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A man, Santiago Gorostiza. Photo.

Santiago Gorostiza

Researcher

A man, Santiago Gorostiza. Photo.

‘Facing the Sun’: Nature and Nation in Franco's ‘New Spain’ (1936–51)

Author

  • Miguel Ángel Del Arco Blanco
  • Santiago Gorostiza

Summary, in English

This article examines the relation between nation and nature in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and post-war years. As in other European cases of fascist and parafascist regimes, the Francoist regime mobilised nature for political and nationalistic goals. Spanish nature embodied the essences of the ‘true Spain’ and was seen as key to the regeneration of the country. The regime assumed an agrarian discourse that identified the countryside and nature with the real essences of the nation. It adopted autarkic political, social and economic directives, closing the country upon itself in order to regenerate and purge away its sins, but also confident that the nation's nature was the basis for building a new empire.

Publishing year

2021-01-01

Language

English

Pages

73-82

Publication/Series

Journal of Historical Geography

Volume

71

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Academic Press

Topic

  • Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified

Keywords

  • Autarky
  • Environmental history
  • Fascism
  • Francoism
  • Nation
  • Nature

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0305-7488