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When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Department of Modern Languages Constructing a Nation: Evaluating the Discursive Creation of National Community under the FSLN Government in Nicaragua (1979-1990) by Lisa Marie Carroll-Davis Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2012 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Department of Modern Languages Doctor of Philosophy CONSTRUCTING A NATION: EVALUATING THE DISCURSIVE CREATION OF NATIONAL COMMUNITY UNDER THE FSLN GOVERNMENT IN NICARAGUA (1979-1990) by Lisa Marie Carroll-Davis This thesis aims to examine the ways in which national identity can be discursively created within a state. I consider the case of Nicaragua in the 1980s and investigate how the government of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) established a conception of the national in the country through official discourse. Despite various studies into the political situation of Nicaragua during this time period, little research has been done in the role of language in constructing a sense of national identification in the country, and this thesis is a contribution to addressing that gap in the research, following the examples of Ruth Wodak et al. (1999) and Nicolina Montesano Montessori (2009). I challenge the dominant Eurocentric theories on national identity as to their relevance in a Latin American context. Particularly, Anderson (2006), Smith (1991), Gellner (1983) and Hobsbawm (1990) are shown to each have partial applicability to studies of the region, but ultimately are not sufficient in themselves to fully address the unique circumstances seen in Latin America. I propose that two other elements must be included as contributing elements to national identity formation: radical Marxism and liberation theology. In analysing the data, I adopt a critically oriented discourse analysis approach as I research the strategies employed in a government led redefinition of the nation. Applying the discourse-historical approach (Wodak et al. 1999), I probe the data for particular structures aimed at creating hegemony over the discursive terrain. Through a comparison of three separate corpora composed of government publications, opposition publications and ethnographic interviews, I consider the questions of how the FSLN discursively created a sense of national community and whether and how that discourse was adopted by non-governmental actors. In answering these questions, the discourses are situated in the specific cultural, political and historical milieu of post-revolutionary Nicaragua. i ii Contents Abstract i Contents iii Declaration of Authorship vii Acknowledgements ix List of Abbreviations xi List of Figures xiii List of Tables xiv Chapter 1: The Discursive Creation of National Community in Nicaragua 1 1.1 Post-Colonial Nationalism 1 1.2 Research Objectives 4 1.3 Scholarly work on Nicaragua 6 1.4 Hegemony and Discursive Struggle 11 1.5 Data Sources and Analysis Rationale 14 1.6 Aims and Limitations of the Thesis 16 Chapter 2: Theoretical Considerations 19 2.1 Introduction 19 2.2 National Identity in Latin America 21 2.2.1 Anderson and Imagined Community 21 2.2.2 Smith and Ethnic Nationalism 26 2.2.3 Gellner and Industrialised Nationalism 29 2.2.4 Hobsbawm and Nationalism from Below 31 2.3 Radical Marxism in Latin America 35 2.3.1 The Emergence of Radical Marxist Groups in Latin America 39 2.3.2 Incorporation of the Masses 41 2.3.3 The Example of the Cuban Revolution 43 2.4 The Church and National Community in Latin America 46 2.4.1 Vatican II and the Roots of Liberation Theology 48 2.4.2 The Preferential Option for the Poor and the Growth of Liberation Theology 51 2.4.3 Liberating the Poor 53 iii 2.5 Summary 58 Chapter 3: The Socio-political Context of Sandinista Discourse 61 3.1 The Emergence and Development of Sandinismo 61 3.2 Nicaragua before the Modern „Sandinistas‟ 62 3.3 Imperialism Again: The Somoza Dynasty 65 3.4 Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional and the Nicaraguan Revolution 67 3.4.1 Church, State and Insurrection 68 3.4.2 Ideological Divisions, Unifications