The "Nepantla" generation: identity discourse in the essays of the second generation of Spanish exiles in Mexico.

This project explores the identity discourse in the essayistic texts written by the children of Republican exiles in Mexico. This so-called Nepantla generation, after the Nahuatl word for between two worlds, is characterized by its complex and multiple cultural identity. Through a discourse analysis of the essays of a representative sample of authors from this generation will be examined how these Hispanic Mexican writers managed to construct an identity from the tension between the European and the American culture. Special attention will be paid to forms of interaction between the Spanish and Mexican intellectual traditions. Two main research questions will be addressed in this study. The first one concerns the relation between the essays and their immediate context of origin: How do these authors present themselves and their readership, how do they represent their historical and geographic-cultural frame of reference? The second research question elaborates on the diachronic dimension of the central research question: How do these authors inscribe themselves in the Spanish cultural tradition in general and its essayistic tradition in particular? Apart from the realization of a doctoral thesis on identity construction in the essays of Luis Rius, José Pascual Buxó and Federico Patán (K.U.Leuven Campus Kortrijk), the project also encompasses the organization of an international colloquium at the UGent, entitled Dialogue and Otherness in the Hispanic Essay under the supervision of Eugenia Houvenaghel (UGent) and in collaboration with Diana Castilleja (FUSL Brussels).

Keywords:Mexico, Spain, Exile, Essay, Cultural identity, Discourse analysis

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies