The Best of All Possible Islands

Richard Maddox

Description

The 1992 world's fair in Seville serves as a vantage point from which to examine Spain's developing democracy and Europe's emerging unification, according to Richard Maddox in The Best of All Possible Islands. Visited by over fourteen million people, the Seville Expo drew the participation of more than one hundred countries and dozens of corporations. As part of Spain's "miraculous year" in which Barcelona hosted the summer Olympics and Madrid was designated the Cultural Capital of Europe, the Expo advanced a remarkably optimistic, cosmopolitan, and liberal vision of the past, present, and future of the "new Spain" and the "new Europe." Yet no aspect of this vision went unchallenged, and the Expo was at the center of fierce political rivalries and dramatic manifestations of popular discontent.

In an engaging and accessible narrative, Richard Maddox demonstrates how visitors and local residents understood the significance of the event in ways that largely escaped the knowledge and control of the Expo's organizers. Understanding how and why this occurred casts critical light on the transformation of Spain since the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1976 and illuminates some of the key cultural and political dilemmas that processes of European and global integration pose for citizens of democratic societies.

Acknowledgments

PART I: GUIDELINES: CONTEMPORARY ETHNOGRAPHY AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER IN SPAIN

1. The Best of All Possible Islands and the Miraculous Year
2. Possible Expos: Academic Meanderings from Tradition to Modernity and Beyond
3. A Pocket History of the Liberalization of Modern Spain, with Observations about Its Relevance for an Understanding of Expo '92
4. Relocating the Subject: Macroethnography and Cosmopolitan Liberalism

PART II: ORIGINS AND STRUCTURES: THE STATE, THE PARTY, AND THE EXPO

5. Royal Patronage of a Noble Tradition: Madrid, Santo Domingo, Washington, and Paris, 1976–1982
6. Seville, the Socialist Party, and the Commissioner General, 1982–1987
7. The Voyages and Visits of the Commissioner General
8. The Island World Takes Form

PART III: CONJUNCTURES AND CONFLICTS: TECHNOBUREAUCRACY AND THE CITY

9. The Two-Headed Monster
10. The Monster and Seville
11. Here Comes Everybody
12. War, Stalemate, and Cultural Politics

PART IV: PAVILIONS AND PERFORMANCES: THE EXPO AS CULTURAL OLYMPICS

13. Media Agon
14. Varieties of Europeanism
15. Davids and Goliaths of the New World Order
16. The Many Spains

PART V: DISPOSITIONS AND PRACTICES: THE SENSE OF FREEDOM AND THE POLITICS OF DAILY LIFE

17. Expo People and the Change in Spain
18. Officials and Workers
19. Visitors
20. Renouncers and Resisters

PART VI: THE AFTERMATH

21. Closing Days and Parting Shots
22. Wandering in the Wilderness: From Cartuja '93 to Sevilla Technopolis
23. The Theme Park of Memory
24. The Expo and the New Millennium

Notes to the Text

Official Documents and Publications Cited

Newspapers Cited

References Cited

Index

Sujets

• Sociology
• History of Europe
• Anthropology
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791484890
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Best of All Possible Islands Seville’s Universal Exposition, the New Spain, and the New Europe

R i c h a r d

M a d d o x

The Best of All Possible Islands

SUNY series in National Identities Thomas M. Wilson, editor

The Best of All Possible Islands

Seville’s Universal Exposition, the New Spain, and the New Europe

Richard Maddox

State University of New York Press

Publication of this book was made possible in part by a grant from the Program for Cultural Cooperation Between Spain’s Ministry of Education and Culture and United States’ Universities.

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2004 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, N.Y., 12207

Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Maddox, Richard Frederick. The best of all possible islands : Seville’s universal exposition, the new Spain, and the new Europe / Richard Maddox. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6121-1 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-6122-X (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Exposiciân Universal de 1992 (Seville, Spain) I. Exposición Universal de 1992 (Seville, Spain) II. Title.

