Dr. Luisa Elena Delgado

My research covers the literary and cultural production of Spain from the 19th century to the present. I situate literature and other cultural manifestations in relation to responses to, and proposals for, historical change, as well as in relation to changing social formations and experiences. I am particularly known for my scholarship on the nineteenth century Spanish novel, the cultural construction of Spanish identity, the ideological configuration of Spanish nationalism in the democratic period, the relationship between politics and culture, and the role of affect and emotion in the public sphere.  Among my recent publications, we could highlight La nación singular: Fantasías de la normalidad democrática Española [A Singular Nation,Fantasies of Democratic Normalcy in Spain, 2014) a monograph on the cultural construction of the Spanish national imaginary in the democratic period, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in Spain in the category of essay [2015]. My other area of research now is the study of emotions and affects in the public sphere, and the relationship between politics and collective emotions. Part of that research is included in the co-edited volume (with Pura Fernandez and Jo Labanyi) Engaging the Emotions in Spanish Culture and History (Vanderbilt University Press, 2016). An updated version appeared in Spanish in 2018 (Las emociones en la cultura y la cultura de las emociones, Catedra). Along those lines, I am now working on how emotional and political attachments intersect and function in narratives of citizenship at moments of crisis: the movement of the Outraged in Spain (2011- 2015), the independence referenda in Scotland and Catalonia (2014, 2017); the peace agreement referendum in Colombia (2016); and the international feminist demonstrations against inequality and abuse (2017- present). My premise is that the study of dysphoric affects and their mobilization in the public sphere has important consequences for the understanding of our current political and cultural moment, in particular in relation to questions of national identity, collectivity and agency. 

I have just finished  the first cultural history of modern literatures in Spain (Polity 2022) co-authored with Jo Labanyi and with contributors Helena Buffery, Kirsty Hooper and Mari Jose Olaziregi. The book showcases the country's cultural complexity by working across its four major literary cultures - Castilian, Catalan, Galician and Basque - from the eighteenth century to the present.

Last, but certainly not least, I am interested in the connections between academic research and public life, as well as in the debates and practices that define democratic citizenship.