Gabilondo-Spanish Nationalist Excess A Decolonial

SPANISH NATIONALIST EXCESS: A DECOLONIAL AND
POSTNATIONAL CRITIQUE OF IBERIAN STUDIES

Joseba Gabilondo1
Michigan State Universtiy2
Joseba@msu.edu
Abstract: The article examines the nationalist excess of Spain (central and periphe-
ral nationalisms) as symptom of the contradictions of Hispanism that is obsolete. It
proceeds to analyze the alternatives of Iberian Studies and Cultural Studies to show
that they still respond to the same logic of Hispanism. Departing from comparative
literature, the article concludes by resituating Spanish studies in globalization as
dependent on Latin America and by introducing subaltern studies, decoloniality and
postnationalism as ways to go beyond the master signifier of Hispanism, which still
quilts (Lacan) the field.
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

Key-words: Iberian studies, Postnationalism, Subalternity, Decoloniality, Atlantic
studies.
1
Recepcin: 09, enero, 2013 || Aceptacin: 18, julio, 2013

Cita recomendada: GABILONDO, Joseba (2013). Spanish nationalist excess: a decolonial
and postnational critique of Iberian Studies. Prosopopeya. Revista de crtica contempornea.
Nmero 8. Pp. 23-60.

Biodata: Joseba Gabilondo es licenciado en filologa vasca por la Universidad del Pas Vasco
y doctor en literatura comparada por la Universidad de California en San Diego. Ha ensea-
do en varias universidades americanas: Duke University, Bryn Mawr College, SUNY Stony
Brook, University of Florida. Hoy da ensea en el Department of Spanish and Portuguese en
Michigan State University. Sus especializaciones son la cultura global en el contexto del cine
de Hollywood, nacionalismos espaoles, postnacionalismo, masculinidad y teora queer. Ha
editado un monogrfico para el Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies sobre el tema del
Atlntico Hispnico y co-editado Empire and Terror: Nationalism/Postnationalism in the New
Millennium (Center for Basque Studies, 2004). Es el autor del libro Restos de la nacin: prole-
gmenos a una historia postnacional de la literatura vasca contempornea (en vasco, Universidad
del Pas Vasco) y del libro monogrfico sobre el novelista vasco Ramn Saizarbitoria: New
York-Martutene: On the Utopia of Basque Postnationalism and the Crisis of Neoliberal Globaliza-
tion (or How Will We Desire Now?). (Universidad del Pais Vasco). En estos momentos est
finalizando en ingls una historia cultural y posnacional de las literaturas vascas en ambos
lados del Atlntico.
2
I gave two shorter versions of this article as lectures at New Castle University in the UK
and University of Wisconsin, Madison. I want to thank the organizer of both events: Ann
Davies, Kirsty Hooper, Kata Beillin, and Mario Santana.
23
Joseba Gabilondo
Resumen: El artculo examina el exceso nacionalista de Espaa (nacionalismo cen- Bas

tral y perifrico) como sntoma de las contradicciones de un hispanismo ya obsoleto. to e
Procede a continuacin a analizar las alternativas al mismo, estudios ibricos y estu-
dios culturales, para probar que ambas continan respondiendo a la misma lgica del
Spa
hispanismo. Partiendo de la literatura comparada, el artculo concluye resituando los the
estudios de espaol/hispnicos en la globalizacin como dependientes de Latinoam- whi
rica e introduciendo los estudios subalternos, la decolonialidad y el postnacionalismo Ma
como maneras de ir ms all del significante maestro (Lacan) del hispanismo que any
todava regula (quilt) el campo de estudio.
I
Palabras clave: Estudios ibricos, postnacionalismo, subalternidad, decolonialidad,
nar
estudios atlnticos.
Kin
1. Hispanism, the Spanish State, and Nationalist Excess

When dealing with minority cultures in Spain, a problem emerges,
which, so far, has always been wiped under the rug: what theoretical model,
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
what kind of approach are we to adopt, embrace or develop? Let me mention

one minority culture I have studied, Galician culture. What is Galician
culture? National, postnational, global, postcolonial, postmodern, or, even
to take the latest fashionable term, decolonial? All the above? None? So
far, most approaches have taken a bit from this theory, a bit from that one,
and, with a subtle alchemy of a little Bhabha and a pinch of Anderson, they
have managed to skirt the problem, while sounding theoretically grounded,
as already James Mandrel pointed out in the early 90s when analyzing the
eclecticism that dominated the field. If Spanish culture is added to the mix,
things get more complicated, as most analysts and critics have assumed that
an understated liberal model of multicultural coexistence will do, whereby
Galician literature coexists platonically next to Spanish culture? Or should
we say Castilian, as Galician is also Spanish (and/or Portuguese)? There is no
sound historical and theoretical answer, as the Spanish coinage (historical)
nationality, used for the Galician, Catalan, Andalusian, Valencian, Arago-
nese, Balearic, and Basque autonomous regions reveals, among which only
five claim a national language. K
colo
What to do with Moroccan or Guinean writers writing in Spanish on
lism
both sides of the Gibraltar divide? What about a Guinean writer writing in
pro
Spanish and Fang? Is Fang part of Spanish culture? What about Galician
sup
writers publishing in English in Britain or in the US? How to approach
niza
Moroccan writers in Catalan? What about French Basque authors writing in
24
Spanish nationalist excess: a decolonial and postnacional critique of iberian studies
cen- Basque; are they also Spanish or Iberian? I am bringing all these possibilities
leto. to emphasize that these dilemmas are false and they all play out the ultimate
stu-
a del
Spanish nationalist game of hegemony: that of problematizing the nation as
o los the ultimate way to recenter all discussions under the master signifier of Spain,
m- which, since the late 19th century, official intellectuals such as Unamuno and
smo Maeztu have mobilized in order to interpellate every subject, thus foreclosing
que any other position but the post-imperial-national-Spanish hegemonic.
In order to show one of the most interesting, although politically reactio-
dad,
nary, attempts to approach the Catalan situation, let me quote from Stewart
Kings Escribir la catalanidad:
En este estudio proponemos que sera iluminador considerar la situacin literaria
catalana desde la perspectiva de las teoras poscoloniales recientes. Estas teoras
nos ayudan a entender el caso de aquellos escritores que viven y escriben en una
ges, situacin poscolonial en la que emplean una lengua que tradicionalmente no es
del,
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

la del pas colonizado, sino la del pas colonizador
tion Dado que Catalua es una de las ms ricas e industrializadas regiones de Espaa
cian un pas con una larga y no necesariamente orgullosa historia de colonizacin
ven aplicar una perspectiva poscolonial tal vez confirme las reservas de algunos cr-
ticos sobre la proliferacin de los estudios poscoloniales en los ltimos aos. Es
So
decir, interpretan el poscolonialismo como una temtica movible que se puede
one, aplicar fcilmente a mltiples contextos (Murray and Riach 9). Huelga decir que
hey Catalua no es un pas poscolonial como cualquiera de frica, Asia o Amrica
ded, Latina y que su ubicacin como pas que ha experimentado una especie de colo-
the nialismo es problemtica y ambigua. Por un lado, a diferencia de la mayora de los
mix, pases previamente colonizados, polticamente Catalua forma parte del centro
hat del imperio espaol, aunque est solo en los mrgenes polticos. Adems como
parte del imperio espaol, los catalanes participaron en la colonizacin de Amrica
eby
Latina, sobre todo en Cuba en el siglo XIX. Por otro lado, sin embargo, Catalua
ould demuestra muchos rasgos comunes con otros pases anteriormente colonizados si
s no la vemos en trminos del imperialismo cultural que llevaron a cabo varios regmenes
cal) centralistas, y dada la naturaleza de los medios adoptados por los catalanes para
ago- resistir tal dominacin. (2005: 3).
only
Kings por un lado colonizacin de Amrica Latina por otro lado
colonizados del imperialismo cultural [espaol] makes clear that colonia-
on
lism is at stake but, at the same time, postcolonial theory will not solve the
g in
problem between what classical Marxism denominated infraestructure and
cian
supertstructure: Catalan economic colonialism overseas and cultural colo-
ach
nization at home. King does not tackle this problem. In his account, conse-
g in
25
Joseba Gabilondo
quently, the writing subjects who are supposed to experience colonialism are syst
those writing in Spanish in Catalonia with the support of every Spanish Spa
centralist institution in detriment of those who write in Catalan and can in a
only be aligned, by default, with Catalan imperialism. In short, King short-
circuits a more complex history and turns Spanish into a colonized language
in Catalonia, and, consequently, Catalan into an imperialist language. 2. I
I have accidentally come up with a felicitous coinage to diagnose the
I
above situation, as I owe Kirsty Hooper the realization of its potential: the
to d
nationalist excess of Spain. Here the preposition of means both: the ex-
rece
cess within and without Spain. Of course, the concept succeeds isolating the
Pen
symptom of a crucial historical problem, rather than covering it up with an
a de
under-theorized answer such as Kings. This nationalist excess emphasizes the
el
impossibility of a (mono-) systemic and homogeneous approach such Iberian
auth
studies or, even, (Spanish) Cultural studies. Rather, it foregrounds the politics
in th
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
of systemic answers: they represent, in their systemic nature, an attempt to

in t
revive Hispanism by other means, that is, an old-fashioned project whose
inc
subject is the Spanish state. Thus, Iberian or cultural studies, in so far as they
but
stand for Hispanism, must be denounced and analyzed as historically impos-
sible or as the project of an impossibility which the nationalist excess of A
Spain continues to undermine and undo. Nationalist excess persists as Spains or l
historical and cultural symptom, i.e. Hispanisms symptom. Any systemic in E
answer ends up legitimizing the Spanish state as the subject of culture and aC
history: it ultimately represents a continuation with/of Hispanism. whi
of t
Therefore, how to account for this Spanish nationalist excess that even
exceeds Spain and any of its nations/nationalities? This excess goes past Spain
beyond Spain (Epps and Fernndez Cifuentes) whose only objective is to re-
center Spain from a sublime beyond. In this proposal, the beyond is presented
or contemplated but is never afforded the political possibility of not being an
object of Hispanism, of being a non-Spanish subject. This is a very medieval
question for which there is not a contemporary, global answer. As I asked befo-
re: is this nationalist excess postcolonial? national? postmodern? postnational?
decolonial? global? And if so, what does it mean? Let me begin first by giving
two negative answers, by stating the way it should not be studied: Iberian S
studies and (Spanish) Cultural studies. Then I will point to a more productive tity,
approach developed from without Spanish Studies: Comparative Literature. hav
Finally I will present my own tentative theoretical and historical proposal read
to approach this nationalist excess as such, as an excess that challenges any
26
are systematic discipline, institution, and theorization, and ultimately defies the
nish Spanish state, the taboo subject that no theory so far seems to challenge even
can in a posthegemonic era of globalization and governmentality.
ort-
age
2. Iberian Studies and Atlantic Disavowal
the
In the United States several Departments have chosen the term Iberian
the
to denominate the way they approach culture in Spain and Portugal. More
ex-
recently, Joan Ramn Resina has published an essay collection advocating a
the
Peninsular approach to overcome the pitfalls of a Hispanism that has reached
h an
a dead-end: Del hispanismo a los estudios ibricos. Una propuesta federativa para
the
el mbito cultural (2009). He has also edited an essay collection by several
rian
authors entitled: Iberian Modalities: a Relational Approach to the Study of Culture
tics
in the Iberian Peninsula (2013). Although I will analyze his proposal in detail
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

