Border Interrogations: Questioning Spanish Frontiers(8 Remapping Cultural History)

Under the current cartographies of globalism, where frontiers mutate, vacillate, and mark the contiguity of discourse, questioning the Spanish border seems a particularly urgent task. The volume engages a wide spectrum of ambivalent regions—subjects that currently are, or have been seen in the past, as spaces of negotiation and contestation. However, they converge in their perception of the “Spanish” nation-space as a historical and ideological construct that is perpetually going through transformations and reformations. This volume advocates the position that intellectual responsibility must lead us to engage openly in the issues underlying current social and political tensions.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction Benita Sampedro and Simon Doubleday Chapter 1. Europe’s ‘Last’ Wall: Contiguity, Exchange and Heterotopia in Ceuta, the confluence of Spain and North Africa Parvati Nair Chapter 2. Migration, Gender, and Desire in Contemporary Spanish Cinema Rosi Song Chapter 3. State Narcissism: Racism, Neoimperialism, and Spanish Opposition to Multiculturalism (On Mikel Azurmendi) Joseba Gabilondo Chapter 4. Constructing Convivencia: Miquel Barceló, José Luis Guerín, and Spanish-African Solidarity Susan Martín Márquez Chapter 5. Galicia Beyond Galicia: A man dos paíños and the Ends of Territoriality Cristina Moreiras-Menor Chapter 6. Foreignness and Vengeance: On Rizal's El Filibusterismo Vicente Rafael Chapter 7. Through the Eyes of Strangers: Building Nation and Political Legitimacy in Eighteenth-Century Spain Alberto Medina Chapter 8. On Imperial Archives and the Insular Vanishing Point. The Canary Islands in Viera y Clavijo’s Noticias Francisco-J. Hernández Adrián Chapter 9. Manso de Contreras’ Relación of the Tehuantepec Rebellion (1660–1661): Violence, Counter-Insurgency Prose and the Frontiers of Colonial Justice David Rojinsky Chapter 11. (The) Patria Besieged: Border-Crossing Paradoxes of National Identity in Cervantes’s Numancia Michael Armstrong Chapter 12. Border Crossing and Identity Consciousness in the Jews of Medieval Spain Mariano Gómez Aranda Chapter 13. Seven Theses Against Hispanism Eduardo Subirats Notes on contributors Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Benita Samperdro Vizcaya is Associate Professor of Colonial Studies in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Hofstra University. Her research interests focus on issues of Spanish colonialism in both Africa and Latin America, specifically on processes of decolonization and postcolonial legacies. She has published extensively on empire, exile, colonial discourse and resistance, and most recently on topics relating to Equatorial Guinea, the only African state where Spanish remains the official language. She is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Spanish Colonialism, African Decolonizations, and the Politics of Place.

Review :
“This volume constitutes an outstanding example of the fascinating potential of borders, whether real, imaginary, historical, religious, political or cultural, providing a genuine example of the potential of cultural studies to encompass different historical, cultural and theoretical threads…The sheer range of geographical, cultural and conceptual borders covered by the volume is fascinating and offers a promising venue for Spanish cultural studies.”  ·  Journal of Romance Studies “[This] collection provides stimulating perspectives, drawn from a wide historical and geographical range, that refresh the theories, methods, and goals through which we deal with border issues.”  ·  H-SAE “These twelve essays consider in an exemplary fashion geographical, cultural, gender, linguistic, disciplinary, and other Spanish borders…All-in-all, this book is not only worth reading, but an admirable example of where contemporary Hispanism can be found.”  ·  Bulletin of Spanish Studies “Read together or individually, these essays mark an impressive display of knowledge of Spanish cultural and historical identity both in width and profundity, and, more importantly, of the marginalized, suppressed, or ignored elements that undermine that knowledge. If you think you know Spain, think again; you will find something, if not many things, in this collection to challenge your perceptions. A valuable resource for students and professors alike, as well as any reader with a desire to better understand the complications, ambiguities, and fluctuations of modern and historical Spain.”  ·  Bulletin of the Association of Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies