Portugal and its culture today closer to the Spanish

Abstract

This work has the objective of analyzing the paradigm shift in the knowledge of the Spaniards about Portugal and its culture from the end of the 1980s to the present day, based on sociological and cultural events that occurred in this period, recorded, in its great majority, in press articles, authors' books and scientific articles. In addition, we will offer examples of a social and cultural nature that provide an explanation of the phenomenon. Sometimes we will resort to older authors or documents to clarify or substantiate the origin of some beliefs. On the other hand, the fact of limiting ourselves to a recent period of our history has the objective of limiting our work and investigating less studied aspects of our societies. Thus, the political circumstance that Spain and Portugal requested joint accession in 1977 and officially formed part of the European Community in 1986 at the same time (Goucha Soares, 2018) forced them to look in the same direction and make decisions in unison (Roy, 2021). However, there was still a way to go, since before this event, Portugal was a country practically unknown to the Spanish (Unamuno, 1911; Seabra, 1995; Lourenço Apolinário, 2007). The economic opening will generate new relations with Portugal and later, tourism will be fundamental for the knowledge of the country, the Portuguese language and culture, and to undo old stereotypes. Other factors for change have been academic exchanges and investment in the dissemination of Portuguese culture by the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Spain. In addition, relationships in the field of scientific research have also strengthened those ties (Badillo Matos, 2017). In short, knowledge of Portugal and its culture by Spaniards is now more widespread and is associated with an idea of high quality. This is due to the strengthening of political, institutional, business and tourism relations between the two countries.