T894.1.B2M33 2004 907'.4'4686—dc22

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

2003059060

Acknowledgments

Contents

P ART I G UIDELINES : C ONTEMPORARY E THNOGRAPHY AND THE N EW W ORLD O RDER IN S PAIN

1. The Best of All Possible Islands and the Miraculous Year

2. Possible Expos: Academic Meanderings from Tradition to Modernity and Beyond

3. A Pocket History of the Liberalization of Modern Spain, with Observations about Its Relevance for an Understanding of Expo ’92

4. Relocating the Subject: Macroethnography and Cosmopolitan Liberalism

P ART II O RIGINS AND S TRUCTURES : T HE S TATE , THE P ARTY , AND THE E XPO

5. Royal Patronage of a Noble Tradition: Madrid, Santo Domingo, Washington, and Paris, 1976–1982

6. Seville, the Socialist Party, and the Commissioner General, 1982–1987

7. The Voyages and Visits of the Commissioner General

8. The Island World Takes Form

v

i

1

x

3

7

3

2

6

37

43

60

74

vi

Contents

P ART III C ONJUNCTURES AND C ONFLICTS : T ECHNOBUREAUCRACY AND THE C ITY

9. The Two-Headed Monster

10. The Monster and Seville

11. Here Comes Everybody

12. War, Stalemate, and Cultural Politics

13. Media Agon

P ART IV P AVILIONS AND P ERFORMANCES : T HE E XPO AS C ULTURAL O LYMPICS

14. Varieties of Europeanism

15. Davids and Goliaths of the New World Order

16. The Many Spains

P ART V D ISPOSITIONS AND P RACTICES : T HE S ENSE OF F REEDOM AND THE P OLITICS OF D AILY L IFE

17. Expo People and the Change in Spain

18. Officials and Workers

19. Visitors

20. Renouncers and Resisters

9

5

110

124

136

159

170

187

203

225

238

251

273

Contents

P ART VI T HE A FTERMATH

21. Closing Days and Parting Shots

22. Wandering in the Wilderness: From Cartuja ’93 to Sevilla Technopolis

23. The Theme Park of Memory

24. The Expo and the New Millennium

Notes to the Text

Official Documents and Publications Cited

Newspapers Cited

References Cited

Index

vii

291

297

305

312

323

337

338

339

357

This page intentionally left blank.

Acknowledgments

I am greatly indebted to the many people and institutions that have con- tributed to aspects of this work over the last decade and more. Financial support for research in Spain in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1998, and 2001 was provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Program for Cul- tural Cooperation Between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States’ Uni- versities, the Augustana College Research Foundation, the Berkman Faculty Development Fund of Carnegie Mellon University, and the Department of His- tory at Carnegie Mellon University. In the early stages of the project, I also ben- efited from a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Center for European Studies at Stanford University. Portions of this work have been shared with many audiences, and I have profited from the lively discussions that followed my often tentative presenta- tions. For their critical and encouraging comments, I especially owe thanks to members of the Departments of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Maynooth, to members of the Departments of History and Modern Languages at Marshall University, and to the participants in a col- loquium that was entitled “Questions of Identity in the New Europe” and was sponsored by the Remarque Institute and the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Cen- ter at New York University. My thinking about the Expo has been shaped in countless ways by con- versations that I have had with friends and colleagues. Without the stimulating engagement of Paul Eiss, Peter Kivisto, Judith Modell, Roger Rouse, Donald Sutton, and Patrick Wilson concerning many issues pertinent to the emergence of a “new Spain” and a “new Europe,” this work would have been much im- poverished. Deborah Cahalen, James Fernandez, Montserrat Miller, and anon- ymous reviewers for SUNY Press gave me valuable suggestions and encouragement, as did Thomas Wilson, Editor of the SUNY series in National Identities, and Michael Rinella, Acquisitions Editor at SUNY Press. Several Expo officials in Seville spoke to me under conditions of anonymity, and I ap- preciate their help. I am especially grateful to Alfredo Jiménez of the Univer- sity of Seville for his indispensable insights into the workings of the Expo, and I apologize to him for being such an obtuse and unreliable interlocutor. All English translations of Spanish sources are my own. I thank Andrea Cuellar for preparing the figures and maps for the text. Without the support of many friends in Aracena and Seville, this book could not have been written. My heartfelt gratitude goes especially to Gloria

ix