Antiauthoritarian Youth Culture in Francoist Spain : Clashing with Fascism

This book explores the role of young people in shaping a democratic Spain, focusing on their urban performances of dissent, their consumption of censored literature, political-literary magazines and comic books and their involvement in a newly developed punk scene. After forty years of dictatorship, Madrid became the centre of both a young democracy and a vibrant artistic scene by the early 1980s. Louie Dean Valencia-García skillfully examines how young Spaniards occupied public plazas, subverted Spanish cultural norms and undermined the authoritarian state by participating in a postmodern punk subculture that eventually grew into the ‘Movida Madrileña’. In doing so, he exposes how this antiauthoritarian youth culture reflected a mixture of sexual liberation, a rejection of the ideological indoctrination of the dictatorship, a reinvention of native Iberian pluralistic traditions and a burgeoning global youth culture that connected the USA, Britain, France and Spain. By analyzing young people’s everyday acts of resistance, Antiauthoritarian Youth Culture in Francoist Spain offers a fascinating account of Madrid’s youth and their role in the transition to the modern Spanish democracy. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of Figures Preface: Indignant Youth Acknowledgements An Introduction 1. Making a Scene Remembering the past Fascist youth Antiauthoritarian youth Carnival and transgression Time, space and being in public Imagining alternate universes 2. To Study is to Serve Spain A fascist education What does it mean to be a fascist? A national-catholic education Making a good Spaniard ‘That’s the way Spain is’ and other historical non-truths Heteronormativity in textbooks A legacy of bad education 3. The Revolt of the Youth Memory as a space of contention Strategy versus tactics Resisting false history and facts Institutionalized repression and censorship Unamuno’s last lecture Opening political-literary space A dead poets society Funeral for a friend Cafés heating up 4. Truth, Justice and the American Way in Spain Tights, capes and double identities Forms and functions of Superman comic books Strange visitor from another planet A super woman in man’s world Play, youth and supermanism The search for truth, justice and the Spanish way 5. The Penetration of Franco’s Spain Apertura Pluralistic spaces of the pre-war years Coffee and democratic spaces Disrupting networks and traditions Notebooks for literary-political dialogue Internal battles and liberal tradition Tactics to create a space of discourse Criticism and praise for American (counter) culture Civil rights in Spain Violence or non-violence 6. Clashing with Fascism The carnivalesque in Franco’s Spain Spain’s ‘coming out’ party Spanish punk, carnivalesque and the grotesque Reviving identity, counterpublics and community Networking the underground, imagining carnivalesque spaces What was el Rrollo? Libertad versus fascist youth Naked bodies, politics and partying in the streets 7. Madrid Kills Me (Re)defining a movement Subculture as myth, voyeurism and other modern-day fables A queer and public spectacle A place to conclude Epilogue: Uncertain Times Notes Bibliography Index How did kids, hippies and punks challenge a fascist dictatorship and imagine an impossible dream of an inclusive future? This book explores the role of youth in shaping a democratic Spain, focusing on their urban performances of dissent, their consumption of censored literature, political-literary magazines and comic books and their involvement in a newly developed underground scene. After forty years of dictatorship, Madrid became the centre of both a young democracy and a vibrant artistic scene by the early 1980s. Louie Dean Valencia-García skillfully examines how young Spaniards occupied public plazas, subverted Spanish cultural norms and undermined the authoritarian state by participating in a postmodern punk subculture that eventually grew into the 'Movida Madrileña'. In doing so, he exposes how this antiauthoritarian youth culture reflected a mixture of sexual liberation, a rejection of the ideological indoctrination of the dictatorship, a reinvention of native Iberian pluralistic traditions and a burgeoning global youth culture that connected the USA, Britain, France and Spain. By analyzing young people's everyday acts of resistance, Antiauthoritarian Youth Culture in Francoist Spain offers a fascinating account of Madrid's youth and their role in the transition to the modern Spanish democracy. "This book explores the role of young people in shaping a democratic Spain, focusing on their urban performances of dissent, their consumption of censored literature, political-literary magazines and comic books and their involvement in a newly developed punk scene. After forty years of dictatorship, Madrid became the centre of both a young democracy and a vibrant artistic scene by the early 1980s. Louie Dean Valencia-García skillfully examines how young Spaniards occupied public plazas, subverted Spanish cultural norms and undermined the authoritarian state by participating in a postmodern punk subculture that eventually grew into the 'Movida Madrileña'. In doing so, he exposes how this antiauthoritarian youth culture reflected a mixture of sexual liberation, a rejection of the ideological indoctrination of the dictatorship, a reinvention of native Iberian pluralistic traditions and a burgeoning global youth culture that connected the USA, Britain, France and Spain. By analyzing young people's everyday acts of resistance, Antiauthoritarian Youth Culture in Francoist Spain offers a fascinating account of Madrid's youth and their role in the transition to the modern Spanish democracy."--Bloomsbury Publishing "This book explores the role of young people in shaping a democratic Spain, focusing on their urban performances of dissent, their consumption of censored literature, political-literary magazines and comic books and their involvement in a newly developed punk scene. After forty years of dictatorship, Madrid became the centre of both a young democracy and a vibrant artistic scene by the early 1980s. Louie Dean Valencia-Garca̕ skillfully examines how young Spaniards occupied public plazas, subverted Spanish cultural norms and undermined the authoritarian state by participating in a postmodern punk subculture that eventually grew into the 'Movida Madrileą'. In doing so, he exposes how this antiauthoritarian youth culture reflected a mixture of sexual liberation, a rejection of the ideological indoctrination of the dictatorship, a reinvention of native Iberian pluralistic traditions and a burgeoning global youth culture that connected the USA, Britain, France and Spain. By analyzing young people's everyday acts of resistance, Antiauthoritarian Youth Culture in Francoist Spain offers a fascinating account of Madrid's youth and their role in the transition to the modern Spanish democracy."--Bloomsbury Publishing. This book explores the role of young people in shaping a democratic Spain, focusing on their urban performances of dissent, their consumption of censored literature, political-literary magazines and comic books and their involvement in a newly developed punk scene. After forty years of dictatorship, Madrid became the centre of both a young democracy and a vibrant artistic scene by the early 1980s. Louie Dean Valencia-Garcia skillfully examines how young Spaniards occupied public plazas, subverted Spanish cultural norms and undermined the authoritarian state by participating in a postmodern punk subculture that eventually grew into the 'Movida Madrilena'. In doing so, he exposes how this antiauthoritarian youth culture reflected a mixture of sexual liberation, a rejection of the ideological indoctrination of the dictatorship, a reinvention of native Iberian pluralistic traditions and a burgeoning global youth culture that connected the USA, Britain, France and Spain. By analyzing young people's everyday acts of resistance, Antiauthoritarian Youth Culture in Francoist Spain offers a fascinating account of Madrid's youth and their role in the transition to the modern Spanish democracy