Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

9-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Literatures & Languages

Advisor

Paul J. Smith

Subject Categories

Modern Literature

Keywords

Cine quinqui; Literatura; Movimientos sociales; Poesia de la experiencia; Transicion; Vecindarios

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on how urban spaces were imagined and questioned in Spanish neighborhoods and in poetry and cinema during the Transition. I explore how urban spaces are not so much physical entities but lived spaces, with the potentials of reconceptualizing human practices in today's artistic creations. My point of departure studies how different grassroots associations were able to introduce significant changes in the cultural values imposed by the Franco dictatorship while challenged their limitations through alternative practices of the everyday life. I analyze how the changes introduced in the morphology of the neighborhood questioned the success of urban-focused modernization by the Franco regime and its idea of "Spanishness" not only in an architectural but, most importantly, ideological level. I elaborate this notion in the readings of the Quinqui film genre and the Poetry of the Experience (Poesía de la Experiencia), two art forms that propose a new approach to the urban space. My dissertation attempts to show the spatial conception proposed by different cultural products in a way that reclaims the right to the city to its inhabitants.

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