Friday, December 3, 2010

More than one Spain?

So what exactly is the "Spanish Identity"? Is it all flameco, paella, and toros, and people who look like Antonio Banderas? During my stay here in Espana (or the Land of Rabbits), the name given by the Fenicians, I've learned that there are a lot of deep-seeded conflicts that have dated back centuries and centuries ago. In Spain, there is a theory of "Las Dos Espanas" or, "The Two Spains", and idea that become concrete in the 18th century with the Borbon kings' (French monarchs, yet family with the Spanish monarchs) centralization of the Spanish government, language, and culture, and the rise of  the enlightement movement. "The Two Spains"  means that there is one 'type' of Spain in which many people want to keep the traditional, religious (maybe?), centralized Spain (with the toros and flamenco); and the other Spain in which people want a more liberal, "Europeanized" Spain the recognizes the multiculturalism of Spain. Many regions in Spain are autonomous regions, like Catalonia, Galicia, Basque Country, Valencia, and Andalucia. These regions, historically, and even now, have always been in conflict with the "traditional, centralized" Spain. The people who want a more diverse, liberal, and 'Europeanized' accuse the  more traditional, centralized way of thinking "Facist" and "Franquista" (during the time of Francisco Franco's Dictatorship). It has even been called into question, the independence of these regions. Some of the reasons include that the regions of Catalonia and Basque Country are the most wealthiest, industrialized, and technologically advanced regions in Spain, other reasons include cultural recognition. In Spain there are many different dialects, and even languages that are spoken. Really and truly, the Spanish that people speak in today's time, is really 'Castellano', the language/ dialect from the region of Castilla/ Castile (which spread through out Spain during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. This brings me too a  funny topic that I will post later- the Murcian  accent/ dialect.  Until then, who knows how long Spain will be in this  dispute. It has gone on for centuries and it looks like it will continue for more years to come.

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