Untribing the (Post)-Colonial Spanish Archives: Material Records, Boundary-making and Linguistic Diversity within Northern Morocco’s Berberophones

Abstract

This paper analyses the linguistic diversity among the Berberophones in northern Morocco in the period of the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco (1912–1956). To do this, I focus on the documentary materials kept in digital archives, which allow us to go deeper into the knowledge of how Spaniards may have shown interest in Berberophony. In particular, I centre my analysis on the recognition of linguistic diversity and on the process of recognising linguistic borders enacted in the colonial era. I add some reflections on the persistence of colonial discourses in the postcolonial era.