The history of the Moroccan troops in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) is the story of an encounter between two culturally and ethnically different people, and the attempts by both sides, Moroccan and Spanish, to take control of this contact. This book shows to what extent colonials could participate in negotiating limits and taboos rather than being only on the receiving end of them. The examination of this encounter, in its military, religious, as well as sexual aspects, sheds new light on colonial relations, and on how unique or typical the Spanish colonial case is in comparison to other European ones.

Ali Al Tuma is a JSPS fellow at the United Nations University in Tokyo, and was a faculty member at Leiden University.