Xoán González-Millán and the Present Uses of the Past: Notes from a Study on Exile

Abstract

This chapter engages with the contributions of Xoán González-Millán to the field of Galician Studies and, more specifically, with the uses of the past in the struggles within a contemporary field. The notion of “National Patrimony” is explored as an artifact meant to define the limits of a national identity to be imposed in the present, when this National Patrimony takes shape. I use González-Millán’s reflections to problematize the construction of a Galician national identity as articulated by Galician exiled intellectuals in Buenos Aires, including Luís Seoane and Ramón de Valenzuela. They were part of a group strongly invested in re-enacting Galician History with the aim of finding the role to be played by themselves, as exiles from the Spanish Civil War, in the upcoming stages of the Galician nation.