L’ethnographie militaire aux origines de la « politique berbère » du protectorat français au Maroc (1912-1915) by Mathieu Marly

“…For lack of extensive ethnographic surveys in this region of Morocco, officers were the first to collect and analyze available information on Berber-speaking populations with the tools, interpretative patterns, and prejudices of a military ethnography inspired by bureaux arabes and Sudanese circles. These archives of military ethnography were spaces of experimentation and uncertainty, in which officers analyzed information collected on “indigenous” populations, developed often contradictory hypotheses, and selected and forgot data, before their observations were fixed by the “Berber policy” of the French Protectorate in Morocco.This article first focuses on the prejudices that officers had toward the political legitimacy of the Maghzen, the “religious lukewarmness” of Berber populations, and the political role of the tribal framework in Morocco. …”
Get full text