Modernising Violence and Social Change in the Spanish Sahara (1957–1975)

Bibliographic Data

ID11280946
AuthorsEnrique Bengochea Tirado (0000-0002-3101-9826, corresponding author), Francesco Correale (0000-0002-0461-4064)
Year2020
Volume44
Issue1
Pages33-54
Publication date2020-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueItinerario (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0165-1153 • E-ISSN: 2041-2827
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0165115320000042
OpenAlexW3015487311
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited20

In Spain's last colony, Western Sahara, both efforts by the colonial power to stimulate development and the negative impacts of colonisation intensified between the end of the Ifni-Sahara War (1957–58) and the Spanish withdrawal in 1975. Spanish economical and geopolitical interests triggered an important industrial and urban development of the territory. Cities such as Laayoune, Villa Cisneros, Smara, and the Bou Craa phosphate deposits were to showcase Spanish modernising colonial policies. However, the effects of war, the control of colonial frontiers, and severe droughts during the 1960s strongly affected Sahrawi society. In this context, the Spanish colonial state developed new forms of control over the Sahrawi population, which included the progressive (forced) settling of nomadic people around military posts and Spanish cities, bringing about the adoption of new economic paradigms. Not only did the Francoist government distribute subsidies, both money and goods; it furthermore implemented policies aimed at controlling the Sahrawi way of life, particularly in the areas of hygiene, education, and gender relations. The essay analyses these “carrot-and-stick” strategies at the intersection of colonial control and forced sedentarisation with regard to the implementation of a market-oriented economy in Western Sahara

Archaeology · Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Development economics · Economics · Economy · Geography · Geopolitics · Political science · Politics · Subsidy · African Studies and Geopolitics · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis · Law · Water management and technologies

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access