Postcolonial Spain : Coloniality, Violence and Independence

At times explosive, at times restrained, the question of independence has been a fundamental force shaping contemporary Spain. However, the discipline of Spanish (Peninsular) studies has been slow to consider the reality of internal anticolonial and self-determination movements in Spain as part of their purview. To redress this, the present study engages postcolonial theory to shed light on the question of Spain’s ongoing internal national conflict, arguing that modern manifestations of such conflict are linked to internal demands for national sovereignty, independence and self-determination forged against the backdrop of Spain’s post-imperial crisis after 1898.  The collection ranges across topics such as late nineteenth-century penitentiary discourses, the biopolitics of Francoist agrarian reform, dispossession and mass tourism in Mallorca, the judiciary aftermath of the Catalan referendum on independence of 2017, and post-ETA memory politics. Collectively, they illuminate the conflict zones of contemporary Spanish culture, where questions related to (contested) internal colonialities and independence are enmeshed with the processes of political emancipation and state repression.

A collection of essays illuminating the specificity of Spain’s postcolonial condition while offering a new look at Spain''s internal national conflict.

At times explosive, at times restrained, the question of independence has been a fundamental force shaping contemporary Spain. However, the discipline of Spanish (Peninsular) studies has been slow to consider the reality of internal anticolonial and self-determination movements in Spain as part of their scope. Postcolonial Spain: Coloniality, Violence and Independence is the first book in Spanish (Peninsular) studies to engage with the question of independence as a major structuring factor in post-1898 Spanish culture and politics. It engages postcolonial theory to shed light on the question of Spain’s ongoing internal national conflict, arguing that modern manifestations of such conflict are linked to internal demands for national sovereignty, independence, and self-determination. It addresses topics such as late nineteenth-century penitentiary discourses, the biopolitics of Francoist agrarian reform, dispossession and mass tourism in Mallorca, the judiciary aftermath of the Catalan referendum on independence of 2017, and post-ETA memory politics.