t to
in the following, it will suffice to say, for now, that Iberian studies attempts to
hose
include literary and cultural realities that are expressed not only in Spanish
hey
but in other Peninsular languages as well.
pos-
ss of At this point, I would venture to say that this is one of the most important
ains or lively debates in Peninsular studies, both Spanish and Portuguese. Even
mic in Europe, for example, the exploratory workshop Looking at Iberia from
and a Comparative European Perspective: Literature, Narration and Identity,
which is funded by the European Science Foundation, states the importance
of this debate and announces the following as its goal:
ven
pain this Workshop will focus on the concept of Iberia itself: its scientific accuracy;
re- its validity as a starting point for scientific and academic work; its relation with
nted other, more established terms, concepts and identities (such as Spanish, Portu-
guese, Catalan, Basque or Galician, but also Romance, European or Western
g an
identities); and, more specifically, its relation with the mythical, historical or
eval literary narratives created to support such collective identities, and their inter-
efo- dependency, conflicts, overlappings, similarities and contradictions. (Prez Isasi
nal? and Fernandes n.d.)
ving
rian Similarly, in the UK, the authors of Reading Iberia: Theory/History/Iden-
tive tity, reflect on the double effect that cultural studies and Hispanist critiques
ure. have had in the 2000s. As a result, they propose to explore new models for
osal reading both canonical and peripheral Iberia so that they offer a view of
any
27
Joseba Gabilondo
contemporary Iberia as a multicultural, if not transcultural space (Buffery, Eng

Davis, Hooper, 2007: 11). (M
abo
Yet, Resinas theses continue to be the most articulate and elaborate pro- the
posal for Iberian studies as a way out of an outmoded Hispanism and, thus, I Gu
will narrow my analysis to them. A proposal for Iberian studies as a way to Fre
overcome Hispanism, in my opinion, presents three immediate and important stud
problems, concerning theory, biopolitics, and geopolitics respectively. Let me to b
analyze them separately. cen
Theory. As long as the situation of Hispanism or Spanish studies is approa- lead
ched atheoretically, without a clear articulation of the theoretical reasons for the
a shift to Iberian studies, such an atheoretical approach will only reinforce His
the status of Peninsular/Spanish/Hispanic studies as object and/or area disc
of study to be analyzed according to theories originating elsewhere, predo- tha
minantly in English in the USA. Iberian studies obscure the problem of the reti
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
nationalist excess that defines the Spanish/Portuguese fields and, therefore, stud
further enforces its area-studies-object status. Moreover, Iberian studies sta- and
tus becomes more problematic now, as the term Iberian no longer is easily geo
recognized outside the discipline, unlike Spanish or Portuguese. It will suffice of H
to remember that the word Iberia, disseminated by the Greeks, referred pre
to two different locations. This duplicity gave rise to a medieval confusion R
that mistakenly defined the South-Western-European Iberia, and not its mo
South-Eastern counterpart, as the Biblical location in which Noahs son foun
Tubal settled. Following Jimenez de Rada, this confusion founded Castiles 11)
historiography from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Prior to Saint Isidore (20
of Seville, it was clear that the Biblical reference to Iberia meant the other is th
one located in the Caucasus Mountains. I can foresee just as much confusion Ibe
in a global academia that, at best, can only recognize the words Spain and feat
Portugal. Soon somebody will want to learn the Iberian language or will wit
become frustrated because s/he cannot find an Iberian state on the map, 15-
although this is the political aim of Iberian studies. Therefore the naivet of no h
this future somebody already points to the hidden truth of Iberian studies. a m
By approaching the crisis of Hispanism as simply an area studies problem, in h
Iberian studies will continue to reify the discipline by generating categories Cas
and concepts that cannot be shared or exchanged with other areas. Think rize
for example of the difference between border studies and Iberian studies. doe
Granted, the first one is housed in Latino/Chicano studies (and many times in the
28
ery, English studies/departments), but it can be discussed between many disciplines

(Mignolo, 2000), whereas the second simply complicates what I have called
above Spains nationalist excess. The question is: does Iberian studies help
pro- the discipline better understand postcolonial problems such as Equatorial
us, I Guinea or diasporic issues such as Galicians in Britain? What about Basque
y to French writers? Are they Iberian? What is going to be the fate of Portuguese
tant studies inside Iberian studies (and outside Lusophone studies)? Are they going
me to become yet another periphery of Spain, as they already were in some 19th-
century Spanish literary histories? The Iberian reinvention of area studies
roa- leads the discipline to an isolationist approach that might alleviate some of
s for the geopolitical problems of older categories such as Peninsular, Spanish, or
orce Hispanic, but does not help create a fruitful exchange and dialogue with other
area disciplines and areas, thus further anchoring the field in the Cold-War history
do- that originated area studies. Perhaps an optimist will add that original theo-
the retical discussions and productions will emerge after the framework of Iberian
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

ore, studies is embraced; yet, no theoretical discussion has led to Iberian studies
sta- and, therefore, as I will explain below, the latters goal is not theoretical but
asily geopolitical. Once Iberian studies are upheld as the new area-studies horizon
fice of Hispanism, things will revert to the atheoretical status quo that has been
rred predominant in Hispanism.
ion Resina, in his latest work, Iberian Modalities, has appealed to the idea of
t its modality, a Medieval grammatical term, to explain the new theoretical
son foundation of Iberian studies, which ultimately rests on convivencia (2013:
iles 11). He refers to the philological, logical, and legal meanings of modality
dore (2013: 15-16), in order to theorize the term. The more general formulation
ther is the following: Rather than expressing categorical notions of belonging,
sion Iberianism shows that cultures exist in the modal, that is, marked by certain
and features, attributes or emphases that offset the cultures against each other
will within a more abstract or generic grouping of which they are the modes (2013:
map, 15-16; my emphasis). What is worrisome about this proposal is that there is
of no historical sense of political and power struggles; modalities are resolved in
dies. a more abstract or generic grouping without politics. Power is not a factor
em, in his modal theorization of Iberian studies. Even when the relation between
ries Castilian/Spanish and other languages/nationalities in the Peninsula are theo-
hink rized under the term modality, politics are ignored by Resina: Iberian studies
es. does not underestimate Hispanisms reliance on the marketability of one of
s in the language of the Iberian peninsula, but considers this language in relation
29
Joseba Gabilondo
rather than in opposition to the other languages of the same geocultural space, stud
so that, instead of a simplifying and at time repressive koin, Spanish can be and
the gateway to the linguistic diversity of the abusively misnamed Hispanic ver
world (2013: 16). Here a political past (repressive koin) is now turned into a- is ta
political commercial landscape (marketability). Resinas final des-politization jun
of modality can be clearly isolated when he concludes: Unlike the national stat
philologies or the national literatures, Iberian studies do not serve a political
entity or legitimize a state (2013: 14). In short, Resinas proposal is structu-
ralist (system, polysystem) and does not account for any power analysis, thus,
avoiding, or circumventing, the most important poststructuralist analyses of
power that have defined academia over the last 30 years (from Foucault and
Lacan to Butler and Zizek, just to mention few authors).
Biopolitics. As Lou Charnon-Deutsch concluded for all Spanish literatures,
the move in the most recent decade from feminist literary criticism to gen-
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
der studies to cultural studies and now post-colonial studies has left the pre- G
twentieth-century Spanish canon largely intact (2003: 137). Quoting Alda com
Blanco, Charnon-Deutsch suggests that the new emphasis on geopolitical (20
categories (cultural studies, postcolonial studies) has relegated feminism Spa
and gender studies to a secondary position, which has ultimately had the dur
unintended effect of reinforcing a traditional Spanish national canon. As I Spa
have argued elsewhere (2002), as long as the discipline continues to rehash one
geopolitical problems internal to the Peninsula, such discussions will legiti- US
mize the ultimately masculine and hysterical performance of the nation as hav
a way to repress and dominate (phobia, conversion) any other biopolitical on
category (sex/gender/class/race). In short, the geopolitical emphasis on the and
area (Spanish, Iberian) will relegate biopolitical theories such as feminism sim
or queer studies to a secondary position (Iberian feminism, Iberian queer den
studies). Moreover, it will continue to mobilize nationalist anxieties that first
will reify any biopolitical category as universal: as exiting similarly outside and mer
inside the Peninsula. As a result, the geopolitical emphasis will continue to
relegate any biopolitical discussion to other hegemonic area studies that are T
not coded as such, i.e. to other areas that are presented as universal (English, per
Anglophone, French, Francophone) and, therefore, the latter will continue geo
to exert their monopoly over any biopolitical theory and discourse. Resinas Am
proposal, for example, does not contain any biopolitical consideration. Spa
the
Geopolitics. The geopolitical problem concerns the relocation of Hispa- Lat
nism in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century. Proponents of Iberian
30
ace, studies such as Resina, after a sustained and detailed critique of Hispanism
n be and its development in the USA since the 1930s (Whose Hispanism), ne-
anic vertheless, avoid the elephant in the room: Peninsular literature and culture
o a- is taught in the USA only as an effect (and even affect) of the geopolitical
ion juncture of Latin America vis--vis the USA. As Alberto Moreiras already
onal stated in the early 90s:
ical
De todas formas de la situacin tradicional, que consista y consiste en derivar el
ctu- estudio de la produccin literaria latinoamericana del tronco histrico espaol
hus, (castellano, mejor dicho), avanzamos a la situacin inversa lenta pero irrefraga-
s of blemente: en la universidad norteamericana, y despus en la britnica, francesa,
and italiana, etc., vamos a empezar a estudiar lo espaol y esta vez lo espaol como
conjunto de nacionalidades por su relevancia genealgica y sintomtica para el
estudio de una cultura latinoamericana entendida tambin como zona de contacto
res, de mltiples heterogeneidades histricas. (1993-1994: 408).
gen-
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

pre- Given that the only sustained capitalist expansion Spanish industries and
Alda companies underwent in the 1990s was in Latin America or as Casilda Bejar
ical (2002) calls it, in la dcada dorada which could be extended to 2008, even
ism Spanish neocolonial and neoliberal capitalism depended on Latin America
the during this period. Furthermore, given that the major group of immigrants to
As I Spain is Latin American (if we exclude north Europeans), ahead of Africans,
ash one could expand the geopolitical juncture of Spanish/Iberian studies in the
giti- USA to Spains global location tout-court and, therefore, claim, in what I
n as have called elsewhere the (Antonio) Banderas effect, that Spain depends
ical on Latin America for its academic and geopolitical location in the USA
the and, more generally, in globalization (2001). The Banderas effect would
ism simply be an expansion and consolidation of what James FERNNDEZ has
ueer denominated Longfellows Law, which accounts for the formation of the
that first chairs of Spanish studies in the USA as a result of the North American
and mercantile expansionism in Latin America.
e to
are The most direct and political way to state Spains postcolonial-postim-
ish, perial juncture in globalization is to reduce it to a joke that captures all the
nue geopolitical anxieties of Iberian studies/Hispanism: Spain is a province of Latin
nas America. By some kind of Bolivarian fiat, the discipline should also liberate
Spain from its 21st century, Iberian, retro-imperialist fantasy and reinsert it in
the republican history that created what is known, after Francisco Bilbao, as
spa- Latin America. This liberation would also have the extra benefit of adding
rian
31
Joseba Gabilondo
the Spanish problem to Latinoamericanism, not as a post/imperialist/colonial cou

reality, but rather as a genuine Latin American problem: the Spanish repu- mo
blic of Latin America. In this context, Spain would become the least studied
of all Latin American republics (least studied as Latin American republic; the I
fact that Spain remains a constitutional monarchy is just a historical idiosyn- enu
crasy more than an exception or singularity, which could be explained along to e
Mexican attempts in the 19th century to found a monarchy)3. rein
Am
Yet, Resina, as the main proponent of Iberian studies, treats Latin America in i
as a separate issue and, when attempting to think this problem in its complex the
Atlantic geopolitical/colonial reversal, he dismisses it as a new refashioned cou
Hispanism: onc
to a
What else is the transatlantic jargon that is currently in vogue but a recycled
or merely rebaptized Hispanism? A true change in perspective implies a change rem
of the phenomenon under study. In turn, the renewal of the object requires an auth
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
updating of practical approaches and theoretical tools; in other words, a change aH

in cognitive structures. Mere methodological revision is not an adequate response Ibe
to a disciplines crisis. It is also necessary to acknowledge the radical nature of can
the crisis and, in our case, it is incumbent on us to face up to the possibility that its i
Hispanism no longer has a future in the university (2009b: 36)4.
onc
hav
I agree completely that Hispanism no longer has a future at the university. the
However, any approach to Peninsular/Iberian studies that neglects its global
position, which is mediated by the hegemonic production of academic dis-
3
Although Spanish prime minister Rajoys appeals in 2013 to Latin American industries to in-
vest in Spain would seem to represent a new stage in this Atlantic history, economic analysts
emphasize the continuity of Spains neoimperialism. As Guinot Aguado and Vakulenko state
While the 2008 global economic crisis prompted a downturn in Ibero-American profits
and the debt crisis negatively impacted the European market, Latin America retained its
dynamic economic activities by remaining an attractive venue for foreign investments. Du-
ring the second wave of foreign direct investments, Spanish companies consolidated their
positions in the Latin American market by strengthening their former economic ties while
simultaneously significantly increasing their investments in the region. Hence, Spains di-
rect investments in Latin America soared from 45 billion in 2007 to 116 billion in 2010
(2012).
4
I have opted for the original English version of the articles that, translated to Spanish, consti-
tute some of the chapters of the Spanish book, Del hispanismo a los estudios ibricos (2009),
in order to create a linguistic continuity between my text and the quotes from Resinas work. 5
H
32
nial course in the USA and makes Spain dependent on Latin America, has no
epu- more of a chance than any old-fashioned Hispanism5.
died
the In short, Iberian studies do not address the geopolitical locus, the locus of
yn- enunciation, of the discourse on Spain/Iberia/the Peninsula, and, as I will try
ong to explain below, it rather represents a belated heir to Hispanism: its latest
reincarnation. In his newer Iberian Modalities, Resina addresses the Latin
American connection more in detailed, but precisely, because he still is intent
rica in isolating Iberian studies from any Atlantic framework, ends up resorting to
plex the ultimate Hispanist discourse of the common past of all Spanish-speaking
ned countries, now refashioned in the form of a multi-national-lingual Iberia that
once again becomes the model and reference for a Latin America that still has
to awaken to its post-Hispanic multi-lingual-cultural reality. In a way that is
cled
ange reminiscent of the Generation of 98 and, more specifically of Unamuno, an
s an author Resina has studied well, he presents Iberian studies as having overcome
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

ange a Hispanic discourse to which Latinamericanism is still bound. As a result,
onse Iberian studies becomes the cultural and critical reference that Latinameri-
e of canists must follow. Thus, Resinas post-Hispanist Iberianism shows precisely
that its inner Hispanic formulation when emphasizing that the (post) empire is
once again the privileged epistemological reference for its postcolonies, which
have not yet achieved the same level of post-Hispanic enlightenment and
sity. therefore must embrace once again the discourse of (post)empire:
obal
dis- Hispanic unity, in Spain as in Latin America, was accomplished for the purpose
of political administration and obedience to Castilian rule through methods
of domination that eventually led to independence and the birth (rather than
fragmentation) of a constellation of republics. Almost since inception these new
countries have dreams of representing a cultural front to the powerful neighbor to
the north, who, subtler than Spain, dominates by fostering the every identity on
o in-
lysts
which resistance to Anglo-Saxon materialism and cultural penetration is predica-
state ted. That Latin America is a North American construct does not appear ironical to Latin
rofits Americanists who are happy to erase the mark of the Spanish master from their identity
d its while espousing the Castilian ideology of the single common language. And yet that
Du- commonality on which the Latin American identity is founded dissimulates and
their silences a great cultural diversity that waits on the wrings for a looping of the loop
while of Longfellows Law, whereby the circuitous path taken by nineteenth-century United
s di- States Hispanists to promote useful knowledge for dealing with the South American
010
continent would curl back through an Iberian studies paradigm to reopen the Hispanic
nsti-
009),
work. 5
Hooper already in 2006 advanced a similar criticism from without the USA.
33
Joseba Gabilondo
enclosure. The transportation of the Iberian polysystem model of cultural analysis would sym
allow an American cultural polysystem to emerge through the colonial administrative sym
divisions that determined the shape of the post-Spanish countries. If one digs under the co
national ideologies that subtend the Latin American imaginary, one can still find
of a
multilingual strata, which, if culturally reactivated, would serve neither the myth
of hispanidad nor the needs of a market governed from beyond Latin Americas acq
geocultural borders. (Resina, 2009b: 27, my emphasis). suc
qu
Spain and/or Iberia, void of its Atlantic dimension, or at best intent on ins
becoming once again the referent for Latin America, have as much future in The
the global/USA academia as Germany does (just to mention another post- M
fascist European state), and definitively without any of the latters literary and the
intellectual prestige: over the last 10 years or so, German departments in disc
the USA have been closed, eliminated, or consolidated. In short, if Iberian poi
studies are to be studied at all, they will have to be first and foremost, foun- fica
dationally, transatlantic. Spain is a Latin American postcolonial effect in
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
the
globalization; in this respect, it is simply an imaginary effect or subject of an psy
Atlantic symbolic order, of which colonial loss is the traumatic and founding dist
event (alongside Europes orientalization and touristization of Spain since fou
the 19th century). Or as I propose elsewhere (2012: 85-6), Spain becomes in des
the 19th century the political fantasy of the traumatic collusion of the end of field
Occidentalism (Spain as the last true empire and telos of the West since sam
the collapse of the Roman empire) and the beginning of Orientalism (Spain (19
as Europes most oriental country/internal colony). This traumatic clash of
Occidentalism and Orientalism defines Spain as irrevocably Atlantic and H
extra-European, and, by extension, Iberia and Iberian studies. rian
fou
Finally, I would like to show that Iberian studies, because of the foun- in t
dational negation/disavowal of its Atlantic locus of enunciation and Latin relo
American dependency, does not only perpetuate Hispanism, but actually give
creates a new form of what I would like to call Greater Spanish Studies (as sub
in Studies of the Greater Spain). In George Orwells Animal Farm, and as tory
an indirect criticism of Soviet communism, one of the animals rewrites one sub
of the seven commandments that rule the farm (All animals are equal) so,
in the following way: All animals are equal, but some are more equal than sely
others (2003: 80). In short, when everybody is equal, there are some who the
are more equal than others. Lacan explains the same phenomenon in Oe- Spa
dipal terms, but, what is applicable to my discussion of Iberian studies is the kee
discursive dimension of his theory. Lacan states that, given a discourse or a resu
34
ould symbolic order, a single signifier takes over the rest of signifiers that form the
ative symbolic order. This signifier becomes the master signifier in the sense that it
the colors or shapes the rest. That is to say, the entire field of signification
find
of a given symbolic order can only be understood in so far as every signifier
myth
icas acquires meaning in relation to a master signifier, which is exempted from
such acquisition of meaning (2007: 87-102). Lacan calls this phenomenon
quilting (point de capiton), given that in many cloths, a single pattern expla-
on ins and gives meaning to the entire visual field of the cloth (1997: 258-70).
e in The master signifier is always more equal than the rest.
ost- Moreover, and this is the genius of Lacanian theory, the master signifier,
and the quilting pattern, always stands precisely for what the symbolic order or
s in discursive field is missing or lacks. Ultimately, the master signifier always
rian points to a lack, to an absence that gives meaning to the entire field of signi-
un- fication. This lack or absence is the traumatic and violent event that founds
t in
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

