Iberian Studies: The Transatlantic Dimension

Abstract

The emergence of Iberian Studies as a challenge to the paradigm of Hispanism has not only forced a revision of the cultural and linguistic relations within the Iberian Peninsula, but also raised some questions about the significance of the transatlantic dimension in our field. There is no question that, both institutionally and intellectually, most programs of Spanish and Portuguese are grounded on a much touted “community of language,” and that for as long as Peninsular Hispanism, Transatlantic Studies, and Latin Americanism remain bound to the ideology of monolingualism, the close association among literatures of both sides of the Hispanic Atlantic seems secured. But this linguistic grounding is precisely what Iberian Studies needs to deconstruct in order to implement its own epistemological agenda. Iberian Studies, which articulates the need to go beyond Spanish (and Portuguese) to properly understand the internal complexity of Iberian culture(s), may indeed widen the oceanic gap between the two blocks into which our discipline has been traditionally divided. However, the intellectual projects of Iberianism, Transatlanticism, and Latin Americanism —to the extent that they depend on the disruption of Hispanism for a successful production of new knowledge— may benefit from a common institutional location and sustained critical dialogue.