Nationalisation, banal nationalism and everyday nationhood in a dictatorship: The Franco regime in Spain

Abstract

AbstractThis article explores the nature of the process of nationalisation and the construction of nationality in Franco's Spain. Despite that nationalism constituted the principle axis of the narratives and the policies of the Francoist State, there has been scant research into the reach, the channels, and the role of Spaniards in the process of nationalisation. From a starting point of a complex conception of the Francoist national project, this essay seeks to reframe its analysis in light of the theoretical contributions of ‘banal nationalism’ and ‘everyday nationalism’. As such, on the one hand, I intend to make clear the heterogeneity and the dynamism of Francoist nationalism and, on the other, to include individuals within the scene and further, and in particular, to take into account the role of daily experiences and the capacity for agency on the part of Spaniards on the ground, as participants and constructors of the national community.