Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies

Durante séculos, as instituições seculares têm persistido em legislar o género e governar os nossos corpos, sexualidade e atos sexuais considerados desviantes das convenções sociais. Da mesma maneira, as performances têm sido analisadas e criticadas por instituições religiosas e governamentais. Tendo em conta, as restrições religiosas e políticas, este artigo propõe analisar particularmente dois performers dentro dos contextos artísticos de Portugal e Espanha. Por um lado, António Variações que era um cantor português gay que ganhou atenção dos mídia pela sua excentricidade e pelo seu estilo musical. Por outro lado, José Pérez Ocaña um pintor, performer e travesti gay espanhol que se opôs ao regime Franquista. Portanto, este artigo propõe analisar comparativamente de que forma é que os corpos e as performances de António Variações e de José Pérez Ocaña subverteram as ideologias das ditaduras e como é que estes performers contribuiram para a construção de identidades queer em Portugal e Espanha, na fase de transição da ditadura para democracia.

This article examines Bernardo Santareno’s A Promessa (1957) and Os Marginais e a Revolução (1979), arguing that the earlier play foreshadows a concern with sexual and gender relationships and expressions of queerness that only comes completely ‘out of the closet’ after the 25th of April, 1974. Taking particular religious and political constraints into account, and using Santareno’s plays as a starting point, I will explore the complex ways in which gender and sexuality, significant components of individual identity and identity relations, act as a means of dissolving barriers and uncover the many ways Santareno questions essentialist conceptualisations of gender and sexuality.

This paper aims to examine homosocial relationships and expressions of queerness in the canonical twentieth-century Portuguese novel Sinais de Fogo (1978) by Jorge de Sena. Sena’s novel explores homosocial relations mainly on the heterosexual and masculine levels. Male-male social bonds have a powerful influence on the construction of heterosexuality and in shaping concepts of masculinities. While these patterns are evident in the Portuguese society depicted by Sena, their presence also suggests a wider influence on men’s sexual and social relations. These dynamics can be seen in Jorge de Sena’s novel Sinais de Fogo. Moreover, the intrinsic relationship between homosociality and sexuality in Sinais de Fogo provides a space for queer identities to emerge and also becomes a means of achieving and exerting power. I will also demonstrate how the functioning of sexuality affects the characters of this novel within their social classes, sexual behavior and sexual practices. This paper will explore and explain the complex ways in which both gender and sexuality, as significant aspects of individual identities, identity politics and identity relations, inform and are informed by literature.

This article examines the journey undertaken by the slave ship Brilhante, captured by a British anti-slave trade patrol off the coast of Brazil in 1838. The ship and its crew were engaged in slave trafficking in contravention of international treaty agreements. In accordance with prize law the Brilhante was condemned by the Anglo-Brazilian mixed commission court in Rio de Janeiro and the slaves on-board were freed and apprenticed for a prescribed number of years. This article argues that during their apprenticeships not only were these Africans treated in the same way as slaves, but they formed similar bonds for survival. Both ethnic solidarity and shipmate bonds, which transcended ethnic boundaries, allowed them to forge new identities. The article demonstrates how the liberated Africans from the ship, who belonged to a larger marginalised group of “recaptives” within the Atlantic World, were thus able to facilitate the achievement of their eventual freedom, and improve the conditions in which they lived.

This article presents a case study of the HMS Romney, the British Royal Navy ship stationed in Havana from 1837 to 1845. The ship housed Africans awaiting the verdict of the trials of the Havana Mixed Commission Court for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. It highlights the controversies and discussions which were generated by the presence of the ship, and how they relate to the wider political scene that Robert L. Paquette has aptly described as a “conflict between empires over slavery in Cuba.” Not only was the ship a potent symbol of British abolitionism and a platform upon which ideological battles played out, but it was ultimately seen as a threat to the prevailing hegemonic order in Cuba.

En en este artículo se analiza el “discurso de viaje” de Laura Méndez de Cuenca. Primeramente, se contextualiza históricamente a esta escritora dentro de la sociedad mexicana de finales del siglo XIX, a la par que, de acuerdo a la propuesta de Michel Foucault, se destaca la importancia del discurso de la multiplicidad en sus discursos de viaje. Posteriormente, se estudian las posturas de Méndez de Cuenca en
relación al rol de las mujeres, lo extranjero y la “raza”. El artículo
concluye evaluando con las multiplicidades discursivas de esta escritora.

The period from 1898 to 1923 was a particularly dramatic one in Spanish history; it culminated in the violent Barcelona “labor wars” and was only brought to a close with the coup d’état launched by the Barcelona Captain General, Miguel Primo de Rivera, in September 1923. In his detailed examination of the rise of the Catalan anarchist-syndicalist-led labor movement, the author blends social, cultural and political history in a novel way. He analyses the working class “from below” and the policies of the Spanish State towards labor “from above.” Based on an in-depth usage of primary sources, the authors provides an unrivalled account of Catalan labor and the Catalan anarchist-syndicalist movement and thus makes an important contribution to our understanding of early twentieth-century Spanish history.

It was during the period 1913-1923 that the seeds of political polarization and social violence culminating in the Spanish Civil War were sown. This volume explores the causes of the growing schism within Spanish society, focusing on the crisis of the Spanish liberal order, under challenge from newly mobilized forces on both the Right and Left.

The aim of the book is to understand the reasons behind the rise of Catalan nationalism in the late nineteenth century. It begins with an analysis of Catalonia’s integration within the Spanish nation-building project from the 1770s onwards, and charts the growing tensions between the Spanish state and its allies, on the one hand, and Catalan social, cultural and political elites on the others. These tensions culminated in the late 1880s, when a political and cultural movement emerged which affirmed that Catalonia was a separate nation and that it should therefore be given a high degree of political autonomy from Spain. This represented one of the most important developments in Spanish nineteenth-century history, with the “Catalan question” thereafter never far from the centre of the Spanish political stage. The book also sets Catalonia within a broader European context, arguing that the study of the rise of Catalan nationalism has lesson for our overall understanding of regional and national identities. The Catalan case shows that rather than constituting two separate poles that never touch, there can bet a considerable degree of ambiguity and overlap between these identities.

For years Spain was under a dictatorship until democracy was recovered in 1978 under the form of a constitutional monarchy. In 1986 it joined the European Union and has experienced an economic and cultural renaissance. Today, Spain has the seventh largest economy in the world. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Spain is an unrivalled reference guide to Spanish history and politics from the Middle Ages to the present. With its chronology, introductory essay, and over seven hundred dictionary entries on major Spanish organizations, including political parties, trade unions, and state bodies; the various regions and languages which comprise Spain, including Catalonia and the Basque Country; and major figures in Spanish culture and the arts, the Historical Dictionary of Spain allows readers to easily follow the major changes Spain has undergone.

The essays collected here provide an up-to-date analysis of the causes and effects of the Spanish-American War. Each essay is written by an expert in the history of the nations involved in the conflict of 1898: the United States, Spain, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the ...

... The tradition of the interpretative essay has been, in particular, con-tined by Paul Preston and, in the sphere of economic history, by Joseph ... Francoist elites and on cabinet crises, the major institutions of the regime, especially the National Movement (FET y de las Jons) and the ...