Paper short abstract:

Recent historical research reports that Spanish military forces used chemical weapons in the Rif (1921-27). The oral tradition had incorporated such violence and its memories. Several testimonies link the high prevalence of cancer in the region to the effects of these chemical gases.

Paper long abstract:

Recent historical research reports that Spanish military forces frequently used chemical weapons during their colonial invasions in the Rif (1921-27). The oral tradition had incorporated and perpetuated such violence and its memories. Several testimonies link the high prevalence of different types of cancer in the region to the effects of these chemical gases. It is with the aim of understanding these processes that the purpose of this talk is to analyze the embodiment of colonial chemical violence, experienced as a chronic disease, or how cancer emerged as a chronic disease or the embodiment of colonial violence? In addition, how the link has been made between cancer and chemical warfare? We will expose how this question has evolved, under its double registers or dimensions: political and social, under the prism of the work of memory. On the one hand, we will examine the actions undertaken by local social actors for recognition, justice and reparation as well as the care of the sick. On the other hand, we will analyze how cancer is not only a social demand, but also a political object, a matter of State or States putting into account competing memories.