Phisiognomies of the invisible: Race and Nation in the 19th Century Spanish Literature (1808-1843)

Abstract

During the 19th century, the idea of race was key in the development of the concept of nation. The semantic affinities and dependence that bind together both concepts have fluctuated in their form of expression but always maintaining a dual nature: both are unifying factors and both work as a principle of exclusion. From a philological perspective and within a peninsular frame of reference, this paper tries to shed light about the nature and manifestation of the construct of race in the first half of the nineteenth century between 1808 and 1843, as well as the ties that keep with the concept of nation.