Masculinities in Conflict: Representations of the Other in Narrative during the Spanish Civil War

In this article, I analyze the representation of the Other in three texts that were published during the Spanish Civil War: El infierno azul (1938?), by Republican Isidro R. Mendieta, and two closely related works by Falangist Jacinto Miquelarena: Cómo fui ejecutado en Madrid (1937) and El otro mundo: La vida en las embajadas de Madrid (1938). Although these texts adhere to different political ideologies and are stylistically very divergent, they are similar in their constant criticisms of the enemy. Furthermore, both Republicans and rebels tend to depict the enemy as possessing an inadequate masculinity. He is described, on one hand, as a beast or an animal, unable to control his instincts, and, on the other hand, as an unmanly and effeminate coward. Thus, for the construction of the nation, the Other presents an inappropriate masculinity, which is either excessive and uncontainable, or insufficient. Therefore, national ideologies seem to propose a normative masculinity that is located in an ambiguous middle ground: a masculinity that is able to control animal instincts yet capable of heroic acts.

Association of American State Geologists 95th annual meeting

What a great pleasure to welcome you to the 95th annual meeting of the Association of American State Geologists. I truly hope you enjoy your stay the next few days here in Lincoln, our state's capitol and Nebraska's second-largest city. Mark mentioned that I'm from Texas. My family started there, our first family home in the United States, when my maternal great-grandfather immigrated to this country from Germany, to escape military conscription -- just as the Civil War broke out here. With remarkably bad timing, he landed at the port of Galveston just in time to be rounded up and sworn, under gunpoint, into the Confederacy.