the discursive field of signification and endows it with meaning (in Lacans
f an psychoanalysis the event is castration, linguistic and Oedipal). Finally, the
ding distance that separates the master signifier from the traumatic violence that
nce founds the field and prevents the field from collapsing is negotiated through
s in desire and fantasy. Desire and fantasy are the elements that hold the entire
d of field of signification together as they give a position to the subject and, at the
nce same time, show that the subject is also formed by that foundational violence
pain (1998: 29-38; 2006: 623-44, 671-702).
h of
and How does Lacanian psychoanalysis help Peninsular scholars explain Ibe-
rian studies? As I mentioned above, the traumatic events that constitute the
foundation of Hispanism/Iberian studies are colonial loss and orientalization
un- in the 19th century, on the one hand, and Spains new global Latin American
atin relocation in the 20th and 21st centuries, on the other. Iberian studies thus
ally give a new position to every Peninsular subject, while also keeping the said
(as subject away from the traumatic events that found Spanish/Peninsular his-
d as tory. In order to do so, Iberian studies create a nationalist fantasy of Iberian
one subjects: that is to say, every Iberian subject will have its nation. By doing
al) so, Spains post-imperial Atlantic trauma is kept at a distance and, conver-
han sely, Spains expansion into an Iberian Greater Spain situates the rest of
who the Iberian nations (Portugal, Galicia, Basque Country) in a position of
Oe- Spanish object of desire. They become the new objects that simultaneously
the keep Spains post-imperial Atlantic trauma at a distance and stand for the
or a resulting postimperial lack. They are the new non-Atlantic internal colonies
35
Joseba Gabilondo
that simultaneously point to Spains Atlantic imperialist lack and articulate ent
a new non-Atlantic postimperialist desire. In short, they follow the Freudian Pen
logic of the fetish: Spain knows they are not the true lost colonies, but just to t
the same, they become the new colonies that restore Spains imperialism. nat
of e
Similarly, as the Spanish master signifier quilts or shapes the meaning of
the rest of Iberian nations, the latter also desire as Spain desires: they desire M
the desire of the Spanish master signifier (Other) and therefore they acquire Ibe
meaning from postimperial Spain: we are not Spain, but just the same, now tha
we are a postimperial Spain endowed with colonies (such as their respective will
diasporas in Latin America but also the USA, now nationalized as Galician, as t
Basque or extraterritorial entities that can be claimed as colonial, the abo
French Basque Country, the Rousillon, etc.). There is even a second level of Thi
fantastic colonialism, as the rest of the Iberian nations internalize a (post) its i
imperialist Spanish logic: we are not Spain, but just the same, we are Spain
A
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
endowed with internal colonies, and those colonies are not us, they are the
others. From a Catalan position, the fantasy runs this way: we are Spain and of d
thus we are not its colony; the others, the Basques, the Galicians are the an
colonies. The final corollary of this fantasy is that even Spain is imagined ling
as a Catalan colony. are
sep
Obviously this Iberian desire creates an excess of nations qua post-empires, hist
which cannot be reconciled with reality (too many nations, too many postim- opp
perial Spains, too many fantastic colonies); but when it comes to fantasy bec
and desire, its function is precisely to do away with violent reality in order to
support the subject as a separate entity from historys traumas6.
However, and now comes the catch, this national desire, this a nation
for every Iberian subject is predicated on the fantasy that there is no master
signifier and every Iberian subject is free, independent, and sovereign (its
own master signifier). Resina makes clear that Iberian studies are a federalist
project, whereby nations can be studied and lived in a non-hierarchical
fashion (2009a: 162): without a master signifier that quilts or shapes the
The final trauma is European modernity of which Spain has become an oriental accessory/
6
colony. This trauma is also displaced to the other Iberian nations by using the same me-
chanism. Stuart Hall makes a similar analysis of Britishness: the empty signifier, the norm,
against which difference (ethnicity) is measured (2000: 221). Yet, I believe that positing 7
I
an empty rather than a master signifier does not allow for an exploration of the desires E
and fantasies that legitimize the racial ideology legitimizing Britishness. f
36
late entire Iberian field of signification. Yet, if something is clear today in the
dian Peninsula is that every nation is being fashioned and signified according
just to the master signifier of the Spanish state; therefore, postimperial Spanish
. nationalism (and its desire) becomes the quilting point, the master signifier,
of every other Iberian nation and signifier7.
g of
sire Moreover, and this is the ultimate fantasy of Iberian studies, while every
uire Iberian nation is quilted by the Spanish master signifier, their fantasy is
now that each Iberian nation aspires to be the only postimperialist nation that
tive will quilt the rest as colonies and, therefore, will appear, ironically enough,
ian, as the only one who is not (post) imperialist. In short, every nation fantasizes
the about being the new, true subject of Hispanism and thus the true Iberian subject.
el of This is the obscene secret that propels Iberian studies and ultimately reveals
ost) its inner Hispanist logic.
pain
Allow me to quote again from Resina, in order to see how his understanding
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

the
and of diversity in the Peninsula is ultimately linguistic and, therefore, points to
the a nationalist diversity, a multi-nationalism, which is shaped or quilted by a
ned linguistic nationalism derived from Hispanism. For Resina, Iberian studies
are ultimately a linguistic exercise that invokes Iberian subjects as sovereign,
separate nations in perfect linguistic ontological equality. Every social and
ires, historical difference is reduced by Resina to a linguistic, national identity,
im- opposite the North American multicultural rage, whereby multi-nationalism
tasy becomes the Spanish correlate of North American multiculturalism:
r to
At present, the most pressing question highlighted by the crisis of Hispanism
in the United States is the nagging ethical concern with the marginalization of
cultures and social groups, which emerge not only with the multicultural rage but
ion
also in the renewed interest in the historical memory and the appeals for inte-
ster llectual reparations to all kinds of victimized communities, including those that
(its have been excluded by the discipline. In Spain, the urgency comes from society
alist itself, which insists on putting forward the stubborn reality of the plurality of nations
cal existing under one political umbrella. [] Beyond Hispanism, beyond the belief
the in the superior value of dominant languages, there is a virtual academic space where
the memory of humanity is affirmed through respect for all languages. A space
where no languages status as dominant is disputed within its own social realm
sory/
me-
orm,
iting 7
It would interesting to analyze if the proliferation of peripheral institutes such as March,
sires Etxepare, etc., fashioned after the Goethe or Cervantes institutes, respond to this logic and
fantasy. I suspect they do.
37
Joseba Gabilondo
and all are recognized as bearers of knowledge no less necessary than that which in d
is transmitted by languages with a more imperial calling. (2009b: 38, my emphasis). alre
Rib
It is the ghost of a philological Hispanism, as master signifier of the Spa- ver
nish state, which lingers in Resinas understanding of Iberian studies without und
an Atlantic dimension (languages with a more imperial calling). In this His
respect, I would like to conclude by saying that Iberian studies can only be
Iberian as impossibility, as the impossibility of Hispanism, now refashioned I
as Iberianism. They can only be founded as Hispanist failure and, therefore, ado
as the failure of Iberianism, whose symptom continues to be an irreducible field
and historical excess of nationalisms. miz
Ibe
Moreover, in order to see how the post-imperialist Spanish master signifier grea
quilts and portends the desire and fantasy of every other Iberian nation, it is tha
important to emphasize that Resina writes from a Catalan position and his po-
L
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
litical fantasy of Iberianism responds to a postimperial Spanish master signifier

in a very concrete and specific way. His entire discourse is organized around the
the triangulation of Catalua vis-a-vis the two states of the Peninsula, Spain the
and Portugal. Galician and Basque history and culture are only mentioned C
in passing, as part of the Catalan-Basque-Galician minority sequence and fede
without a single sentence of elaboration to either one in a book entitled Del inst
hispanismo a los estudios ibricos. Una propuesta federativa para el mbito cultural. stru
This is not an oversight on Resinas part. It is not either an ethical choice not in t
to approach the other two nationalities with which he is less familiar. Such Cat
an ethical choice would require stating explicitly the reason of the omission cult
of the other two nationalities8. In short, Iberian studies become, for Resina, a imp
Catalan project vis--vis Spain and Portugal. The Basque Country and Galicia rep
are tangentially mentioned because they are already quilted by Resinas new per
master referent: a postimperial Catalonia quilted by Spain. Needless to say, pos
a similar quilting would happen if a Basque or Galician intellectual would pro
propose a similar project9. Moreover, and as Thomas Harrington has analyzed Cas
dies
Ibe
8
Basque or Galician history and culture are mentioned as part of the peripheral sequence or
as equivalents of Catalonia (The Basque Country or Calatonia) in the following pages:
in t
41, 43-44, 46, 66, 69, 91, 95, 110, 120, 122-23, 189, 195. Just Maragall receives more refe- oth
rences than the Basque Country and Galicia combined. to i
9
My own disregard for the Mediterranean side of this equation is an effect, barely conscious, of
my own Basque position, a clearly Atlantic reality and history. In part, Unamunos Spanish
nationalist proposal could be read as a Basque quilting, when he proposes la invasin de C
38
hich in detail, the triangular structure of the Catalan project of a federal Iberia is
sis). already present at its historical root, prior to Maragall, in the work of Ignasi
Ribera i Rovira (2010: 142-56). Needless to say, such a Catalan proposal has
Spa- very little interest for Basque and Galician critics and intellectuals; it will
hout undoubtedly attract more Hispanists in search of a cosmetic refashioning of
this Hispanism.
y be
ned In so far as a federalist/non-hierarchical approach to nationalist excess is
ore, adopted for the Peninsula, the Spanish master signifier will quilt the entire
ible field and, consequently, the desire/fantasy for Iberian studies will help legiti-
mize a neoliberal Spanish fantasy: that of Greater Spanish Studies in which
Iberia will be the new name of Greater Spain. Here, we all will become
ifier greater Spanish subjects, subjected by the ideology of an Iberian Hispanism
it is that has fantastically (not) superseded its older version: Spanish Hispanism.
po-
Let me attempt three non-Hispanic proposals for Iberian studies, following
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

