'Blood and Culture'. Spanish Expatriates as Cultural Diplomacy Actors, 1921–1936

Abstract

This chapter examines the pivotal role of expatriates in the projection of a national culture abroad, with a special focus on interwar Spain. Previous research has shown that Spanish cultural diplomacy emerged during Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship (1923–1930) as a means of strengthening the country’s international standing as the leader of the Hispanic world. It relied heavily on Spanish migrants in Latin America, whose kinship and linguistic ties to Spain—summarised in the phrase ‘blood and culture’—positioned them not only as recipients of Spanish culture but also as key agents for disseminating it in their host countries. Until well into the 1930s, Spain’s underfunded diplomatic services regularly sought support from expatriate associations in their efforts to extend the country’s cultural influence abroad. Although the successive governments of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936) reorganised foreign policy services, expatriates and their institutions remained central to Spain’s cultural outreach strategies. Drawing on archival material, this chapter demonstrates that Spain actively relied on its emigrants to implement a foreign cultural policy during the interwar period.