International Association of Galician Studies Conference 2012

Just over two weeks ago now (12-14 September), the 10th Conference of the International Association of Galician Studies was held at Cardiff University. As regular readers will know, my dissertation about Galician travel literature was due in to Cardiff University on 14 September, so this couldn't have been a more perfect coincidence, especially as the conference only takes place once every three years and can be anywhere in the world. What better occasion for my first conference paper?

I was also extremely lucky to be placed in such a welcoming and fascinating panel with Paula Portas Pérez (Cardiff University), Helena Miguélez Carballeira (Bagnor University) and María Liñeira (Oxford University), plus Olga Castro (Aston University) as moderator. Our papers were very varied, but complimentary, considering what various different groups mean by Galician national identity.

Paula, who I had had the pleasure of hearing speak before at Cardiff, back in December, presented research on the discourse of feminism by political nationalists, from 1975 onwards. Through analysis of conference proceedings, propaganda and other documents released by Galician nationalist groups - primarily what is now the BNG (Bloque Nacionalista Galego) - she has observed that while feminism as an abstract concept is touted as one the defining characteristics of the modern, liberal Galician nationalism, in practice women are ignored or marginalised. Most nationalist rhetoric refers to workers, farmers and fishermen - all imagined as male - not mentioning women at all, while some publications actually stated that the place of women was in the home, and that their policies would make working conditions better for men to enable them to provide for their women so that women do not have to work. Paula suggested that the espoused feminism of the Galician nationalists is therefore more of an electoral ploy than a genuine desire to achieve equality for women in Galician society.

Continuing with gender issues, Helena (who recently received an AHRC grant which will allow her to publish two books this year - yay!) spoke about cultural normalisation in Galicia and the problems with it. In particular, she discussed a collection of erotic short stories - Contos eróticos / elas (Erotic Fiction/Hers) published by Edicións Xerais de Galicia in 1991 alongside Contos eróticos / eles (Erotic Fiction/His). The aim of these collections was supposedly to normalise erotic literature, thus diversifying Galician literature and creating another space for female writers. However, of the seven writers in Elas one was actually man, while another was, according to Helena, almost certainly a man using a female pseudonym. Moreover, many of the stories contain horrific acts of sexual violence and rape, which completely goes against the idea of empowering women and celebrating female sexuality that the collection espoused. Helena also briefly alluded to the María Reimóndez affair. After María joined us for lunch, I asked some of the other conference participants who she was (I admit I'm still very ignorant when it comes to Galician culture). It turns out that she had written a gendered translation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: where the English said only 'the', in Galician it was necessary to chose male or female, so María wrote the male nurse, the female windsurfer etc. The publishers weren't happy and fired her, as this article explains further. EDIT: María Reimóndez gives her version of the incident in this article. 

María's talk about 'the linguistic criterion' was of particular interest to me as I'm fascinated by the idea of what makes a national literature and the formation of national canons. Her argument is that we need to look beyond language to define 'Galician' literature, as this is too restrictive. Writers such as Pimentel and Valle Inclán were born and raised in Galicia, and their writing often manifested a particular Galician mindset, a preoccupation with specifically Galician themes, but they are not accepted into the Galician canon because they wrote in Castilian. The counter-argument is that the linguistic criterion stops literature being dominated by 'bio-politics' (i.e. you can only be Galician by blood), but these are surely not the only two options available. María added that this linguistic criterion has meant that many young writers, raised in monolingual Castilian-speaking environments, write in Galician in order to achieve success and status, but Galician has no meaning to them - it is as if they were writing in Esperanto. It was clear from María's presentation that a significant rethink of the definition of 'Galician literature' is necessary.

We must challenge the maxim "One nation, one language, one literature".

Finally there was my presentation about the link between travel writing and the creation of Galician national identity by the Xeración Nós (early nationalists of the 1920s and 30s). I somehow cut the 20,000 words of my dissertation into 20 minutes, discussing: why further study of Galician travel writing is necessary; the personal effects of travel on the authors Ramón Otero Pedrayo, Vincente Risco and Alfonso Castelao; how their conservative attitudes carried with them from Galicia coloured their interpretation of the cities they visited; lessons for Galician nationalism acquired from experience abroad; and finally what 'Europe' meant to the three authors. A lot to fit in to such a short space of time, but thankfully everyone was very receptive. The next job is to get it published!