ifier
und the internal logic of Iberian studies, which, nevertheless question or challenge
pain the master signifier of Hispanism and the Spanish state.
ned Castilian Studies. The only coherent way to implement Iberian studies as a
and federal union is to reinvent, to go back, to the idea of Castile, and, therefore, to
Del institute Castilian studies. That is to say, if Iberian studies embraces a federal
ural. structure, culture and literature written in Spanish in/from the peripheries,
not in the other federal states, would have to be reclaimed as part of Basque,
uch Catalan, Galician culture and literature. This peripheral, federal Spanish
ion culture (written in Spanish by peripheral federal states) would represent the
na, a imperial mark left by Castilian imperialism in the periphery. This mark would
icia represent a history of imperialist diglosia (the imposition of Castilian in the
new peripheral federal states) and would constitute Catalan, Basque, Galician
say, postimperial literature in Castilian, rather than the postcolonial literature
ould proposed by King. The remainder of non-peripheral literature written in
yzed Castilian (no longer Spanish) would constitute Castile and Castilian stu-
dies. Once this new Castilian nation was instituted, the master signifier of
Iberian studies would stop being the postimperial Spanish state. Instead, and
e or
ages:
in the true spirit of Iberian studies, the master signifier would become the
refe- other peripheral nationalities, which would quilt Spain and reverse it back
to its true historical and cultural reality: the postimperial Castilian nation
us, of
nish
n de Castilla [por los vascos]. (Gabilondo, 2002).
39
Joseba Gabilondo
(so celebrated by the Generation of 98). But so far, I have not seen a single 10)
proposal in favor of a paradigm of Iberian studies where Castile is quilted by Me
the rest of the Iberian nations or federal states. Yet, this should be the ultimate and
consequence of a putative Iberian studies implemented according to its ideal Spa
of equality. Not even the peripheral Iberian nations are willing to give up Iber
their post-imperial Spanish desire and fantasy and demand a postimperial ge a
Castilian nation, as they would have to admit that they are all bilingual and of S
are a product of Castilian imperialism. Iber
stud
National Independence. Iberian studies, in its core post-imperialist fantasy,
at t
always posits a greater unity, that of the Iberian nations (so reminiscent of
the Spanish constitutions articulation of Spain as a nation of nationali- A
ties), which simply extends, as I explained above, the master signifier of or A
post-imperialist Spain to the other Iberian nations. Iberian studies, if its inte
inner logic is brought to its final consequences, should also admit the pos- cou
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
sibility of independence, political and cultural, for any of its nationalities. imp
However, an independent Basque Country the most coherent and perhaps esti
only solution for a situation of diglosia that, if kept within the Spanish state, com
will eventually annihilate the Basque language coupled by other proces- man
ses of independence (such as the Catalonian), would move Iberian studies disc
to the field of comparative literature: the international, not federative, study are
of different national literatures and cultures. Once again, I have not seen qui
any proposal for Iberian studies that contemplates shifting from Hispanism
to comparative literature. Fernando Cabo Aseguinolaza and others (2010)
have precisely proposed a comparative approach to the Iberian peninsula (in 3. C
equivalence with other projects such as Eastern European literatures), as I
will explain later on. However, this proposal comes from without Hispanism A
and from within comparative literature. To my knowledge, no critic trained pro
in the disciplinary history of Hispanism has proposed such an approach to tan
Iberian literature and culture, as it would challenge the master signifier of by
Hispanism and the Spanish state. This would represent another traumatic Iden
fracture within Hispanism, another against which the discipline is refashioning one
itself as Iberian. suc
sign
The Arabic nation. No Iberian studies proposal has located the origins of
Spanish and Iberian literature and culture in the Peninsular Arabic tradition
of Al-Andalus, also practiced by Jews and later expanded to Hebraic literature 10
T
by writers such as Judah Halevi, as well as Moriscos, Mozarabes, etc. in what d
has been named without much success as Arabicate culture; (Menocal, 2000: t
40
ngle 10), thus, foregoing altogether the fetishist obsession with jarchas. Mara Rosa
d by Menocals The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History: A Forgotten Heritage
mate and The Literature of Al-Andalus (1987) are a departure point not followed by
deal Spanish literary historiography (Rico, 1979-1992; Mainer, 2010-2012). An
e up Iberian literary history that would begin with Arabic as truly Iberian langua-
rial ge and literature would similarly create another trauma (the orientalization
and of Spain) against which the master signifier of Hispanism, now refashioned as
Iberian studies, reacts as symbolic reorganization and fantasy. Indeed, Iberian
studies, as it is discussed today, is not too far from Menndez Pelayos thesis
asy,
at the turn of the 19th century.
t of
ali- Any of the above approaches to Iberian studies (Castilian, Independentist,
r of or Arabic) represent, next to the Atlantic approach proposed earlier, more
f its interesting ways of shaping Iberian studies; whereby a new Arabic modernity
pos- could be claimed as the origin of Europe; the Atlantic formation of Spanish
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

ties. imperialism and its contemporary rearticulation would advance a more inter-
haps esting approach to subaltern/postcolonial/decolonial/diaspora studies; and a
ate, comparatist approach to an Iberian peninsula marked by the borders between
ces- many different states and nationalities, would also give a more interesting
dies discourse on border studies. Yet, none of these approaches to Iberian studies
udy are discussed centrally. The reason is simple: Iberian studies continue to be
een quilted by the Spanish master signifier of Hispanism10.
ism
10)
(in 3. Cultural Studies and Subaltern Excess
as I
ism Alongside Iberian studies, Spanish cultural studies became the other
ned proposed alternative to leave behind Hispanism in the 1990s. More impor-
h to tantly, the connection between cultural studies and subalternity proposed
r of by Jo Labanyi in the introduction to the volume she edited, Constructing
atic Identity in Contemporary Spain (2002), is central. Her introduction remains
ning one of the most interesting and challenging alternatives to Hispanism and, as
such, I fully subscribe (I contributed an article to the book). Yet, the master
signifier of Hispanism, qua signifier of the Spanish state, continues to quilt
ns of
ion
ture 10
The fact that the association of Galician, Basque and Catalan literatures, called Galeuska,
what does not accept Bable/Asturianos membership application must also be explained within
000: this context, as an effect of the post-imperialist Spanish master signifier.
41
Joseba Gabilondo
even this proposal. She ends up nationalizing subaltern studies in a way that
subalternitys own excess undermines. As a result, subalternity itself triggers
in Labanyis text a disseminative excess of nations, subaltern and otherwise.
Therefore, it is important to analyze the ways in which Hispanic ideology T
continues to shape Labanys project in order to delineate a post-Hispanist hist
cultural studies that enable the study of subalternity.
M
Although Alberto Moreiras already advanced a meta-disciplinary proposal and
to study subalternity as a way to refashion a neohispanism in the 1990s and
and Xon Gonzlez-Millns proposal remained tragically isolated (2000), heg
Labanyis more recent introduction articulates a theory of subalternity and in t
history that, following Derrida, addresses modern Spanish culture in general, cult
not only the problem of the Hispanist discipline. Unfortunately, very few out
scholars have followed Labanyis lead (Cornejo Parriego, 2007; Gabilondo, tast
2003; Rodrguez, 2010; Villamandos, 2007) and subalternity remains a mar- defi
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
ginal political and epistemological concern in Peninsular studies11. nat

cult
Labanyi argues that modern Spanish culture should be constructed and the
read as a dialogue with the dead, that is, with the ghosts of history:
Y
[t]he whole of modern Spanish culture its study and its practice can be read
as one big ghost story. By modern I mean here the period corresponding to
rep
bourgeois modernity and its corollary, the modern nation-state, whose ideological the
beginnings, in Spain as elsewhere, date back to the mid-eighteenth century but gro
which, in the case of Spain, become firmly implanted as a hegemonic model not reco
always realized in practice from the mid-nineteenth century. (2002: 1) tern
Lab
Afterwards, she advances her theory of ghosts: they are subaltern groups do
that have been silenced, left without the right to speak, by the nationalist coe
bourgeois cultural model of the Spanish state: Spa
In claiming that the whole of modern Spanish culture can be read as one big ghost L
story, I mean two things. First, that critical writing on modern Spanish culture, med
by largely limiting itself to the study of high culture has systematically made aS
invisible ghostly whole areas of culture which are seen as non-legitimate
mu
objects of study because they are consumed by subaltern groups. As Derrida notes,
ghosts are the traces of those who were not allowed to leave a trace; that is, the it re
in S
con
sub
There are more Ph.D. dissertations than publications addressing subalternity in Spain.
11
42
that victims of history and in particular subaltern groups, whose stories those of the
gers losers are excluded from the dominant narratives of the victors. (2002: 1-2)
wise.
ogy The second thing she means by big ghost story is the ghosts of Spanish
nist historical and political violence, such as the Civil War.
Moreover Labanyi believes that this vindication of the ghost of spectral
osal and subaltern groups represents a break with hegemonic national history
90s and, therefore, the ghostly-subaltern represents the end of nationalism and
00), hegemonic national history: This is indeed a postmodern end of history
and in the sense of an end to the seamless, homogeneous histories of national
eral, culture which, since the inception of the modern nation-state, have edited
few out those cultural practices which did not conform to bourgeois high-cultural
ndo, taste (2002: 8). Finally, Labanyi claims that Spains postmodern condition is
mar- defined by the dialogue with the subaltern ghosts excluded by modernity and
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

nationalism: It can in some respects be argued that postmodernism, as the
cultural expression of postmodernity, is characterized by the recognition in
and the spectral form of simulacrum of modernitys ghosts (2002: 2).
Yet, when elaborating a theory of a national Spanish modernity that has
read
g to
repressed or edited out most forms of subalternity, Labanyi does not question
gical the geopolitics of the Spanish state and its function in subalternizing different
but groups. As a result, she creates a new, second nation, which now becomes
not recognized as the other Spanish postmodern nation: the nation of subal-
tern dead ghosts, with whom, now we can speak. The reason is geopolitical:
Labanyi does not question the fact that all these subaltern ghostly groups
ups do not fit seamlessly in Spain with the Spanish state and they do not
alist coexist geographically in Spain without altering the idea and limits of the
Spanish state.
host Labanyi is fully aware that those subaltern groups can no longer be clai-
ure, med Spanish, for they have been repressed precisely in order to articulate
made a Spanish national culture: We can no longer talk of Spanish culture but
mate
must use formulations such as the cultures of Spain or, perhaps better since
otes,
the it replaces national proprietorship with geographical coexistence, culture(s)
in Spain (2002: 2). Yet, for Labanyi, Spain continues to be an ahistorical
construct that is not altered, challenged, and limited by those very same
subaltern groups. Spain is a transhistorical container where hegemonic and
43
Joseba Gabilondo
subaltern groups exist without politically constituting the very same container, furt
the Spanish state. gro
Wa
The formula geographical coexistence in Spain still represents the nega- from
tive subaltern mirror of national Spanish culture. In short, Labanyi does not hist
question the fact that the very subalternity of many groups derives precisely
from their defiance of the geographic and state limits of Spain. Examples F
abound. Are the colonies lost in the late 19th-century subaltern/Spanish? sub
I.e. is the Cuban writer Gmez de Avellaneda Spanish, part of Spanish and
history, a ghost in/of Spain? Are the subaltern Basques on the French side se c
Spanish? And if not, how to account for the subalternity of Basque culture the
without turning in it into Spanish-national? Can the Roma be considered a Spa
subaltern group coexisting in Spain? Is migration to and from Spain Spanish?
In short, even the most radical vindication of subalternity and its ghostly L
modern status must question the geopolitical idea of the institution of the of H
(sub
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
(Spanish) state, or many forms of subalternity will be retroactively turned

