Visceral Attachments: Secessionism, Populism, and the Excess of Democracy
Featured Speaker:听Elena Delgado University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Thursday November 9, 2017
McKenna 103
4:00 p.m.
Professor Delgado鈥檚 research focuses on the cultural construction of Spanish national identity in the democratic period, with particular emphasis on the role of emotions in the public sphere. Her latest monograph, La naci贸n singular. Las fantas铆as de la normalidad democr谩tica espa帽ola (1996-2011) (Siglo XXI Editores, 2014), was widely acclaimed and was a finalist for the 2015 National (Spanish) Literary Award (Essay). Her talk takes the emotional climate surrounding pro-independence referenda in Scotland (2014) and Catalonia (2014, 2017) as a point of departure in order to analyze their connection with the (re)appearance of populist movements in Spain and elsewhere. It argues that those perceived 鈥渆xcessive moments鈥� are not failures of democracy, but rather the manifestation of the irresolvable paradoxes at the heart of it.
The lecture will be in English and is free and open to the public. Reception to follow.
This event is sponsored by: The Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities, The Center for Western Civilization, Thought & Policy, The Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Results
The talk was very well attended (52 people, including undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty members). After the talk, a lively discussion ensued for over 30 minutes. Taking the emotional climate surrounding pro-independence referenda in Scotland (2014) and Catalonia (2014, 2017) as a point of departure, her talk analyzed their connection with the (re)appearance of populist movements in Spain and elsewhere. It argued that those perceived 鈥渆xcessive moments鈥� were not failures of democracy, but rather the manifestation of the听irresolvable paradoxes at the heart of it.
In sum, the CWCTP Faculty Grant enabled听Prof. Delgado鈥檚 visit to be a success for a variety of constituencies on campus. And as can be seen in an email听from Prof. Delgado sent on 11/13/2017, she was very pleased with her visit to Boulder: 鈥淚 want to thank you sincerely for organizing my visit to your beautiful campus, and offering me the opportunity to share my work with all of you. I particularly appreciated the Q&A period after my lecture, and the seminar with听your talented graduate students: I came away from both with new ideas and questions, which is, after all, one of the most rewarding aspects of our profession.鈥澨�
听The Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy funds research and educational initiatives that contribute to critical reflection on the development of Western civilization. All CU Boulder faculty and students are eligible to apply. If you are interested in applying for a CWCTP faculty grant, deadlines are rolling throughout the year.