I then sadly missed the rest of the day as I had many other tasks to carry out while in Cardiff (including handing in my dissertation :D), but caught two very interesting, primarily literature-based, panels on the Friday morning.

Alexia Dotras Bravo (Universidade de Coimbra) shared her experience of working with vast collection of letters to Carolina Michaelis de Vasconcelos (Portugal's foremost lady of letters at the turn of the Twentieth Century), which had been donated to the University where Vasconcelos had been the first female professor. The letters she received give a fascinating insight into the literary and musical tastes of the times and will surely be a source of much research for years to come.

Antonio Iglesias Mira (Centro de Investigacao em Artes e Comunicacao), spoke about how the attempt by a group of drama students at Coimbra University, the Circulo de Iniciacao Teatral de Coimbra, to put on a play entitled Castelao e a sua epoca in 1969 ended in severe State repression, as part of a wider Academic Crisis. He explained how the play was written by Ricard Salvat, who had gained a reputation for presenting political theatre (especially Brecht) as academic lectures so that it could be censored. A very interesting window into the repressive atmosphere of 1960s Portugal...

Marga Romero Lorenzo (Universidade de Coruña) presented Lois Tobío, another travelling early Galician nationalist and a prolific translator. He translated both to enrich the Galician language and to express himself creatively. Like Risco, he believed that Portuguese was the saviour of the Galician language, giving it the status it deserves. He also believed in the power of music for learning languages (something I share with him!) and knew how to sing - but not speak - in Bulgarian.

Learning another language is entering a new world - Lois Tobio

Danny M. Barreto (Vasser College) talked about modern Galician identity in Suso de Toro's Sete palabras, arguing that instead of trying to limit Galicia to one language and place, we must accept that there are multiple Galicia's (returning to María Liñeira's point): 'Castilianized Galicia' and 'emigrant Galicia' are just a few examples. Danny argued for a 'spurious Galicia', a Galician identity aware of its own contradictions and inconsistencies, explaining how Sete Palabras portrays a confrontation with myths of origin and hybrid, multiple identities.

David Miranda Barreiro (Bangor University) presented Claudio Rodríguez Fer's 1993 short story A Muller Loba, about a female werewolf in New York. On the one hand, the story continues the long tradition of werewolf stories in Galician culture (Risco wrote about the importance of werewolves in Galician oral tradition in 1925 for example), while on the other hand a feminist reading of the text explores the female werewolf as a manifestation of strong femininity which will not be tamed by a man. Picking up on Danny's different Galicia's, David also showed how the use of traditional Galician mythology in New York links the 'interior Galicia' with the 'exterior Galicia'.

Catherine Barbour (University of St Andrews) talked about how Queen Christina of Switzerland has become an inspirational figure for Galician women in Teresa Moure's Herba moura. While a champion of education and extremely intelligent herself, Christina is mostly remembered as Descartes' 'groupie', which Catherine suggests is symbolic of the marginalisation of women within Galician literature.

As you can see, I learnt an awful lot about a huge variety of subjects, but I'm still sad I missed out on so many more. Thankfully, all of the presentations were filmed and will hopefully be put up on the website once they've had time to process them. You can also follow @estudosgalegos on Twitter or find them on Facebook for all the latest Galicia news.

Ramón Otero Pedrayo - Arredor De Sí

While I've had limited mobility these last few days, I have at least been able to get on with my dissertation. I've tried to combine as many of my favourite topics in it as possible: literature, travel, Europe, nationalism, identity and Galicia. It's about the travelogues of people from Galicia who travelled around Europe in search of themselves and in the process became the leaders of the Galician nationalist movement: Ramón Otero Pedrayo, Alfonso Castelao and Vincente Risco.

The first of my books is Otero Pedrayo's Arredor de sí (Around oneself). I recently wrote about Eduardo Blanco Amor's A Esmorga (On A Bender) as the best and most beloved example of Galician literature. While this is true, Arredor de sí is probably the most important piece of Galician literature, because of what it inspired.

