonial experiences. First of all, we know for a fact that socio-cultural policies created two separate legal frameworks (one for colonists and one for the autochthonous population), but we do not know exactly how most of the everyday conflicts and tensions that used to arise between the two groups were solved. Second, other practices that were carried out as part of the colonists' hispanicisation language policies lingered in Morocco and took root in Equatorial Guinea, eventually leading to unequal management in both territories. In Morocco, this lack of equality allowed for the development of Amazigh and Arabic languages, while the Guinean case was very different: there was a huge wave of rejection towards vernacular languages, which in the end also had an impact on the process to hispanicise the country's identity. Third, in Equatorial Guinea some colonial practices were based upon evangelising policies designed to weaken social and ethnic cohesion, for example by transforming family structures. We firmly believe in the importance of conducting deeper research on these three areas in order to know the details and contradictions of colonial and inter-cultural coexistence, which are also especially relevant due to their impact on Moroccan and Equatorial Guinean populations in the post-colonist era. The goal of this conference aims at gathering specific data on the reality and consequences of Spanish meddling in different aspects of life, in order to understand how Spanish colonists, Moroccans and Equatorial Guineans were, and clarify the most common social dynamics governing the relationships between colonists and the autochthonous population, since these two aspects are key to envisage the imprint of the aftermentioned practices in post-colonial states. Direction: Yolanda Aixelà-Cabré (IMF-CSIC) and Araceli González Vázquez (IMF-CSIC) External Coordinators: Youssef Akmir (UIZ) and Khadija Karzazi (UH2C) Applicants are requested to send an abstract of 1000-1200 words in Basque, Catalan, English, French, Galician or Spanish, and a short bio of 100 words to hispanicafricanmemories@gmail.com, no later than December 4th, 2017. We recommend that participants have strong knowledge of English for presentations and debates. Selected papers will be comunicated 21th December, 2017. The final programne will be announced in January 2018. Inscription is free. No fee is required. Participants are responsible for their expenses and travel costs. Organizing Committee: Yolanda Aixelà-Cabré, IMF-CSIC (Barcelona) Youssef Akmir, Université Ibn Zohr (Agadir) Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel, Pen Català Nuria Fernández-Moreno, UNED (Madrid) Axel Fleisch, University of Helsinki Catalina Iliescu, Universidad de Alicante Khadija Karzazi, Université Hassan II Casablanca- Mohammedia Jordi Moreras, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona) Araceli González-Vázquez, IMF CSIC (Barcelona) Ana Lúcia Sá, ISCTE-IUL (Lisboa) Juan Manuel Santana, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Remei Sipi, E’Waiso Ipola – Editorial Mey (Barcelona) Conference organised by: R+D Project “African Memories: Reconstructing Spanish Colonial Practices and their Imprint in Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. Towards a Spanish-African Cultural Heritage” (HAR2015-63626-P, 2016-2018, MINECO/FEDER, UE).