The Spanish Mosaic

Las Dos Españas

Tension fuels the fire of creativity

Conflict defines Spanish History:

Old vs New

Tradition vs. Progress

Conservative vs. Liberal

Spain vs Anti-Spain

Modern vs Post-Modern

Spain as CastillaDefined itself:

• vis a vis Kingdoms of Leon and Navarra

• Its conflict with the southern enemy-Moors

• Golden Age of culture for Four centuries

• Quixotism- Romantic/Tragic sense of Life

“Sanity may be madness but the maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be”

Don Quixote

“Castilla a hecho España y Castilla la ha decho”

Ortega y Gasset

Hapsburg Rule- 1506-1700

• Characteristics:

Religious fanaticism

Absolutist

Rejects old institutions: Cortes, Fueros, and Municipal councils

Imperialism & Expansionism

• Effects:

Depopulation, Poverty, Idleness, & Bankruptcy

Spain XIXth Century

Social Structure:

New middle class

Organized Working Class

Political Structure

Electoral Corruption

Ineffective Administration

75% illiterate

Defining Contemporary Events

• Revolution of 1868

• 1898 Loss of Empire

• 1931 Second Republic

• 1936 Spanish Civil War

• 1975 Death of Franco – Democratic Transition

Historical National Identity

National Regeneration

Modernization through national unity

National ideological movements seeking: Autonomy, Unity, Identity in Historic Regions.

Culture as a form of struggle

Problem of Spain

Spain´s Modus Operandi

Political nationalism:

Functional and pragmatic

Loyalty towards nation

Monarchy as Centralizing force Cultural Nationalism

Emotional and Ideological

Mythical Drive