Current Institutional Affiliation
Professor and Chair, Hispanic Studies, Oberlin College

Award Information

International Dissertation Research Fellowship 1999
Institutional Affiliation (at time of award):
Spanish & Classics, University of California / Davis
Exile and Cultural Hegemony: Spanish Intellectuals in Mexico (1939-1975)

How does political exile influence intellectuals' representations of nationhood? How do exiled intellectuals manage to reconcile dependence on a host government with loyalty to their national cause? How do they define their relation to the national community they left behind? And are these dynamics different if the country of refuge happens to be a former colony of the exiles' homeland? These are the questions that inform my dissertation, which deals with the Spanish Republicans who were exiled to Mexico as a result of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and the subsequent right-wing Franco dictatorship (1939-1975). By placing the public discourse of seven prominent exiled intellectuals (Paulino Masip, Juan Rejano, Juan Larrea, Leon Felipe, Max Aub, Luis Cernuda, and Jose Gaos) in its sociopolitical and institt1tional context -specifically the Spaniards' relation to the Mexican host regime-I will attempt to provide a critical analysis of the ideology underlying this discourse. In this discourse analysis special attention will be given to the representations and ideological functions of (1) Spain, (2) Mexico, and (3) the Spanish intellectuals themselves.

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