Experiencing colonial violence from below: French and Amazigh entanglement during the conquest of Morocco. (2nd February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Campbell, Caroline
• Is Part Of: French history. Volume 32:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 532
• Page End: 553
• Publication Date: 2019-02-02
• Subjects: France -- History -- Periodicals; 944
• DOI: 10.1093/fh/cry089
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-1191

Abstract

Abstract: While much of the literature on settler colonialism, mass violence and genocide focuses on the anglophone world and is increasingly well developed, scholarly work on the role of these violent processes in France's huge empire is in its beginnings. Indeed, only in the case of Algeria are historians debating whether the brutal violence and destruction that took place during its military conquest from 1830–70 constitutes genocide, even though the French military applied similar ideas and methods throughout the empire. In Algeria and elsewhere, the military engaged in constructing hierarchies of ethno-religious difference and deploying violent tactics such as the razzia to inflict massive political and cultural destruction on indigenous communities. This article focuses on a case of twentieth-century conquest, that of Morocco, and analyses how people on the ground experienced the violence and understood its horrors.