Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Terrorism and violence have long been a part of Spanish history and culture, although the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries brought a notable increase of these phenomena with the Spanish Civil War, Franco dictatorship, the Basque conflict, and the Madrid train bombings in 2004. Prior to the early 1990s – 2010s, however, there was not much evidence of this in the cultural sphere---especially on the stage, which has always served an important role in Spain. This dissertation examines the reasons behind the amplified experience of violence and terrorism in Spain in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries through a look at significant historical events leading up to and during these periods and notes the quotidian nature of violence in Spain at this time due to its repeated nature. This is amplified by a parallel examination of the history of theatre in Spain during the same time in order to demonstrate the effects of political upheaval on both the production (censorship placed on texts, etc.) and performance (availability of funds, actors, and spaces) of dramas. After establishing this historical connection between theatre and violence in Spain, I address the intersection of the two institutions as observed in the works of contemporary Spanish playwrights. I divide my analysis of these dramas into three thematic sections, all of which pertain to terrorism: the representations of control, ideology, and alterity. Through my treatment of these plays, I argue that frequent interaction with violence and terrorism affects the individual and the cultural identity of those forced to experience it. Additionally, I propose that the playwrights in my study employ the theatrical genre as a form of violence itself in which to combat current societal norms and responses to violence, urging the public to “think outside the box” and find a new way to deal with the issues at hand. In other words, I suggest that terrorism, like other phenomena present in society, is a social construct; it is relative, and most importantly, it is not a fixed entity. Spanish identity does not have to “go hand in hand” with violence. It can change.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Tara Downs
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2612984997