Spanish Identity: Nation, Myth, and History

Abstract

In the last two centuries, conservatives and liberals have offered two mutually exclusive visions of Spanish history, each with distinct myths, symbols, and heroes. The conservative image, formed in the Middle Ages, was based on the myth of the Reconquest and the need to restore (or keep) the homogeneity of a country characterized by its Christian religion and Latin culture. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, faced with Napoleon’s invasion, Spanish liberals understood the danger of associating their modern ideas with France and invented a progressive and democratic Spanish tradition. According to their interpretation, the most authentic Spain was not the one identified with the Reconquest and the Empire, but the Spain of all those who had been excluded from the nation-building process because of their religion or ideas: the tolerant al-Andalus Muslims, the freedom-fighter comuneros and the defenders of the democratic medieval fueros. The great success of the transition to democracy and the Constitution of 1978 resided in the ability of all different tendencies and parties to overcome this division, to build bridges and create a common national project. For the first time in history, Spaniards managed to build a successful society based on consensus, pluralism and democracy. However, as a reality based on agreements, its nature is fragile. What is at stake now in Spain is to strengthen the viability of this model. This introductory material is available in Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature: http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol33/iss2/2 Spanish Identity: Nation, Myth, and History Jesus Torrecilla University of California, Los Angeles (Translated by Margarita Pillado) In the last thirty years, Spanish society has experienced a radical transformation that few would have dared to predict in light of the conflictive record of the country’s past. In a very short time and with few internal disruptions, Spain broke free from the centuriesold bondage of endemic civil strife and social inequality, dissipated the repressive atmosphere of authoritarianism, and embraced a Constitution that granted broad political freedoms and recognized the cultural and linguistic diversity of its people. Moreover, with its modern infrastructure, strong investments abroad, and a dynamic economy that attracts millions of foreign immigrants, Spain has become an important player in the economic landscape of the European Union, and is a peer among countries that a few decades ago seemed unreachable models of progress and social welfare. One cannot but echo the conclusion of a recent report on Spain by the British publication The Economist: “over the past 30 years few other places have been as successful” (20). To a significant extent, this success is due to the Constitution of 1978.1 The referendum that validated the Constitution (the culmination of an impressive effort to redefine the nation after Franco’s death) was the first indication that perhaps the dream of several generations of Spanish liberals—routinely silenced, executed, or uprooted into exile since the return of Ferdinand VII in 1814 —finally had become a reality. Indeed, it is possible to affirm that the Constitution of 1978 reproduces in spirit the Cadiz Constitution of 1812, as well as all the liberal legislation that ensued. And although the former does not make explicit reference to its immediate predecessor, the Constitution of 1931, “a comparison of the two texts would 1 Torrecilla: Spanish Identity: Nation, Myth, and History Published by New Prairie Press