Conjunciones y disyunciones entre raza y gnero: Representaciones flmicas y literarias de inmigrantes Latinoamericanos y Africanos Subsaharianos en la espana contempornea.

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of literary and cinematographic works of the contemporary period that depict the complex experiences that the recent immigration phenomenon in Spain has brought along not only for the new arrivals to Spain (outsiders) but also for the Spaniards themselves. Through an interdisciplinary approach, my study analyzes a wide range of narratives of two of the largest migratory groups in Spain: Latin Americans and sub-Saharan Africans. To do so, I examine the work of a variety of film makers and writers - Isabel de Ocampo's film Evelyn (2012), Helena Taberna's documentary Extranjeras (2003), Fernando León de Aranoa's film Princesas (2005), Montxo Armendariz's film Las cartas de Alou (1990), Imanol Uribe's film Bwana (1996), and Inongo-vi-Makomé's novel Nativas (2008). Other shorter texts have also been included and studied. My entire research project pays close attention to the ways in which race and gender intersect and shape the immigration experience of Latin Americans and sub-Saharan Africans. Whereas there are commonalities among these two groups, especially if we analyze those commonalities through a postcolonial lens, I aim to shed light on the ways in which each migratory group deals with its own post-colonial, racial and gender-related dilemmas. At the same time, Spaniards seem to struggle with the construction of a new Spanish identity which sharply challenges the traditional image of an ethno-culturally homogeneous Spain, an image that the long Franco regime aggressively reinforced. Finally, my analysis pays close attention the role of the western subject in the depiction of the migratory experience, which, in some cases reveals a strong tendency to represent all immigrants as problematic "Others." All the narratives that are part of this ambitious project will reveal pervasive racial discourses and also the ways in which gender roles are deconstructed and reconstructed once the immigrant subject sets foot in a new host society.