Hispanidad (1910s–Present), or “Spanishness”, is a Hispanic American nationalist ideology that seeks a restoration of Spanish spiritual identity. It rests upon the belief that a Catholic spiritual identity has united Latin America since the time of early Spanish missionaries. Hispanidad officials aimed to eliminate the rising Communist, secular, and anti-clerical ideas of the 20th century. Ramiro de Maeztu exemplifies Hispanidad as a prominent thinker who argued that Enlightenment thought was the source of Latin America’s weaknesses.
Francisco Franco’s fascist regime in Spain introduced the ideology into Latin America. In order to spiritually unify the region, Franco not only appointed Spaniards into Latin America’s political positions, but also invited several far-right Hispanic Americans into Spain for their input on expanding the ideology. Hispanidad likewise influenced the Philippines in both culture and government. Gradually, Latin American cultures began to associate with Latinidad instead—a unity among all Latin Americans regardless of an ethnic background. However, it remains a component of far-right ideologies.
FURTHER READING
http://filosofia.org. “Ramiro de Maeztu, La Defensa de La Hispanidad.” Filosofia.org, 2022. https://www.filosofia.org/hem/193/acc/e05449.htm.
BOX, ZIRA, and Wendy Gosselin. “Spanish Imperial Destiny: The Concept of Empire during Early Francoism.” Contributions to the History of Concepts 8, no. 1 (2013): 89–106.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43610933.Diffie, Bailey W. “The Ideology of Hispanidad.” The Hispanic American Historical Review 23, no. 3 (1943): 457–82. https://doi.org/10.2307/2508538.
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