Constructing Iberia: National Traditions and the Problem(s) of a Peninsular History

Abstract

In Spain as well as in Portugal a tradition of nationalist-biased historical research and general neglect of not primarily national issues has been dominant for a very long time. This tendency, common to most European historiographies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, explains the fact that a ‘History of Iberia’, despite the evident similarities between the two peninsular nation-states, has not been established as a regional subdiscipline. The purpose of this article is to examine the specific way in which national historiographical traditions in both countries have integrated the reality of a shared geographical, historical and cultural background in their master narratives. The focus remains on the dialectics between the stabilisation of an own national history discourse on the one hand, and the recognition of supranational structures on the other hand. Considering the differing development in the process of state and nation-building itself as well as in the making of a national historiography, it is the inconsistency, and not the strength of a Spanish nation-state reference system, which has become a barrier for the creation of an Iberian ‘Geschichtsregion’. In the Portuguese case, a traditional negative attitude towards Spain has blocked the opening of transnational perspectives too but the most recent research work, especially on the field of contemporary history, seems to take account of the advantages of a regional approach.