The idea of Spain in the contemporary religious-political discussion

group "Religion and Civil Society"

 

The project 'The idea of Spain in the contemporary politico-religious discussion ' will analyze the role of discourses on Spain in the politico-religious debates in Europe and America in the Contemporary Age. It will analyze, above all, three aspects of this phenomenon: the weight of the idea of Spanish intolerance in Western liberalism and illiberalism (1776-1940); the role of the idea of Spain in the ideologies confronted during the Bourbon Restoration (1874-1931); and the uses of the image and history of Spain in the Americandiscussion on Catholicism, modernity and North American identity (1936-1958). 

The starting hypothesis is that the idea of Spain (i.e., the discursive construction of Spanish identity) has not been a simple result of Spanish patriotism or Hispanophobic xenophobia. More specifically: that the image of Spain and the modern ideal of religious tolerance were constructed by mutual opposition and that, at least until the Second Vatican Council, Hispanophiles and Hispanophobes presented Spain as the main model of Catholic confessionalism, as opposed to both the secularist model of the French Republic and the "separatist" model of the USA.

The project will highlight the central role played in the intellectual history of the West by national images such as Dutch tolerance, Spanish intolerance, American "separatism" or French secularism. And, by criticizing the stereotypes and historical myths implicit in these images, he will promote a public discussion less distorted by old prejudices and identity quarrels. 

This research is one of the two selected in the second internal call for projects of Institute for Culture and Society.