Beyond the Niche: Ecological Cultural Production in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Discussion of ecology and Iberian cultures in the US Academy is in its nascent stage. While many works have analyzed the representation of nature in Spanish literature, there is no work that comparatively investigates the varying relationships between Spanish regional identities and their landscapes. My dissertation opens up this discussion, analyzing contemporary manifestations of Castilian, Basque, Catalan and Galician cultural identities. Such comparisons construct a new understanding of Iberia through its local idiosyncrasies in the global framework of the ecological crisis. Some of the questions my dissertation explores include: how do we define nature? How do literary and cultural texts represent humans and nonhumans intertwined in shared communities? To what extent has globalization affected local identity? How do artists and authors respond to these new socio-economic realities? In what ways does this challenge traditional notions of Spanish identity? This project considers particularly Iberian eco-cultural systems as potential responses to help ameliorate this environmental degradation. Some of these responses include new evaluations of the city's relationship to the hinterland, rethinking how we perceive the global and the local as well as laying out the varying relationships between nature and nationalism.