Book
Emilio Blanco Izaga: colonel in the Rif
Human Relations Area Files • New Haven, Conn. • Published In 1975 • Pages: 3, 3, 418 leaves
By: Blanco Izaga, Emilio, Hart, David M..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The information, both published and unpublished, contained in this source is the result of Blanco's twenty years of administrative experience among the Rif. The introduction, written by Hart, gives a biographical sketch of Blanco, a history of colonial Morocco, and also information on the Aith Waryaghar tribe, the tribe about which most of this source is written. The second part of this work is Hart's translation of Blanco's book, La Ley Rifena, which was written when Blanco was the regional administrator of the Rif, and then published in 1939. This book was originally intended to have been the second part of a two-volume study of Rifian customary law. The first part of this proposed treatise on Rifian law and jural procedure was never published by Blanco. It is presented here for the first time in print, and constitutes the first part of this source. Most of the information is concerned with the Aigh Waryaghar tribe: its sociopolitical organization; law; and the tradition of the local communities. One section, however, contains notes on the Igzinnagyen tribe of the Rif (pp. 139-152), and a law of the Aith Siddat tribe (Senhaja MX4) is discussed on pp. 329-336. Pages 45-95 (excluding pp. 64-64d) are a duplicate of 3: Hart and, therefore, these pages have not been marked. See 3: Hart in the MX3 Rif file for this information. Hart has supplied many footnotes which are quite useful, not only because of the additional information they contain, but also because of their critical nature, which serves to place Blanco's remarks in proper perspective. Hart criticizes Blanco for his many factual errors in the notes on the Rif as well as his irresponsible statements and value judgments. It is for these reasons that Hart has called Blanco an amateur ethnologist. Another of Hart's criticisms of Blanco is concerned not with the content of the work but with the way in which the author has presented the information. Anyone who reads this source must agree with Hart that Blanco was quite adept in constructing 'tortuously meandering sentences.' (p. 194 f.n.). In all fairness, however, it must be noted that not all of Hart's comments about Blanco were negative. Hart recognized the contributions that Blanco made to an understanding of the Rif. For example, Hart states that, 'The concept of the relative autonomy or independence of the tribal clan...is, as far as we know, an original contribution by Blanco to the overall study of Berber social structure.' (p. 156, f.n. 13). Also, Hart thinks that one of Blanco's most significant contributions was his recognition of the Rif concept of 'turn' (p. 161, f.n. 43), 'doing things in or by turn' (p. 102). Another recognized contribution, or rather 'original discovery,' was that of the staggered irrigation rotation (p. 411, f.n. 140). Blanco has used many Arabic and Rif terms without always stating which ones were Arabic and which were Rif. A glossary has been prepared for this source and will be found in Category 104. Where possible, it has been indicated whether a word in the glossary in Arabic or Rif. It should also be noted that there are spelling or typographical errors, and misused words (Hart usually points these out) are not rare. With imagination, however, the reader should not have difficulty discovering their true meaning.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Cultural identity and pride
- Community structure
- Community councils
- Lineages
- Inter-community relations
- Sanctions
- Congregations
- Functional and adaptational interpretations
- Territorial hierarchy
- Clans
- Tribe and nation
- External relations
- Water supply
- Ethnosociology
- Educational theory and methods
- Status, role, and prestige
- Exploitation
- Ingroup antagonisms
- Mourning
- Occupational specialization
- Legal norms
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Berbers of Morocco
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Northern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Government Official
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Heather Fellows ; John Beierle ; 1975-1976
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1914-1945
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1900-1975
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Rif, Morocco
- NotesAdditional notes
- Emilio Blanco Izaga ; translated and with an introduction by David Montgomery Hart
- Footnotes appearing the body of the text will be found at the end of each major section of the source (see Table of Contents) in Category 116.
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Rif (Morocco)