Written in 1930, Arredor de sí is a fictionalised version of Otero Pedrayo's youth. A highly intelligent young man from a landed family, Otero's alter-ego, Adrián Solovio, is desperate to get out of Galicia. He doesn't feel at home there, and doesn't even really know who he is. He starts by exploring Spain - Madrid, Toledo, Burgos, before moving on to the rest of Europe. It's through visiting France, Germany and Belgium that he slowly realises that he belongs in Galicia and that Galicia deserves its own place in Europe. Where he once believed the Galician language was backwards and for peasants, he returns from his travels determined to prove that Galician is a worthwhile vehicle for deep philosophical thought and modern writing.

As a piece of literature, Arredor de sí isn't the finest example. It's very academic, constantly name-dropping philosophers and writers (not surprising considering the main character is a devout student, but it doesn't really help the flow of the story). However, it's important for what it represents. It's a call to arms for Galicians, an assertion of the value of Galician culture and a demand for a Europe where small nations are equal and respected. It's also a testament to the importance of travel and getting to know other cultures in the search for one's own identity.

Early Days of a Better Nation

Early Days of a Better Nation is a hugely exciting ongoing project, combining two of my biggest interests, theatre and national identity/nation-building. The end result will be so much more than a play: it's a document of our ideas of nationality and what a nation should be in this era of economic crisis, globalisation and increased individualism. The next stage of this process is a scratch performance at Chapter Arts Centre on Thursday 17th May.

I spoke to Annette Mees from Coney (www.youhavefoundconey.net) about the project, where it came from and where it's going to. She highlighted that Early Days is no traditional play, but rather almost a game, a space for discussion and sharing ideas. Because national identity is something which has very different meanings depending on where you are and who you talk to, the piece will grow and change as audiences react to it.



As mentioned in the interview, beyond getting live audience reactions, Coney are very interested in gathering opinions through Twitter. Follow @agencyofconey to get involved.

Early Days of a Better Nation is also just one of many interactive, thought-provoking pieces that Coney are working on at the moment, all across the country. It's well worth checking out their website to see when they are coming to a theatre near you.

A scratch performance of Early Days of a Better Nation will take place at Chapter Arts Centre on Thursday 17th May, with tickets at just £1. Stay tuned to #earlydays to follow the discussion.

Act One presents White Crow @ The Gate Arts Centre

An ancient tale transformed into a thoroughly modern, thought-provoking piece about 21^st century Britain and identity politics.

“What will happen to Wales in the case of Scottish independence?” It’s a question posed by many academics here at Cardiff University, and one which fuels Act One’s latest production, White Crow. The premise is that forty years in the future, Scotland and Ireland have gained independence - the former peacefully, the latter through terrorism – leaving Wales to be walked all over by England. Ruled ever more strictly by Westminster, Wales becomes increasingly destitute, giving rise to radical nationalist groups. White Crow explores difficult questions like where is the boundary between nationalism and being proud of your country, and just what is best for the future of Wales.

White Crow, however, started life as the Branwen branch of the Mabinogi, the foundational myth of Wales. The myth tells of Bendigeidfran, King of Wales, his brother Efnissien, and their little sister Branwen (Welsh for White Crow). Branwen marries the Irish leader Matholwch who imprisons and tortures her, so her brothers, with the help of Pryderi must fight to free her.  Under the guidance of director Aled Bidder and production manager Ellen Green, over ten months of preparation, improvisation and editing, the myth was transformed into a remarkable play which combined hard-hitting political commentary with a deeply personal story. The main characters and plot points remain, but this time Ben, Niss, Branwen and Father Pyrderi are involved in a much larger struggle for national self-determination. Many new characters have also been added, including the sibling’s parents Eirlys and Llyr, and their friend turned political opponent Bran Lloyd who serves as catalyst for much of the play’s political philosophising.

The long preparation process and strict editing (which I believe caused a few arguments at the time) ensure that this unique, original and collaborative play is consistently engrossing. Pacing is often a problem with Act One plays, which usually feel far too long, but White Crow was kept tight whilst tying together many diverse plot strands. Particularly effective was the clever use of temporal shifts, flashbacks of Bran in his early days with the movement and relationships with Eirlys and Llyr interwoven with Ben’s assent in the nationalist movement. The juxtaposition of the two periods really added to the sense of Bran’s heartbreak and regrets, although they did seem to perplex some audience members - a fault of the audience not Act One I believe!