into national subalternities: the subalternities of the Spanish state. In order nat
to vindicate all these subaltern groups in contemporary Spain as part of a and
new Spanish co-existence, first one must retroactively apply the idea of the cha
Spanish nation-state back to a larger Spanish and non-Spanish history and serv
turn all its subaltern groups into Spanish. hav
Lab
Therefore, in the most interesting and promising historical proposal
for a subaltern historization of hegemonic Spanish nationalist culture, the I
production of two national Spains that mirror each other, in their negative Spa
complementariness, persists as both are quilted by the master signifier of mu
Hispanism and the Spanish state. As the colonial processes of independence As
of 1898 most clearly show, the idea of the Spanish (nation-) state is not pre- Sub
existing and, instead, is articulated afterwards, retroactively, as a result of a bac
subaltern history and politics that cannot be considered Spanish. Different hist
forms of colonial subalternity are edited out retroactively from the idea of the alte
Spanish (nation-) state. Although colonial history is the clearest example, the stat
complex Atlantic politics of subaltern migration in areas such as Andalusia,
Extremadura, the Basque Country, and Galicia prove that this is a general
problem that is solved by a retroactive articulation of the Spanish state as 12
A
master signifier. Most recently, the encyclopedic essay by Joseba Sarrionandia a
w
(2013) on Spains colonial involvement in Morocco, and especially among w
the Amazig people (Berbers), at the turn of the century, serves to illustrate d
w
44
ner, further this point. He studies the way in which a war against these subaltern
groups shaped what retroactively has been represented as the Spanish Civil
War. Here the Amazig have a marginal presence in Spain, yet they shape
ega- from without the Spanish state, from beyond any coexistence in Spain the
not history of the Spanish Civil War.
sely
ples Finally, Labanyis proposal creates a third nation: those critics who read
ish? subaltern history as Spanish history (subaltern culture and history in Spain)
nish and, therefore, create a new contemporary critical nation: the nation of tho-
side se critics reading subaltern history as well as the national discourse/archive
ture they create as ultimately Spanish, as existing in a retroactive transhistorical
ed a Spanish nation-state.
ish?
stly Labanyis proposal, thus, continues to be quilted by the master signifier
the of Hispanism and produces, against its own political agenda, a new form of
(subaltern) Hispanism. Ultimately, such a Hispanism cannot but produce a
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

ned
rder nationalist excess of three nations: the cultural-hegemonic, the subaltern,
of a and the critical. Since Labanyis text is perhaps the most interesting and
the challenging proposal in recent Spanish cultural historiography, which also
and serves as foundation for a new way of understanding historical memory, I
have to conclude that, even in a historical approach to subalternity such as
Labanyis, there is a Spanish excess of nationalisms.
osal
the In short, the most promising subaltern theory and history of culture in
tive Spain does not question the master signifier Spain. Yet, the Spanish state
r of must also be questioned and analyzed as part of any subaltern-studies project.
nce As Ranajit Guha clearly states in his presentation of the South East Asian
pre- Subaltern Group, the recent formation of the Indian state (1948) was the
of a backdrop against which subaltern studies were developed. In other words, the
rent historical formation of a postcolonial state was the horizon against which sub-
the alternity was studied, not a natural, transhistorical state, but a postcolonial
the state still in historical formation12.
usia,
eral
e as 12
As Guha clearly states: Subaltern Studies made its debut by questioning that assumption
ndia and arguing that there was no such unified and singular domain of politics and the latter
was, to the contrary, structurally split between an elite and a subaltern part, each of which
ong was autonomous in its own way. Much of what we have to say has indeed concerned with
rate documenting the existence of these two distinct but interacting parts as well as with arguing
why such a structural split between them was historically necessary. (1998: ix).
45
Joseba Gabilondo
This final reflection leads me to advance part of what I think should be

theorized as a core element of Hispanic/subaltern history: postnationalism.
In this context, a postnationalist theory should argue that there is a sympto-
matic excess or proliferation of nationalisms created by the very negation of
nationalism in globalization. Postnationalism should account for the way in
which states claim to have overcome nationalism and, thus, always legitimize
themselves retroactively as ahistorical and apolitical nations that negate the
global resistance of other internal nations. The states crisis and its neoli- M
beral refashioning as the enforcer of a global order among its population is tion
the ultimate institutional subject and purveyor of the postnational excess of Spa
nationalism I discussed above. His
mas
4. Comparative Literature and the Imperialist Ghost I

Ibe
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
The only way to study the Iberian Peninsula without reifying it within of t
the framework of Hispanism, without being quilted by the master signifier dow
of the Spanish state, is to resort to comparative literature, thus emphasizing mu
that the historical fact that underlies Iberian cultures and languages is post/ whi
imperialism, a post/imperialism that cannot be subsumed under the concept of a
of Iberian federalism. and
(20
Anxo Abun Gonzlez and Anxo Tarro Varela edited in 2004 Bases meto- for
dolxicas para una historia comparada das literaturas da pennsula ibrica, which the
was followed in 2010 by another similar two-volume project, larger and more phi
ambitious in its scope, edited by Fernando Cabo Aseguinolaza, Anxo Abun
Gonzlez, and Csar Domnguez, which is entitled A Comparative History of
Literatures in the Iberian Peninsula and of which only the first volume has been
published so far.
In the introductory chapter, Cabo Aseguinolaza emphasizes both the pos-
timperialist and supranational nature of the project, i.e. its supra-Hispanist
history. Here Iberian studies is not quilted by the master referent of Hispa-
nism; rather, it becomes one of the different literary discourses or ideologies
to be analyzed next to others, such as Orientalism, Atlanticism, modernity, A
European exceptionalism, etc.: nish
que
This framework includes factors such as the emergence of the modern European to h
national states, the transition from the old regimes to liberal forms of government,
46
d be the displacement towards the North of geopolitical and cultural hegemony in

sm. Europe, the crisis of a specific colonial model, especially of the Peninsular empires,
pto- and the post-imperial redefinition of the relation of powers within Europe. Either
way, it deals with specific circumstances of supranational character. Different
n of
positions could be taken according to different points of view, and they were to
y in be formulated with the help of tools provided by the discourse of literary history.
mize (2010: 6)
the
oli- Moreover, Cabo Aseguinolaza highlights the process of symbolic introjec-
n is tion (2010: 6) of different political processes by which Europe has othered
s of Spain and Portugal, thus, clearly stating that even the master signifier of
Hispanism has been, in turn, quilted by other north-European ideologies/
master referents.
In this context, Cabo Aseguinolaza articulates a symbolic understanding of
Iberian peninsula, similar to the one I have delineated above in my analysis
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

hin of the Hispanic master signifier, whereby history and politics are narrowed
ifier down to a single, limited, and hierarchical concept (or master signifier): We
zing must even admit that the model of an Iberian Peninsula with four literatures,
ost/ which seems to have gained prevalence with the passing of time, is the result
cept of a complex discourse that is full of affiliate excisions and artificial overlaps,
and which derives from limited and hierarchical access to the concept of nation
(2010: 52, my emphasis). Later on, Cabo Aseguinolaza explains the reason
eto- for such hierarchical and limited conceptualization. According to him, it is
hich the result of the mediation of a national historiography that ultimately is
more philological; that is, it is shaped by the discipline that gave rise to Hispanism.
un
y of Within this plurality ruled by the complacent and tranquilizing acceptance of
een the restrictive principal of literary multi-nationalism, the worst part is not the
exclusion and marginalization of anything that does not find its place in one of
the Iberian literary nations, such as the Arab and Hebrew literary traditions. Far
pos- worse is the imposition by national historiographical discourse of a mediation
which is impossible to avoid when interacting with the texts and cultures of the
nist
past. (2010: 52)
spa-
gies
nity, Although he does not isolate Hispanism as the master signifier of the Spa-
nish state and its symbolic order, nevertheless, Cabo Aseguinolazas analysis
questions Iberian studies and, as a result, rather than legitimizing it, proceeds
pean to historicize it in his long introduction.
ent,
47
Joseba Gabilondo
Similarly, Domnguez, another editor of the volume, analyzes the history pan
of several geoliterary imaginaries that have shaped literature and culture in we
the Iberian Peninsula. Although he draws the idea of imaginary from a has
hermeneutic tradition (Bachelard and Durand), it would not be farfetched a sp
to translate the term into geo-ideologies of literature. He opens his article
I
precisely by asking what makes a geographical area a literary zone (2010: 55)
and
and therefore admits the meta-geographical nature of his analysis, following
ega
the work of Martin W. Lewis and Kren E. Wigen. By emphasizing the spa-
rein
tial turn taken by literary history (2010: 6), Domnguez announces that his
of r
goal is the deconstruction of received meta-geographical categories (2010:
oth
69). After analyzing, in historical detail, several meta-geographical ideologies
that have quilted Arabic-Andalusi, Spanish, Portuguese, and Basque literary P
histories in a way that he himself claims to be strategic and selective he ag
concludes with a somber note about Iberian studies: con
solu
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
Everything suggests that the geographical imaginary in Iberian historiography has

remained unperturbed since its beginnings. This imaginary has served as a base for insi
both the central position that Spanish historiography has attributed to literature the
in Castilian and the subordination that this same historiography has effected on nin
peripheral literatures, including the Portuguese. (2010: 129) and
hist
Domnguez clearly captures the quilting effect that the master signifier of dies
Hispanism has exerted in peripheral literatures when he emphasizes the arti
anti-multicultural structure of the state. Moreover, he notes that peripheral resp
literatures have simply duplicated, rather than questioned, the geographic stat
and historigraphic logic of Hispanism and its master signifier: this
app
In the Spanish sphere, the rise of a local and regional historiography in recent
decades is a logical reaction to the neo-imperialist ideology furthered by Francos
the
regime and the failure of a true plurilingual, multicultural and plurinational
conception of the State since the Transition to democracy. However, and signi-
ficantly, this rise was influenced by the very spatial conception that had supported the 5. A
historiographical model these new historiographies were aiming to overcome. (2010:
129, my emphasis) T
and
Domiguez concludes that, despite some exceptions that point to a post- still
national, Atlantic refashioning of Iberian studies, the master signifier of con
Hispanism continues to quilt the Iberian Peninsula with an aggressiveness na
that might be linked to its imperialist past: Some historiographical proposals (in
reviewed here that point toward this spatial experience [a postnational His- dad
48
tory panic Atlantic] are noteworthy, but exceptional. If such were not the case,
e in we would find ourselves before a new variant of literary aggressiveness that
ma has made the Peninsula its longtime Lebensraum (in the geopolitical sense of
hed a space of contention) (2010: 131).
icle
It is only from this comparative context that the issue of Iberian literature
55)
and culture has been, perhaps for the first time, addressed not as a utopia of
wing
egalitarian federalism, but rather as an ongoing power struggle that rather
spa-
reinforces the historical centrality of Hispanism and shows the impossibility
his
of refashioning Hispanism as Iberian studies, and Iberian studies as anything
010:
other than Hispanism.
gies
rary Perhaps, because of the complexity of the problem, or because of the
he aggressiveness that the Spanish/Iberian Lebensraum already promotes and
contains, these two authors do not go on to offer any political and cultural
solutions to the problem of Iberian studies, beyond the detailed, historical,
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

