Ler História 46 / 2004
Dossier Speech the Nation
Maurizio Ridolfi
Nation Festivities. Nation religions and political rituals in liberal Europe of the “long 19th Century”Manuel Deniz Silva
The nationalist project of the Renascimento Musical (1923-1946): “reportugalise” the Portuguese music
José Neves
The imagination of the nation in the Portuguese communist historiographyAndrea Klimt
Divergent Trajectories: Portugueseness in France and Germany
Documents in Study
Carlos Maurício
Growth – Poverty – Inequality. World asymmetries between States and Regions
Studies
Jordi Canal
The Counter-revolution in motion: “carlismo” and politic violence in Spain (1876-1939)Maria Ana Bernardo
Elites, public action and infrastructures: the construction of the modern sanitation system in Évora (1890 – 1933).Frédéric Vidal
Relationships of compadrio in the city: tradition or network?
Brief Studies
Alberto Gil Novales
The English luddism in a Spanish newspaper of 1811-1812
Abstracts
Ler História 46 / 2004
Nation Festivities. Nation religions and political rituals in liberal Europe of the “long 19th Century”In Europe, throughout the 19th Century, the symbolic conflicts that occurred simultaneously with the construction of a “nation religion” were inscribed in a public scenery of politician use of past rituals, with two distinct objectives: the representation of the new liberal bourgeois social hierarchies and the legitimation of the liberal institutions in the name of a new national feeling. Between Europe and Americas, in the definition of a civil festivities calendar and in straight connection with the traditional religious rituals, two main models emerged: the French and the North American, competitive but both rich of reciprocal influences. Focusing different national realities, the author describes the developing of this process, demonstrating how, in general, the adaptation of the dynastic ceremonials to the National States civil festivities originated a redefinition of political liturgies in several aspects, with a complex transition, or even a contamination, among different types of political festivities existing till then.
The nationalist project of the Renascimento Musical (1923-1946): “reportugalise” the Portuguese musicAt the opposite of other nationalist schools, which supported the reference to folklorism as the way for creating a “national music”, the monarchist and neothomistic movement Renascimento Musical, tried to “reportugalise” Portuguese music by saving the ancient musical heritage, so that it contributed to legitimating the discourse of an emerging historical musicology. The Estado Novo, which assigned to erudite music an ornamental function, didn’t give the room this militant project claimed but the integration of Renascimento Musical’s leaders in the cultural and education establishment of the regime was fundamental for the development of an aristocratic and elitist form of musical communication.
The nationalist project of the Renascimento Musical (1923-1946): “reportugalise” the Portuguese musicAt the opposite of other nationalist schools, which supported the reference to folklorism as the way for creating a “national music”, the monarchist and neothomistic movement Renascimento Musical, tried to “reportugalise” Portuguese music by saving the ancient musical heritage, so that it contributed to legitimating the discourse of an emerging historical musicology. The Estado Novo, which assigned to erudite music an ornamental function, didn’t give the room this militant project claimed but the integration of Renascimento Musical’s leaders in the cultural and education establishment of the regime was fundamental for the development of an aristocratic and elitist form of musical communication.
The imagination of the nation in the Portuguese communist historiographyThe article proposes a definition of the Portuguese history imagined by the Marxist historiography closer to the Communist Portuguese Party. Electing a set of communist historians (the most notable ones), the article underlines the main theses sustained on the Portuguese history, from the discoveries period to the advent of capitalism, passing through the inquisition process. The article balances the location of the Portuguese Marxist historiography between the Marxist Leninist general philosophy of history and the different currents of Portuguese historiography. It’s a first essay that synthesises the central images of the historical narrative, advancing some conclusions about the concept of time, agency, nation and class in the Marxist Portuguese thought.
Divergent Trajectories: Portugueseness in France and GermanyIn comparative discussions of national belonging, Germany and France are often cast as representing opposite ends of the spectrum. The German system is described as typifying the "ethnic nation," where membership is defined along principles of descent, and newcomers tend to remain perpetual outsiders. France, on the other hand, is portrayed as exemplifying the “civic nation,” where membership is based on shared political allegiance and acquired cultural knowledge and new arrivals are legally and culturally incorporated into the nation. Becoming “French,” the argument goes, has long been an encouraged and expected transformation, while becoming “German” has until recently been very difficult to realize or even imagine.
In this article, the author explores the comparison between French and German frames of national belonging. Specifically, how has a particular national group, namely the Portuguese in France and Germany, constructed notions of home and belonging within these two rather different contexts?
The Counter-revolution in motion: “carlismo” and politic violence in Spain (1876-1939)There is a prejudice saying that reaction and modernity are incompatible. Even so, an attentive reading of the European contemporary history denies this idea. The counter-revolutionary movements are a perfect example of this. They develop and change as all the other groups and political cultures.
In this article, the author approaches this question from the study of the Spanish “carlismo”, an exceptional case due to its long surviving comparing to other counter-revolutionaries movements of the 19th Century. He specially focuses the evolution of the “carlista” movement in the political violence field. Between the end of the first “carlista” war, in 1876, and the end of the Spanish Civil War, in 1939, the author shows the remarkable capacity of adaptation and modernisation proved by this reactionary Spanish movement.
Elites, public action and infrastructures: the construction of the modern sanitation system in Évora (1890 – 1933).At the beginning of the 20th century, Évora city councils decided that the installation of a water supply and sewage disposal system using state-of-the-art sanitary engineering would resolve the city’s sanitation problems and bolster Évora’s as one of the Portuguese leading cities. Despite the advantages of such a system, only twenty-five years later was construction work concluded. This was started during the Monarchy, proceeded throughout the 1st Republic and was inaugurated at the beginning of the Estado Novo dictatorship.
It is within this context of political and institutional change that we based our study of the performance of municipal elites in the creation of modern infrastructures. We identified the main protagonists at work, solutions put forward and difficulties encountered, as well as clarifying the relationship that may or may not have existed between the public and the private interests. The aim was also to assess the Évora experience by reference to the debate on modalities for intervention by the local authority in the organisation of the city in the period under study.
Relationships of compadrio in the city: tradition or network?Is it of interest to study relationships of compadrio (between godparents and parents) in an urban modern context? Compadrio has been especially considered as typical of the traditional regions of the south of Europe, such as the Alentejo. In the city, there is indeed a process of transformation of forms of apadrinhamento e compadrio. In this text, we manage to highlight the informal character of the relationships of compadrio in the neighbourhood of Alcântara in Lisbon in the beginning of XX century. Such social bonds testify more to the complexity of the networks of individual relations than to the permanence of old rituals or traditions. But from the point of view of the study of structure of the urban society, relationships of compadrio conserve great originality and an important cognitive value. They are directed relations that attest to modes of sharing values and interests in a specific urban environment.
The English Luddites in a Spanish newspaper of 1811-1812In the period of the Independence War, or Peninsular War, in general the Spanish newspapers under French influence are constrained to defend the system that they belong. They try to show the French splendour and also to attack its enemies. Together with the guerrilla fighters, the Spanish biggest enemy is the Great Britain. In this way, one of these newspapers, the Gazeta de Valencia, reports in Spain the firsts luddites riots, which occurred by the end of 1811 and the beginning of 1812.