De-centering Spanish History: From the Regionalist to the Postcolonial Turn

This paper will focus on the subsequent changes in the prevailing interpretative paradigms of Spanish history since the end of the 20^th century, which were still very influenced by the patterns settled by Spanish “national histories” until 1936 and beyond. While this classic paradigm was first challenged by the emergence of alternative “national histories” and regional approaches from diverse points of the Spanish peninsular periphery, a new impulse toward rewriting Spanish history has come from the inclusion of postcolonial perspectives. In particular, the inclusion of the imperial dimension and its dialogue with the main interpretations of 19^th and 20^th century Spanish history have contributed to opening new perspectives and to seeing the empire not as a mere complement but as a protagonist actor, where the limits of the political and institutional models applied in the metropolis can be first tested. Furthermore, it is our purpose to discuss the extent to which both de-centering approaches have altered the prevailing view of Spanish history, and whether there is a really “Iberian” historical dimension of the historiographic interpretations of the past, which also duly encompasses Portugal and its imperial experience.