y has
e for insightful analysis of the situation. In the following, I will propose or advance
ture the beginning of a possible non-systemic solution that, rather than refashio-
d on ning a new theory that irremediably will end up reinforcing the quilting power
and violence of the master signifier of Hispanism, will actually address the
historical traumas that actually configure the symbolic order of Iberian stu-
r of dies. Following Labanyis proposal for subaltern studies, this proposal aims to
the articulate new subject positions of literature, culture, and history that do not
eral respond to the quilting of the master signifier of Hispanism and the Spanish
phic state, and thus do not respond to a systemic theory or approach. Moreover,
this proposal aims to explain and historicize the nationalist excess that always
appears as symptom of the historical traumas that configure Hispanism and
cent
ncos
the Spanish state.
onal
gni-
d the 5. A Theory of Geopolitical Excess
010:
The excess of nationalism, which I have diagnosed above as the symptom
and byproduct of the master referent of Hispanism and the Spanish state, is
ost- still more complicated and excessive than I have so far discussed. The Spanish
r of constitution in its second article states that Spain is a nation that contains
ness nationalities which rather than solving the problem further complicates it
sals (indisoluble unidad de la Nacin espaola la autonoma de las nacionali-
His- dades y regiones). Yet, at least in Galicia, Catalonia, and the Basque Country
49
Joseba Gabilondo
a majority of the people (always bound to change depending on polls and swe
historical circumstances) claim to be a nation of their own. Therefore, since still
these nationalities have been articulated according to the classical model of Bea
the nation (limited and sovereign; Anderson, 1983: 14), there is an over- the
lapping of nations (Spain) and nationalities (Galician, Basque, Catalan). If Spa
we add the issue of language to this geopolitical situation, the latter becomes one
further complicated, as these three peripheral nationalities at least are bilin- wou
gual. Moreover, other languages that, at this point, remain subaltern such as
Estremeu, Aragons, or Asturleons (Asturianu, Llions) are not associated B
with nationalist agendas in a hegemonic way. Finally, Arabic, Amazig, or His
English are never acknowledged as cultural languages of the Iberian peninsula. the
onl
No theory of nationalism would easily account for the above excessive regi
scenario whereby we have a hegemonic state-nationalism in oppositional let
relation with at least three peripheral nationalisms out of which one still lant
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
harbors a terrorist group: the only nationalist terrorist group left in Western hist
Europe in the 21st century. Even though ETA has ceased its activity, it has gov
not dissolved itself as of 2013. Moreover, the fact that these nationalisms are
not in crisis; are not fading away and, rather, they are receiving new fodder A
from globalization and European unification must be taken into consideration. bha
The situation in Scotland, Belgium, or Kosovo points to a new resurgence sust
of small nationalisms. The attempts to hold national referendums on self- Am
determination and/or independence in the Basque Country (Ibarretxe plan) Glo
and Catalonia (the Catalan parliaments decision to call a referendum on
independence approved on January 2013), are not isolated events.
Therefore the question remains: what theoretical framework can account
for this geopolitical excess of nationalisms, without reverting to the master
signifier of Hispanism or to a new, different but equally repressive quilting?
Y
A first attempt could stress the fact that it is a postnationalist condition
Gro
that emerges from the crisis of the nation-state in globalization, and is further
pos
amplified by the flux of migrations from the Global South and, more specifica-
clos
lly, from postcolonial territories Colombia, Ecuador, and the Caribbean
An
plus other poor regions of Europe and the East (Rumania, rural China, etc.).
situ
Although there have been few attempts to theorize postnationalism after
Habermas initial reactionary proposal (The Postnational Constellation), so B
far most of them, rather than emphasizing the symptomatic and excessive truc
nature of the phenomenon, have tended to give systemic or regularizing an- lim
50
and swers to it (Kearny, 1997; Rojo, 2006; Resina, 2002). My own theorization is
nce still deficient (Postnacionalismo y biopolitica). Following the work of Jon
el of Beasley-Murray on posthegemony (2011), I believe that only a non-systemic
ver- theorization that accounts for the excessive production of nationalism in
). If Spain, the Iberian peninsula, and, more generally, in globalization remains
mes one of the most important tasks of Peninsular studies, a theorization that
lin- would have a reception beyond Iberian studies.
h as
ated But the post-imperialist trauma that is at the core of the organization of
, or Hispanism and the national culture of the Spanish state, begs the question of
ula. the possibility of a de- or post-colonial-imperial history that would include, not
only the national periphery of the Iberian Peninsula, but also non-nationalist
sive regions such as Aragon or Extremadura in an Atlantic framework. Therefore
onal let us examine the de/postcolonial-imperial option as I believe that an At-
still lantic articulation of postnational and decolonial theories might help analyze the
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

ern history of the Iberian peninsula against any systemic quilting by a state or
has government institution.
are
dder Although postcolonial theory was developed by Edward Said, Homi Bha-
ion. bha, and Gayatri Spivak in the US throughout the 80s and 90s, the most
nce sustained effort to explain postcolonial theory within the Hispanic/Latin
elf- American context was carried out by Walter Mignolo in his Local Histories/
an) Global Designs (2000). According to Mignolo,
on [P]ostcoloniality is embedded in each local history and more than an empty
signifier is a link between them all. It is the connector, in other words, that can
bring the diversity of local histories into a universal project, displacing the abs-
unt tract universalism of ONE local history, where the modern/colonial world system
ster was created and imagined. [] in sum, diversality as universal project. (2002: 9)
ng?
Yet, due to the theoretical disagreements in the Latin American Subaltern
ion
Group, to which Mignolo belonged, and to the fact that, at the same time,
ther
postcolonial theory was criticized from different positions, Mignolo became
fica-
closer to Grupo Modernidad-Colonialidad and especially to the theories of
n
Anibal Quijano and Enrique Dussel, whereby he adopted a more specifically
tc.).
situated theory under the umbrella term of decoloniality.
fter
, so By renouncing to postcolonial theorys heavy reliance on European posts-
sive tructuralism and by claiming that decoloniality goes beyond the narrow
an- limits of academic discourse, Mignolo explains his shift from postcolonial to
51
Joseba Gabilondo
decolonial theory, as an attempt to situate his discourse in a colonial/Latin

American location following a discursive tradition that begins with Waman
Puma de Ayala:
B
Coloniality and de-coloniality introduces a fracture with both, the Eurocentered
project of post-modernity and a project of post-coloniality, heavily dependent on
We
post-structuralism as far as Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan and Jacques Derrida deli
have been acknowledged as the grounding of the post-colonial canon: Edward whi
Said, Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha. De-coloniality starts from other sources. the
From the de-colonial shift already implicit in Nueva cornica and buen gobierno plu
by Waman Puma de Ayala; in the de-colonial critique and activism of Mahatma It d
Gandhi; in the fracture of Marxism in its encounter with colonial legacies in the
for
Andes, articulated by Jos Carlos Maritegui; in the radical political and epistemo-
logical shifts enacted by Amilcar Cabral, Aim Csaire, Frantz Fanon, Rigoberta
fun
Mench, Gloria Anzalda, among others. The de-colonial shift, in other words, the
is a project of de-linking while post-colonial criticism and theory is a project of
scholarly transformation within the academy. (2007: 452)
T
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
idea
kno
The other important term borrowed from Quijano is coloniality of power
which Mignolo connects to decolonial theory in the following way: Quijano
explicitly linked coloniality of power in the political and economic spheres
with the coloniality of knowledge; and ended the argument with the natural
consequence: if knowledge is colonized one of the tasks ahead is to de-colonize
knowledge (2007: 451).
Finally, Mignolo explains the two complementary goals of decolonial
theory as that of reconstructing subaltern and silenced knowledges and histo-
ries, on the one hand, and of separating these knowledges from the European
discourse of modernity and its power structure or coloniality, on the other:
Quijanos project articulated around the notion of coloniality of power moves in
two simultaneous directions. One is the analytic. The concept of coloniality has
opened up, the re-construction and the restitution of silenced histories, repressed
subjectivities, subalternized knowledges and languages performed by the Totality
depicted under the names of modernity and rationality. Quijano acknowledges that
postmodern thinkers already criticized the modern concept of Totality; but this
critique is limited and internal to European history and the history of European F
ideas. That is why it is of the essence the critique of Totality from the perspective tica
of coloniality and not only from the critique of post-modernity. Now, and this is or
important, the critique of the modern notion of Totality doesnt lead necessarily pro
to post-coloniality, but to de-coloniality. Thus, the second direction we can call
eco
the programmatic that is manifested in Quijano as a project of desprendimiento,
52
atin of de-linking. At this junction, the analytic of coloniality and the programmatic
man of de-coloniality moves away and beyond the post-colonial. (2007: 451-52)
By stating against postmarxism that there is an exteriority to capitalism and

ered
t on
Western modernity, Mignolo claims that the ultimate goal of decoloniality and
rida delinking is to create a universal plurality of local and subaltern discourses,
ward which avoids the universalization of any given discourse or knowledge, as in
rces. the case of European modernity. He calls this universality of local knowledges
erno pluriversality: Pluri-versality as a universal project is quite demanding.
tma It demands, basically, that we cannot have it all our own way. The struggle
the
for epistemic de-coloniality lies, precisely, here: de-linking from the most
mo-
erta
fundamental belief of modernity: the belief in abstract universals through
ords, the entire spectrum from the extreme right to the extreme left (2007: 500).
ct of
The other main reference of decoloniality is Enrique Dussel and his
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

