Emilio Blanco Izaga (1892–1949) was a Spanish military comptroller, ethnographer and architect, who developed his career in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco. He published a number of ethnographic and architectural essays on the Rif region.
Biography edit
Born on 15 March 1892 in Orduña, Biscay,[1] he licentiated from the Infantry Academy in 1913.[2] He was destined to Larache, in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco in 1914.[1] A military colonial comptroller in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco from 1927 to 1945, he served as delegate for Native Affairs from 1944 to 1945.[2]
Ascribed to Africanism, according to Alfonso Iglesias Amorín, Blanco fitted better a profile in the vein of the 19th-century Spanish africanists, underpinned by a greater respect for the local population, a greater awareness of the social and cultural fabric of the Protectorate, and a preference for peaceful solutions rather than the africanomilitarismo subset embodied by the likes of Francisco Franco, José Sanjurjo, Emilio Mola, José Millán-Astray and Juan Yagüe, characterised for vying for a rapid military promotion, a lesser cultural acumen and for espousing anti-democratic views.[3]
A Berberophile, he was weary of the Arab and French influences on the Berbers,[4] rejecting both Western and Arab influences in the architecture of the region. Striving towards finding an ideal style from the Riffians, he projected a number of small buildings in the protectorate based on a mashup of ksar from Southern Morocco, Neo-Pharaonic egyptian architecture and Pre-Columbian models.[5]
A keen researcher of the Riffian customary law, he praised the perks of keeping the local assemblies in force, opposed to the influence dictated by the Makhzen; he got to the point of stating "what is ridiculous (on the Part of the Spanish colonial administration) is not having protected the Rif from Sharia contamination".[6]
Juan Bautista Vilar has described him as "probably the most relevant Spanish rifeñista from the 20th century".[7]
Works edit
- La vivienda rifeña: ensayo de característica e interpretación con ilustraciones del autor (1930)
- El Rif. La ley rifeña: los cánones rifeños comentados (1939).
References edit
- Citations
- ^ a b Bravo Nieto 1991, p. 265.
- ^ a b Villanova & Urteaga 2009, p. 446.
- ^ Iglesias Amorín 2016, p. 100.
- ^ a b Epalza Ferrer 1996, p. 295.
- ^ Bravo Nieto 2004, p. 57.
- ^ Mateo Dieste 2007, p. 652.
- ^ Vilar 2009, p. 379.
- Bibliography
- Bravo Nieto, Antonio (1991). "Europeísmo y africanismo: dos ejemplos de arquitectura española del siglo XX en Marruecos" (PDF). Boletín de Arte (12): 255–278. ISSN 0211-8483. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-26.
- Bravo Nieto, Antonio (2004). "España y Marruecos en la primera mitad del siglo XX: arquitectura y urbanismo en un ámbito colonial". Illes I Imperis (7). Barcelona: Universitat Pompeu Fabra: 45–62. ISSN 1575-0698.
- Epalza Ferrer, Mikel de [in Spanish] (1996). "96-1339 Hart, David Montgomery: Emilio Blanco Izaga: coronel en el Rif. Una selección de su obra, publicada e inédita, sobre la estructura sociopolítica de los rifeños del norte de Marruecos.-Estudios introductorios y notas de...-Fundación Municipal Sociocultural (La Biblioteca de Melilla, 9).- Melilla, 1995.- 471 p. (21,5 x 14,5)". Índice Histórico Español. 34 (105). Publicacions de la Universitat de Barcelona: 295. ISSN 0537-3522.
- Iglesias Amorín, Alfonso (2016). "La cultura africanista en el Ejército español (1909-1975)" (PDF). Pasado y Memoria. Revista de Historia Contemporánea (15). Alicante: Universidad de Alicante: 103.
- Mateo Dieste, Josep Lluís (2007). "El interventor y el caíd. La política colonial española frente a la justicia marroquí durante el protectorado de Marruecos (1912-1956)". Hispania. 68 (226). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas: 643–670. doi:10.3989/hispania.2007.v67.i226.56. ISSN 0018-2141.
- Vilar, Juan Bautista (2009). "09-1044 Moga Romero, Vicente: El Rif de Emilio Blanco Izaga. Trayectoria militar, arquitectónica y etnográfica en el Protectorado de España en Marruecos.- Prólogo de Agustín Blanco Moro.- UNED, Melilla. Instituto de las Culturas (Melilla). Ediciones Bellaterra.- MelillaBarcelona, 2009.- 606 p. (29,5 x 24,5)". Índice Histórico Español. 47 (124). Barcelona: Publicacions de la Universitat de Barcelona: 379. ISSN 0537-3522.
- Villanova, José Luis; Urteaga, Luis (2009). "Jesús Jiménez Ortoneda, interventor militar en el Rif (1911-1936)" (PDF). Hispania. Revista Española de Historia. 69 (232). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas: 423–448. doi:10.3989/hispania.2009.v69.i232.110. ISSN 0018-2141.