More than just a great script, however, the production brings together an extremely talented cast and creative team. Right from the beginning, Act One successfully create an oppressive atmosphere symbolic of the political climate, encapsulated in the black crows that constantly surround the stage. Like many other audience members, I was genuinely frightened when I walked into an almost black auditorium and found myself face to face with a giant crow. Apparently many hours of rehearsal and improvisation were dedicated to perfecting the birds, but it certainly paid off! Besides avian impressions, much of the power of this production comes from the very strong central performances of Greg Davies (Ben), Ben Atterbury (Niss) and particularly Alex Mann, who really stood out for me as disillusioned politician Bran Lloyd. In fact, the whole ensemble seemed the strongest Act One cast that I have seen, bringing to life the strong emotions and high drama of the script with subtlety. They were also very versatile, with some beautiful singing (particularly James Rollinson) and once again proving Act One’s stage fighting prowess, although some of the cast could do with a bit more work on their accents (especially Irish ones)!

The production received a well-deserved standing ovation and it’s not hard to see why. White Crow is in a league of its own when it comes to amateur productions, both in terms of the performances and especially the quality of the writing. Act One pull off a real achievement with this production, combining gripping entertainment with serious political commentary. I will be recommending it to my Nationalism professor and to anyone who wants to see an exciting, engrossing new production. 

SHOWING AT THE GATE ON 2-4 MARCH 2012.

What place for culture in contemporary nationalism? A Galician example.

Yesterday I went to a talk by Dr Paula Portas Pérez about the contemporary narratives of the BNG, Galicia's nationalist bloc. As you would expect from a nationalist organisation, part of their rhetoric alludes to the 'protection' of Galician culture from external forces (Castile-dominated Spain used to be seen as the oppressor, but given the need to work with the Spanish government since the 1981 Statute of Autonomy, emphasis has shifted to 'threats' like the EU or, more generally, globalisation).

However, when I asked Paula what the BNG mean by culture, she said they only ever refer to the language. Speaking galego makes you Galician and therefore there should be language normalisation laws in place to protect and promote what is commonly seen as a language heading towards extinction. But beyond that, the BNG do not engage at all with the place of culture in Galician identity. It got me thinking, does culture still have a place in the construction of national identity? Have nationalists stopped creating a sense of national pride from great authors? Stopped celebrating traditions as a sign of uniqueness? Or has this cultural identity become so naturalised and internalised that people don't even question it any more? It seems that for the BNG people just are Galician and there's no need to question what that means. 

In The Sources of Nationalist IdeologyJohn Breuilly wryly observes that "[Nationalists'] claim to uniqueness is ultimately used to justify the claim to have a state just like any other", and that seems like the case here. In the fight to have the same political powers as other nations, the Galician nationalists seem to be losing sight of what makes Galicia distinct in the first place.

Getting to know Johann Gottfried Herder

Today (other than investigating the casting of the new Les Mis film, more on that later), I have spent the day getting acquainted with Johann Gottfried Herder, the German philosopher seen as 'the father of nationalism, historicism and the Volksgeist' (Isaiah Berlin). Having not really studied much philosophy, I was barely aware of Herder before a few weeks ago. Now, I'm hooked.

While he's not the most attractive man, he writes with such passion and excitement (albeit sometimes at the expense of clarity) that you can't help but be swept along with it. And anyone with enough self-deprecating humour to call on of their first works Yet Another Philosophy of History is worth note in my book.

So, why this sudden interest in Herder? I'm currently working on an essay on Galician cultural identity, and my tutor Dr Craig Patterson (one of the most enthusiastic defenders of Galicia as a distinct cultural entity, and himself a very interesting read) vehemently insisted that I read Herder in preparation. I was confused - what did a late 18th century German have to do with 20th century Galicia? - but I duly obliged and now realise that not only is his writing relevant to 20th century Galicia, but to my very 21st century academic interests. It's as if he wrote what I have always felt but never really expressed, but I must remember that over 200 years ago, ideas like popularism, expressionism and especially pluralism were not only new, but clearly opposed to the dominant philosophical beliefs.

While I could write for hours about these ideas, I'll stick to just a few key points that really struck me.

Pluralism
Herder strongly believed that there was no such thing as a 'chosen people', or a particular civilization, past or present, that is superior to any other. There is no point in wishing to return to the high point of Ancient Greece, or in trying to force Western morals on indigenous communities as all cultures are incommensurable and only truly function as a product of their historical, geographical and social circumstances. He insisted on recognising the value of every culture, even if we don't understand it, because it is only within their native culture that people can fully achieve self-expression.

