ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 describes the ambivalent Spanish position between including and excluding Moroccans. The Spaniards resorted to medieval history in order to claim brotherly bonds between them and Moroccans that would justify both the Spanish protectorate in Morocco and the introduction of Moroccan soldiers into the Spanish war. Spanish citizenship opportunities were provided to ‘elevate’ and include some of the Moroccans who fought for Spain. At the same time, Spanish policies sought to apply, both in the protectorate and in Spain, a sort of ‘separate but equal’ policy, whereby the different populations lived close to each other but without actually mixing, and whereby the superiority of the protectorate was maintained. In practice, the modest economic level of most of the Spanish people in Morocco that made them humble and accessible in Moroccan eyes, as wellthe exceptional war circumstances in Spain, meant that the dividing line could be crossed by many a determined individual. But, in the end, that separation was generally successfully maintained, because not only Moroccan officials and nationalists sought it, but the general population too, refusing to blur the cultural lines and to be included within the greater Spanish identity markers. To most Moroccans, accepting Spanish nationality was tantamount to conversion to Christianity and, therefore, apostasy.
