Exile and Nation in Modern Spain (Level 5)

Course Overview

Join us on this Exile and Nation in Modern Spain short course as we reflect on the history of forced expulsion from the nation and changes to this phenomenon from the twentieth century.

Focusing on the cultural outputs of those expelled, we will explore different experiences of exile and the ways in which they are defined by the absent nation, but also by new encounters facilitated by exile. We will also pay close attention to cultural discourses of the Spanish state at different key historical moments and how they justify forced expulsion, either individual or massive.

Themes of history, memory and reparation will recur as we focus on different historical moments and case studies:

• Early manifestations of political expulsion of intellectuals in modern Spain in the nineteenth century: José María Blanco White, Mariano José de Larra, the journal Ocios de españoles emigrados
• The view from inside: Fernando VII and absolutist Spain
• Exile in the early twentieth century: Miguel de Unamuno
• The view from inside: the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera
• Republican exile after the Spanish Civil War: Max Aub, María Zambrano, Luis Cernuda, Jorge Semprún
• The view from inside: dictatorial and democratic Spain, plus Spain in the geopolitical context of the Cold War
• The Catalan procés of 2017 and the expulsion of Catalan independentist politicians and intellectuals.

Assessment is via a 2000-word essay (40%) and two-hour in-class test (60%).

This can be taken as a standalone short course or as part of:

• Culture and Language (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese) (Certificate of Higher Education)

Credits: 30 credits at level 5