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

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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]

He died in 1949 in Madrid.[4]

Juan Bautista Vilar [es] has described him as "probably the most relevant Spanish rifeñista from the 20th century".[7]

Works

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  • La vivienda rifeña: ensayo de característica e interpretación con ilustraciones del autor (1930)
  • El Rif. La ley rifeña: los cánones rifeños comentados (1939).

References

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Citations
  1. ^ a b Bravo Nieto 1991, p. 265.
  2. ^ a b Villanova & Urteaga 2009, p. 446.
  3. ^ Iglesias Amorín 2016, p. 100.
  4. ^ a b Epalza Ferrer 1996, p. 295.
  5. ^ Bravo Nieto 2004, p. 57.
  6. ^ Mateo Dieste 2007, p. 652.
  7. ^ Vilar 2009, p. 379.
Bibliography