Political Theology of Empire
Hispanidad from Doctrine to Spectacle
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20249177 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Santiago Juan-Navarro (0000-0003-1254-1085, Florida International University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Pages | 206 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2076-0787 • E-ISSN: 2076-0787 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/h14110206 |
| OpenAlex | W4415451773 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
This article reimagines Hispanidad as a flexible cultural repertoire rather than a fixed ideology, examining how Francoism, after 1945, staged official doctrine as public spectacle that then served as “evidence” of its own legitimacy. Through a combined lens of political theology (Schmitt on decision and secularization) and media theory (Benjamin on the aestheticization of politics; Agamben on glory and acclamation), it analyzes Juan de Orduña’s Alba de América (1951) and its paratexts to show how National-Catholic principles—unity of faith and language, providential destiny, and obedience-based authority—were translated into affect through narrative voice, emblematic staging, liturgical music, and choreographed acclamation. Although the film underperformed commercially, it thrived institutionally, excerpted in newsreels and rebroadcast annually on October 12 as a ritual object of state culture. The article argues that spectacle in Francoist Spain functioned not only as propaganda but also as a mechanism for stabilizing power by shaping collective memory and everyday habits, revealing how aesthetic form can naturalize political authority and offering a model for analyzing the everyday workings of power across media and regimes
Doctrine · Faith · Glory · Narrative · Political theology · Politics · Spectacle · Hispanic-African Historical Relations · Historical and Linguistic Studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |