«They are as Spanish as the Provinces of Tarragona, Salamanca or Mágala». The Representation of the Provincialization of the Spanish African Colonies

Abstract

This text serves as an introduction to the dossier «Representations of the Provincialization of the Spanish Colonies in Africa». In this context, the historical period 1957-1975 has been identified as a period of implementation of an imperial strategy of equating the colonial status with that of the metropolitan province. This movement was similar to the approach taken by Salazar’s Portugal and initially aligned with De Gaulle’s France. This practice can be seen as a transformation of imperial practices that resisted disappearance, rather than as a means of preventing the inevitable decolonization of African territories. The dossier presented explores this context of late Spanish colonialism. It brings together research from different fields that discuss this shift in imperial rhetoric.