Series | Library of Rassegna iberistica
Edited book | Borders and Migrations in the Mediterranean Area
Chapter | Puentes mediterráneos
Abstract
The physical location of North Africa is weighted with geopolitical significance: it marks the European borders and, simultaneously, questions border demarcations based on a shared historical past. Likewise, the Mediterranean Sea functions as a river that flows and connects Spain and North Africa. This study will examine the intercultural exchange that takes place in a recent Spanish-Moroccan film trajectory in which conventional notions of exclusionary borders are challenged. Since this filmic panorama goes beyond established concepts of national borders by building a cultural bridge between two continents traditionally divided by social, ethnic, religious, and historical tensions, this paper will show that these audiovisual productions seek to unsettle the viewers’ preconception of the African other and suggest a bidirectional encounter that serves to blur the geopolitical borders between Morocco and Spain, arguing against the ‘Iberocentrism’ that usually considers the African other with an inferior lens. Finally, it be will demonstrated how these films construct a hybrid concept of the nation in which national identities can be altered by the interaction with other cultures from a broader world.
Submitted: May 11, 2017 | Published Dec. 14, 2017 | Language: es
Keywords Cinema • Mediterranean Sea • Spain • Borders • Morocco • Iberocentrism
Copyright © 2017 Ana Corbalán. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/6969-208-6/RiB-7-7