idea that modern discourse, delinked from coloniality, can be used by local
knowledges and cultures in what he calls transmodernity:
wer
ano Thus, the strict concept of the trans-modern attempts to indicate the radical
eres novelty of the irruption as if emerging out of Nothing from the transformative
exteriority of that which is always Distinct, of universal cultures in the process
ural
of growth and that assume the challenges of Modernity, and even of European/
nize North American postmodernity, but which respond from another place, another
Location. They respond from the perspective of their own cultural experiences,
which are distinct from those of Europeans/North Americans, and therefore have
nial
the capacity to respond with solutions that would be absolutely impossible for
sto- an exclusively modern culture. A future trans-modern culture, a new age of world
ean history hat assumes the positive moments of Modernity (as evaluated through
er: criteria distinct from the perspective of the other ancient cultures) will have a
rich pluriversality and would be the fruit of an authentic intercultural dialogue, that
es in would need to bear clearly in mind existing asymmetries (to be an imperial-core
has or part of the semi-peripheral central chorus like Europe today, and even more
ssed so since the 2003 Iraq War is not the same as to be part of the postcolonial and
ality peripheral world). (2012: 42-3)
that
this
pean Finally, Ramn Grosfoguel has elaborated, from Latino studies, a biopoli-
tive tical reformulation of decoloniality that emphasizes the idea of heterarchies
his is or structural heterogeneity (borrowed from Quijano), which allows to ap-
arily proach power structures locally and not according to a pre-arranged hierarchy,
call
economic, masculinist, nationalist, etc.
nto,
53
Joseba Gabilondo
After this quick examination of postcolonial and decolonial theory, the I

excess of nationalisms I mentioned earlier can be approached in a different/ etc.
non-Hispanic way. The issue is to determine whether these nationalisms the
are a form of subaltern discourse that can contribute to Spanish/Peninsular/ out
Hispanic/Iberian decoloniality and pluriversality, or rather, they are part of
the European semi-periphery that Dussell denounces as the central chorus, H
which, he clearly states, is not part of the postcolonial or decolonial world. pria
A quick answer will not do, as Kings quote on postcolonial literature in the
Catalonia I referenced at the beginning, makes evident. Cat
lang
I would propose that the history of these nationalisms points to a double arti
historical reality, which must be understood clearly in its double historicity in (as
order to avoid theoretical traps. Basque, Catalan, Galician, and other neigh- reta
boring languages become the main venue for subaltern knowledges starting in mo
the Renaissance when Castilian colonialism expands not only in the Americas a na
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
but also in the Peninsula by both expelling non-convert Muslims and Jews tha
and subjecting other internal kingdoms to its power13. With the complicity heg
of the local elites, the colonized local languages of the Peninsula become
the sole medium for the culture and discourse of subaltern rural groups that T
are further repressed and subjugated through the late 18th century when the as t
Spanish empire and its nobility further ruralize many urban classes and, as a nat
result, create an even more polarized society. These subaltern cultures are not from
nationalist and cannot be retroactively analyzed or appropriated as national poin
for they are defined by class and race. Moreover, they do not even coincide dec
with the contemporary geography of Iberian nationalisms. nia
the
It is only after the Napoleonic invasion and the colonial losses of the early still
19th century that the local Peninsular elites, in conjunction with the central The
bourgeoisie, embrace north-European, capitalist modernity and engage in fore
modern colonialism in Cuba, Puerto Rico and, unsuccessfully, in northern Pen
Africa, while also treating local subaltern classes as colonial14. of s
but
are
13
Although the biopolitical aspects are not studied here, I have elsewhere elaborated the mu
theory that the Foucaultian pastoral power and its structure of desire/gender cannot be ana
applied to the Basque Country (Queer Euzkadi). mak
14
As Alda Blanco has correctly stated: As nuestra tarea es la de (re)inscribir en la narrativa
histrica acerca del siglo XIX lo que en su da era evidente: que el Estado espaol estaba con-
figurado a modo de imperio (Ministerio de Ultramar, Consejo de Filipinas, etc.) y que, por lo
tanto, Espaa era una nacin imperial (2012: 25).
54
the In so far as languages such as Aragons, Catalan, Cal, Basque, Galician,

ent/ etc. remain the languages of peasant/migrant subaltern cultures; they join
sms the divide modernity/coloniality that Quijano elaborates for subaltern groups
lar/ outside Europe.
t of
us, However, and starting in the mid 19th century, as middle classes appro-
rld. priate some but not all these subaltern cultures and languages to resist
e in the hegemony of the local bourgeoisies and aristocracies (Basque Country,
Catalonia, Andalusia, and Galicia), then these specific subaltern cultures and
languages become the basis of nationalist projects that the middle classes try to
uble articulate as modern and European. Therefore Catalan, Basque, and Galician
y in (as well as Andalucian culture in Spanish), unlike Asturianu or Aragons,
igh- retain a double historicity that is simultaneously colonized/subaltern and
g in modern/colonialist. The fact that a Spanish bourgeoisie cannot implement
icas a nationalist project even through the Franco dictatorship, points to the fact
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

ews that the double historicity of these cultures and languages, as subaltern and
city hegemonic (dominant), as colonial and modern, does not go away.
ome
that The fact that today some of these subaltern cultures are being appropriated
the as the basis of a nationalist project, but at the same time, stand for a non-
as a nationalist cultural subaltern position that still must be defended and delinked
not from the Spanish nationalist-post-imperialist project for the 21st century,
nal points to the fact that these languages and cultures are part of a non-Hispanic
cide decolonial condition and can contribute to the pluriversal project of decolo-
niality. If this double historicity is accepted for the Iberian Peninsula, then
the subaltern groups and knowledges that non-Castilian peninsular languages
arly still represent cannot be retroactively considered as Spanish or even Iberian.
tral They are on the other side of an Atlantic Spanish/Castilian imperialism and, there-
e in fore, must be studied as different forms of Atlantic subalternity that encompass the
hern Peninsula, Europe, Africa, and Latin America as a contiguus but pluriversal space
of subalternity. This proposal, I am aware, might be considered far-fetched,
but the crisis of the Spanish state, and its inability to achieve consolidation,
are a sign of a larger crisis in the equation civil-society=nation-sate, which
the must be historicized, not taken as ontologically given, thus rendering any
ot be analysis that does not question the equation nationalist by default. As Guha
makes very clear.
ativa
con- Underlying the exclusive and elitist approach is an idea which has prevailed in
or lo historiography since the rise of the Italian city-states and has continued through
55
Joseba Gabilondo
the Enlightenment until the emergence of the modern nation-states near our hav
time. This is the idea that with the ascendancy of the bourgeoisie in Western grou
Europe all of the power relations of civil society have everywhere been so fully a hi
assimilated to those of the state that the two may be said to have coincided in an
Am
undifferentiated and integrated space where alone such relations have situated
and articulated themselves ever since. It has been possible therefore for historical I
scholarship that has fed on this theorem for centuries and made it into the stuff of
app
academic common sense to represent power in its most generalized form as Civil
Society = Nation = Sate. (1998: xi) non
tha
of H
I believe it is important to rethink this axiomatic theorem, especially in
refa
Spain, where such equivalence has never been reached. The theorem must be
deconstructed and historicized through a subaltern and decolonial prism. The
ultimate prove of the validity of this approach rests on the difference between Wo
hegemony and dominance that Guha elaborates, following Gramsci. The ABU
question whether the Castilian/Spanish Empire was built in the Peninsula c
Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60
through hegemony or dominance requires a re-consideration of Peninsular U

history against the doxa that so far Spanish historiography has consolidated: AN
o
[] the colonial state in South Asia was very unlike and indeed fundamentally BEA
different from the metropolitan bourgeois state which had sired it. The difference n
consisted in the fact that the metropolitan state was hegemonic in character with BLA
its claim to dominance based on a power relation in which the moment of per- P
suasion outweighed that of coercion, whereas the colonial state was non-hegemonic BUF
with persuasion outweighed by coercion it its structure of dominance. (1998: xii) R
CAB
r
Therefore, is the history of the peninsula and its two postimperial states G
built on hegemony or dominance? On persuasion or coercion? I believe it is i
the latter and therefore Peninsular historiography must be rethought anew. CAS
A
To conclude: in so far as languages such as Basque, Portuguese, Catalan, or CHA
Spanish act as vehicles of nationalism and modernity in their excessive on- W
T
tology, I propose that they have to be analyzed through a postnational theory
E
that accounts for the instabilities and contradictions that such a nationalist CHA
excess creates increasingly in globalization. In so far as they act as discourses V
of subalternity and coloniality, I propose they have to be analyzed through COR
a decolonial theory that accounts for the pluriversal, subaltern groups and l
DOM
knowledges they convey in an imperialist history that is radically Atlantic
P
and cannot be reduced retroactively to the categories of Spain/Portugal and F
Iberia. Hence, the issue is not language or nationality, as Hispanism would
56
our have it, but rather a (post)imperial history and trauma that mark different subaltern
tern groups across and beyond the Hispanic Atlantic (and Pacific) and, therefore, create
fully a historical continuity with the Atlantic migrations towards Spain, which many Latin
n an
American and African groups have undertaken over the last years.
ated
rical I am fully aware of the problems of a subaltern postnational/decolonial
ff of
approach to Spanish and Iberian studies. In the long run, it might prove to be
Civil
non-useful, reductive or simply ahistorical. But it is a non-systemic proposal
that speaks to the core historical traumas that articulate the master signifier
of Hispanism and represents a radical departure rather than just another
y in
refashioning, be it Iberian or otherwise.
t be
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SPANISH NATIONALIST EXCESS: A DECOLONIAL AND

POSTNATIONAL CRITIQUE OF IBERIAN STUDIES

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

Resumen: El artculo examina el exceso nacionalista de Espaa (nacionalismo cen- Bas

1. Hispanism, the Spanish State, and Nationalist Excess

what kind of approach are we to adopt, embrace or develop? Let me mention

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

of systemic answers: they represent, in their systemic nature, an attempt to

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

contemporary Iberia as a multicultural, if not transcultural space (Buffery, Eng

ery, English studies/departments), but it can be discussed between many disciplines

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

the Spanish problem to Latinoamericanism, not as a post/imperialist/colonial cou

updating of practical approaches and theoretical tools; in other words, a change aH

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

litical fantasy of Iberianism responds to a postimperial Spanish master signifier

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

ginal political and epistemological concern in Peninsular studies11. nat

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

(Spanish) state, or many forms of subalternity will be retroactively turned

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

This final reflection leads me to advance part of what I think should be

4. Comparative Literature and the Imperialist Ghost I

d be the displacement towards the North of geopolitical and cultural hegemony in

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

Everything suggests that the geographical imaginary in Iberian historiography has

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

decolonial theory, as an attempt to situate his discourse in a colonial/Latin

By stating against postmarxism that there is an exteriority to capitalism and

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

After this quick examination of postcolonial and decolonial theory, the I

the In so far as languages such as Aragons, Catalan, Cal, Basque, Galician,

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

through hegemony or dominance requires a re-consideration of Peninsular U

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

Prosopopeya 2013-2014 N 8, pp. 23-60

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