Globalization, Publishing, and the Marketing of “Hispanic” Identities

Abstract

My article explores the complex Spanish reaction to recent changes in the Spanish-language publishing business as indicative of an ambivalence toward Spain’s place in the new global order, particularly by liberal intellectuals who associate books and bookstores with resistance and solidarity. The purchase of important Spanish publishers by international media conglomerates also implies to some a loss of national identity and cultural values, at the same time as the internationalization of the publishing business represents Spain’s incorporation into the European community and the world economy. The European Union, however, and Spain in particular, have globalized and marketed Latin America through business ventures, NGOs and cooperative efforts linked both to the embassies and to the international corporations. The resulting contradictions –the resistance to and welcoming of globalization, the nostalgia for, economic colonization of and rejection of Latin America– affect what is currently published in Spain by Spanish and Latin American authors and how it is marketed.