Imperial History and the Postnational Other

Abstract

Miguel de Unamuno and José Ortega y Gasset proposed comprehensive approaches to the status of Spain within the European framework. Neither of these authors took a critical view of Spain’s imperial past. It is necessary to revise this view of the Spanish past and present as an imperial project with the elements of exploitation that are concomitant with it. Additionally, Navajas proposes that the new postnational paradigm creates a fluid situation that facilitates the emergence of interactive relations between the old metropolis and its colonies. The dialogue should be based on a recognition of the traumatic past, but also on the notion that supranational entities need a cultural imaginary of shared cultural referents that acts as an archive accepted communally by all.