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Modern Literature

Kansas State University Libraries

2009

Spain

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Basque Country: The Heart Of Spain, A Part Of Spain, Or Somewhere Else Altogether, Paddy Woodworth Jun 2009

The Basque Country: The Heart Of Spain, A Part Of Spain, Or Somewhere Else Altogether, Paddy Woodworth

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

The Basque Country exhibits contradictory symptoms of good health and chronic internal rupture. A flexible and robust economy and a vibrant cultural life are undermined by opposed senses of identity, which make almost any statement about the region deeply contentious. The verifiability—or otherwise—of Basque nationalist and Spanish nationalist readings of Basque history and culture matter less today than the fact that they are held with genuine conviction by big sectors of Basque society. Both traditions have their own legitimacy, but neither has been capable of fully acknowledging or including the other. Paradoxically, Francoism reinforced Basque nationalist identity, and anxieties about …


Uses Of A Myth: Al-Andalus, Serafín Fanjul Jun 2009

Uses Of A Myth: Al-Andalus, Serafín Fanjul

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

In the last two decades, the Spanish press treatment of the Muslim world reflects a change of tone from unsympathetic to enthusiastic, although the information is still marred by confusion and ignorance. This change of attitude has occurred in other Western countries as well, and it is due in part to immigration trends, control over oil resources, and the relativism of official discourses towards the Third World. In the case of Spain, however, there is an additional internal element at play: the mass-media reinvention of a mythical al-Andalus as a tolerant and pluralistic society. This idealized interpretation of seven centuries …