Thursday 23 October 2014
University College London
History and Nationalism. Spain and Catalonia in a Comparative Context
Speakers: Enric Ucelay (Emeritus Professor, Univ. Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain), Nicola Miller (UCL) and Paul Preston
Time: 18 h.
Place: UCL Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, UCL Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
In collaboration with the Catalan Observatory
Does an implicitly nationalist stance inform all national history, with certain framework conditions too easily taken for granted? Can historians of nationalist movements avoid being unduly influenced by the ideological cause they chart, or indeed the teleological assumptions that underlie it? What if a silent consensus seeks to stifle critical challenges to a dominant explanatory narrative? At a time when the question of national idiosyncrasy has forcefully re-emerged, this panel engaged in some of the key arguments underpinning these questions.
Nicola Miller began her discussion on nationalism by discussing two significant texts in relation to the panel discussion. Written in the 1980s from a Marxist perspective, she argued that Eric Hobsbawm’s text Nations and Nationalism since 1780 and Benedict Anderson’s 'Imagined Communities' concept were both influential in outlining the harmful effects of nationalism within the academic realm of history. From this point of view, Professor Miller explained that methodologically, nationalism is a great challenge because of the preliminary framework for the Historian it creates. Taking this into consideration, she argued that the study of ‘Transnational’ history, or indeed ‘Global’ history, can be regarded as the best way to avoid the danger of nationalism. Professor Miller concluded that this approach would be the best way to carry out a more objective and wider approach to the study of humanities.
Enric Ucelay, Paul Preston and Nicola Miller
Secondly, Enric Ucelay outlined the different challenges that the Historian faces whilst planning and carrying out research. Through numerous examples, predominately sourced from Catalan and Spanish history, he highlighted that there are many studies of national history that are carried out from a nationalist gaze, although few Historians would consider themselves as ‘Nationalist’. Following on from this perspective, he argued that the greatest danger of approaching history within a national framework would be the simplification of other factors it could create. A focus on national history could cause many significant factors in the course of research to be forgotten, due to the lack of consideration or secondary role these could play within the national facts studied. Additionally, Ucelay discussed the incongruity of a national gaze on certain territories, such as Ukraine, by pointing out their different occupations by several empires or countries over a long period of time.
Enric Ucelay's presentation
Using the previous two presentations as a starting point for his own discussion, Paul Preston argued that studying national history was possible without falling into the traps of nationalism. Using his research on Spain and Franco to support this claim, he highlighted that any good Historian has an ethical filter, which avoids involuntary propagandistic works. Preston underlined that every aspect of a national territory must be considered alongside the international sphere, concluding that the title ‘nationalist history’, was oxymoronic because each concept in this term overrides the other.
The debate ended with each speaker defending their respective arguments, along with questions from the audience.
Audience members
Enric Ucelay-Da Cal is Emeritus Professor of Contemporary History at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, and coordinator of the UPF Research Group on States, Nations and Sovereignties. His research addresses European, Spanish and Catalan nationalism and political, cultural and intellectual history during the 20th Century. He has published widely in several languages, including: La Catalunya populista: Imatge, cultura i política en l'etapa republicana, 1931-1939 (Barcelona: La Magrana, 1982); La paz simulada: una historia de la Guerra Fría, 1941-1991 (Madrid: Alianza, 1997 and 2006) and El imperialismo catalán. Prat de la Riba, Cambó, D'Ors y la conquista moral de España (Barcelona: Edhasa, 2003). He previously taught at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and was a Visiting Professor at Duke University (1994); Venice International University (2002) and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris (2004).
Nicola Miller is Professor of Latin American History at UCL. She is interested in intellectual history, cultural history and international history - and particularly in thinking about how these different sub-disciplines can be brought together and in the insights to be gained from inter-disciplinary work and transnational approaches. She has published widely in all three fields, particularly on the history of intellectuals in Latin America. She also has a long-standing interest in nationalism and national identity. Her publications include: Reinventing Modernity in Latin America: Intellectuals Imagine the Future, 1900-1930 (Palgrave, New York, 2007); ‘The historiography of nationalism and national identity in Latin America’, Nations and Nationalism, vol. 12 (2), 2006, 201–221; ‘The Absolution of History: Uses of the Past in Castro's Cuba’, Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 38 (1), 2003, 147-62 and In the Shadow of the State: Intellectuals and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Spanish America (Verso, London and New York, 1999).