La antropología americanista española y la identidad nacional: el debate entre Juan Comas y José Pérez de Barradas (1949-1953)

Abstract

Between 1949 and 1953, two Spanish americanists affected by the civil war debated on the conquest of America and its consequences. The discussion was also on Spain's national identity, since it concerned a basic historical tenet on which such identity was to be constructed. With the anthropological idiom of the times, Juan Comas and José Pérez de Barradas helped to maintain a controversy that had originated in the 19th century, and has been rekindled in recent years by the Spanish government's celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage to the Americas. Like the nationalistic histories of Catalonia and the Basque Country, the controversial subject of the Conquest still precludes the consensus needed behind the idea that Spain is a nation.