Expressionism
Perhaps my favourite of Herder's ideas is that everything we do, especially art, is a form of self-expression. While artists may insist that they make 'art for art's sake', Herder would argue that, even if it is unconsciously, we cannot help but reveal all of our personality in what we make, what we do.

"Art is a voice speaking, rather than creating an object"

Because we do not live in isolation, who we are is influenced by our social relations. Thus our expressions do not just reveal our personality, but that of the community in which we live. As someone who wants to spend my life reading, watching films, looking at art, listening to music and then writing about what that says about the creator and their community, it's nice to have someone support this idea so eloquently.

Language
Herder argues that language developed along with human powers of reason; as we began to recognise things by their distinguishing features, we create an internal language. As societies grow, the need for communication means these languages are shared, but because everyone has a different internal word for the same object, languages are full of synonyms. At the same time, there are no words for abstract concepts because we cannot recognise and distinguish these. Thus:

"With all its inadequacies in essentials, it has the greatest unnecessary abundance".

In short, what each language allows for, and what it doesn't, reveals a great deal about the lives, customs, beliefs and social structures of different cultures, so each language should be protected and cherished. If he could witness the extinction of languages across the world by the increasing dominance of English and other major languages, I'm sure Herder would turn in his grave!

For a clear and concise introduction to the originality of Herder's ideas, I recommend Isaiah Berlin's Vico & Herder: Two Studies in the History of Ideas.

What is Culture?

It's a good question and one that I've encountered again and again in class and on the radio. An anthropologist would say that culture is everything that makes us human, that isn't the result of science. Different groups - tribes, nations, social classes, generations - can be said to have a different 'culture', encompassing ways of expressing themselves, rituals, beliefs. However, in every day parlance, culture is often taken to mean 'high culture': classical painting, sculpture, opera, ballet, auteur cinema. What I'm interested is somewhere in between: all kinds of artistic expression, including that high culture, but also popular culture, comedy, rom-coms, pulp fiction, musicals, graffiti - things that are often written off by the self-proclaimed defenders of 'culture' (although graffiti for one seems to be becoming rather establishment these days...).

'Culture' is such a loaded term that I have been criticised for being elitist in calling my radio show The Culture Show. Yet as much as I tried to avoid the perils of the word culture (and also the stealing from BBC2 implied in the name), there was no other word that conveyed the huge range of things I want to talk about: literature, music, theatre, dance, art and films of all kinds. So culture it is.

But as I've established, culture is a scarily vast term. So what exactly do I want to do? Well, as I'm forced to narrow my interests into some form of coherent PhD proposal, I'm not ready to let the others go just yet, so this is a place for me to consider cultural things that interest me. Sometimes that might just be 'This play/exhibition/film is awesome, go see/watch!', sometimes it might be an interview with someone that I've been lucky enough to meet through the radio. But what really gets me going is cultural analysis, so there will mainly be musings on what can be learnt from the book/film/musical/picture in question. I've always had incredibly multi-disciplinary interests (which is why I've always taken the broadest academic path, nothing can be vaguer than 'European Studies' which doesn't even know where the limits of 'Europe' are), and what I'm learning in class will undoubtedly prompt reflections here, so expect the following to appear somewhere:
-Questioning 'identity' in all its forms
-Nationalism, national identity and foundational myths
-Psychoanalysis
-Cultural mobility/intertextuality
-Translation and the politics thereof
-Foulcault and discursive techniques
-Orientalism and post-colonialism
...and probably a whole lot more! As for the source of materials, Spanish and French speaking countries will feature heavily, but I have spent the last 5 years studying 'Europe' so those influences will certainly crop up too, and as I currently live in Cardiff, how could I not be fascinated by Welsh culture?

I hope this will be not just interdisciplinary but multi-media. As well written ramblings, I will be putting my finely honed talking into a microphone skills to good use making podcasts, especially when visuals aren't essential. And when I eventually learn to use my camera, I hope to post videos too. And finally, I hope that all this inspires you to check out some of the things I talk about. My passion for languages, for travel, for research, for cultural analysis, was inspired by the films, books, music, theatre and art which I discovered one way or another and never cease to fascinate me. I hope some of them will fascinate you too.