CALL FOR PAPERS
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO THE SPANISH REPUBLICAN EXILE OF 1939
9-10 July, 2004
Institute of Romance Studies, Room 349
University of London
Organisers: Dr María Paz Balibrea (Birkbeck College,
University of London) and Dr Helena López (Institute of Romance Studies,
University of London).
This conference seeks to revisit the topic of Spanish republican exile
of 1939 from new and interdisciplinary perspectives. It aims at exploring
the very discourses of exile as they have been produced up until now, the
paradigms -cultural, political, historical- within which exile has manifested
itself, and the ways in which Spanish Republican exile has been textualized,
studied, invoked or forgotten. Therefore, Republican exile is not understood
only in terms of a past that could/should be recuperated, but also in terms
of the critical dialogue between past and present that it can generate. Why
and to whom does Spanish Republican exile matter in the new millennium? How
has the cultural memory of this exile and the civil war preceding it been
administered and by whom? What is/are the meaning/s of the successive silences
and collective commemorations of it since 1939? More specifically, how
has post-1975 politics of memory dealt with Republican exile in order to
construct a new collective identity as well as a mythology of democracy? The
conference would also like to engage participants in a dialogue on the relevance
of this exile for an understanding of modern Spain, not only from a historical,
but also from a political and cultural point of view. What sorts of methodological
and politico-cultural approaches can help us turn the culture of Spanish
Republican exile into a relevant and pertinent component of Spanish culture?
How can exile be made to fit into cultural histories of Spain? Is this [to
make exile
"fit"] a desirable aim?
We welcome 200 word abstracts, including a title, for 30 minute papers,
either in Spanish or in English. Please send them by 31 May 2003 to:
Mari Paz Balibrea
Birkbeck College, University of London
School of Languages, Linguistics and Culture
43 Gordon Square
London WC1H
United Kingdom
Or via e-mail to:
m.balibrea@bbk.ac.uk
Helena.Lopez@sas.ac.uk