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Exile and Nation in Modern Spain (Level 5)

Overview

Credit value: 30 credits at Level 5

Convenor and tutor: Professor Mari Paz Balibrea

Assessment: a 2000-word essay (40%) and two-hour in-class test (60%)

Module description

In this module we reflect on the history of forced expulsion from the nation and changes to this phenomenon from the twentieth century. Focusing on the cultural outputs of those expelled, we will explore different experiences of exile and the ways in which they are defined by the absent nation, but also by new encounters facilitated by exile. On the other hand, we will pay attention to cultural discourses of the Spanish state at different key historical moments and how they justify forced expulsion, either individual or massive.

Themes of history, memory and reparation will recur as we focus on different historical moments (the war of independence and Fernando VII absolutist monarchy in the early nineteenth century; Francoism and democracy in the twentieth century; the Catalan movement for independence in the early twenty-first century) and case studies (José María Blanco White, Mariano José de Larra, Miguel de Unamuno, María Zambrano, Max Aub and Luis Cernuda, amongst others).

Indicative syllabus

  • Early manifestations of political expulsion of intellectuals in modern Spain in the nineteenth century: José María Blanco White, Mariano José de Larra, the journal Ocios de españoles emigrados
  • The view from inside: Fernando VII and absolutist Spain
  • Exile in the early twentieth century: Miguel de Unamuno
  • The view from inside: the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera
  • Republican exile after the Spanish Civil War: Max Aub, María Zambrano, Luis Cernuda, Jorge Semprún
  • The view from inside: dictatorial and democratic Spain, plus Spain in the geopolitical context of the Cold War
  • The Catalan procés of 2017 and the expulsion of Catalan independentist politicians and intellectuals

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • understand the relation between exile and nation in the context of modern Spain at a practical level from the nineteenth century to the present, covering the absolutist, dictatorial and democratic periods as well as the different exile communities and experiences
  • articulate in basic terms the dominant themes in social, political and cultural discourses confronting nation and exile in modern Spain such as history, national and personal memory, trauma, damage, justice and restitution
  • analyse specific cultural objects produced under conditions of exile in their socio-political contexts and in relation to the Spanish state, backed by secondary sources provided in class and your own essay research
  • explore a number of case studies in depth, backed by secondary sources and your own research
  • articulate comparisons, pointing to similarities and differences between the different case studies/cultural objects studied, verbally and in writing.