Spain Is (Still) Different: Tourism and Discourse in Spanish Identity - Tapa dura

This is an innovative and enlightening volume that offers highly valuable insights on the crucial role played by the discourses and practices of tourism in the construction of modern Spanish identity. Its focus and approach is on the cutting edge area of Hispanic cultural studies. The essays included provide a careful examination of the contexts and political uses of tourism in the collective self-imagining of the nation. It will be an invaluable tool for scholars and students interested in the political and cultural ramifications of tourism in a global context. -- Jose F. Colmeiro, Michigan State University Spain is (Still) Different provides several essays on film that go beyond tourism to raise questions about Spanish reflections and identities as well. * H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online, June 2010 * Spanish exceptionality is a centuries-old topic, but the ideology of Spanish difference as it pertains both to Spain's internal and external identity has never received a more thoroughgoing critical examination as in these intelligent and lucid essays. As a group they set new standards for debates concerning the discursive relationship between Spain's tourist industry, economic structures, and cultural production and identity in the modern era. -- Lou Charnon-Deutsch, Stony Brook University

This volume constitutes the first interdisciplinary, multi-authored collection written in English on the topic of the cultural impact of tourism in Spain. Its methodological range and scope make it accessible to experts in other areas and disciplines who, as suggested in the book's introduction, will find many of the ideas in the volume applicable to their own fields.