and Revolutionary Triumph 70 3.4.3 The Mosaic of Sandinista Thought 73 3.4.4 National Unity through Cultural Identity 75 3.5 Opposition: Home and Abroad 77 3.6 Electoral Defeat, Reorganisation and Re-election 80 3.7 Summary 83 Chapter 4: Methodological and Analytical Considerations 85 4.1 Introduction 85 4.2 Discourse Analysis and Discourse 86 4.2.1 Psycho-Social Approach 87 4.2.2 Fairclough‟s Approach 89 4.2.3 Discourse: A Definition 90 4.3 The Discourse-Historical Approach 91 4.4 Limitations to the DHA and Additional Analytical Tools 96 4.5 Ethnographic Styled Interviews 102 4.6 Data Sources and Analytical Programmes 106 Chapter 5: Creating Unity from Revolution 109 5.1 Introduction 109 5.2 Narratives on Revolution 112 5.2.1 Semantic Construction of the Revolution 114 5.2.2 Revolutionary Personification and Reification 118 5.2.2.1 Grammatical Personification: Subject Position within a iv Sentence 119 5.2.2.2 Grammatical Personification: Personal „a‟ 120 5.2.2.3 Metaphorical Personification: Emotionalisation and Anthropomorphism 122 5.2.3 Revolutionary Unity 125 5.2.3.1 FSLN as Vanguard of Unity 127 5.2.3.2 Unity as a Strategy 131 5.2.3.2.1 Unity as a Consequence of History 132 5.2.3.2.2 Unity as a Consequence of Aggression 134 5.2.3.2.3 Unity as a Consequence of Leadership 136 5.2.4 „Nuestro Pueblo‟ and In-Group Construction 138 5.2.5 Pueblo, Exclusion and Out-Group Construction 141 5.3 The Opposition: Contesting the Revolution and Transformation 145 5.3.1 The Centrality of Democracy in the Opposition Discourse 147 5.3.2 The Opposition and the Revolution 149 5.3.3 Opposition References to Unity 155 5.3.3.1 Unity in Opposition 156 5.3.3.2 The Opposition and In-Group Creation 159 5.3.3.3 FSLN References to Opposition Arguments 162 5.4 Interview Perspectives on the Revolution 164 5.4.1 Interview Perspectives on Unity 170 5.5 Summary 179 Chapter 6: A New Community for a New Nation 183 6.1 Introduction 183 6.2 A New Nicaragua 185 6.2.1 Rebirth of a Nation 186 6.2.2 The Founding Fathers of the New Nicaragua 191 6.2.3 The New Man and the New Society 195 6.2.4 Educating the New Man for the New Society 200 6.3 The Opposition and a Free Nicaragua 209 6.3.1 Freedom and the Founding Fathers 211 6.3.1.1 National Character, Imperialism and Betrayal 213 6.3.2 The Opposition‟s Christian Questioning of the New Man 218 v 6.3.3 FSLN Responses to the Opposition 225 6.4 The Interviews and the New Nicaragua 227 6.5 Summary 238 Chapter 7: Conclusions 241 7.1 Toward Answering the Research Questions 241 7.2 Implications for Discourses of Nationalism 246 7.3 Methodological Implications and Future Directions for Research 247 Appendix A: Contents of the FSLN and Opposition Corpora 249 Appendix B: Profiles of the Interviewees 251 Appendix C: Transcript of Miguel‟s Interview 255 Primary Data References 265 Bibliography 269 vi DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Lisa Marie Carroll-Davis declare that the thesis entitled Constructing a Nation: Evaluating the Discursive Creation of National Community under the FSLN Government in Nicaragua (1979-1990) and the work presented in the thesis are both my own, and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research. I confirm that: this work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; I have acknowledged all main sources of help; where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; none of this work has been published before submission; Signed: …… ……………………………….. Date:………. 28 February, 2012 …………………………………………. vii viii Acknowledgements I am truly thankful to the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Southampton for having awarded me the Spanish Teaching Assistantship funding, without which my doctoral studies and this thesis would not have been possible. Similarly, the Languages in a Network of European Excellence research post and the Society for Latin American Studies travel grant helped to fund and further my research. Additional thanks must be given to the staff and librarians at the Oxford Latin American Centre Library, the University of Texas Benson Collection, and the Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica.