Headed to Chauen; re-routed into politics

As part of my effort to meet Moroccan veterans of the Spanish Civil War, I set up an appointment a couple weeks ago with the representative of the Association Nationale des Anciens Combattants (ANAC) in the beautiful blue northern town of Chauen. Little did I know that my interaction with him would end up being a lesson on the Moroccan political environment.

Tracing the New Reconquista: Religious Rhetoric in Morocco During the Spanish Civil War (working paper)

Once upon a time, many years ago, the kingdom of Spain suffered a terrible invasion by hordes of barbaric adherents to the nascent Islamic religion. These infidels, swarming up from North Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar, managed to penetrate and subdue the land as far north as the Pyrenees, stopped only by the heroic efforts of a small group of brave-hearted Christians. With their courage, the reconquista was born, that sacred and patriotic struggle to wrest the Spanish realm back from the heathen Muslims, fully realized with the defeat of Granada in 1492 at the hands of the good Catholic rulers, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.