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Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until December 18, 2027

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Transnational Dionysus: Regional and Colonial Representations of Wine in Spain and Argentina

Palmiscno, Anthony Carlo
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9263-5705
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1661087170052048

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Spanish and Portuguese.
In his seminal work Mythologies, Roland Barthes identifies wine as one of the most significant “mythologies” in popular culture, primarily through its transformative property that converts a sign into a signifier. As these “myths” evolve, they are, in Barthes’s words, “never arbitrary” (126) and in the case of wine particularly, “a converting substance,” “dependent on the user of the myth,” and foundational in both collective morality and amorality (58-60). Prominent food anthropologist Mary Douglas furthers commentary on collectivity, as she proposes that alcohol actively provides the structure of social life, acting as markers of identity and boundaries of inclusion and exclusion (8). The purpose of this study is to analyze three different case studies that address the myth of wine and how its distinct representations in both literary and cultural artifacts illustrate flexibility of wine as a cultural symbol across time and space. As I draw on Barthes’s cultural mythologies, I address a pastiche of wine representations in both literature and culture that pose wine as a branding vehicle that constructs groups of inclusion and exclusion, Europeanness, and social exclusivity amid an increasingly globalized market in flux. Chapter one turns toward collectivity and interrogates the role of French wine varietals in the construction of nation and modernity in nineteenth century Argentina under the rule of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. I argue that the importation of the Malbec grape varietal in 1868 (as well as Bordeaux and Sauvignon) goes farther than what Nancy Hanway terms “the vineyard as national space” and “a nexus of Sarmiento’s beliefs about education, Europeanization, and progress” (90) and instead can be interpreted as, in a symbolic sense, the cultivation and perpetuation of colonialism in an emerging, “modernized” Argentina. The statesman converts the campo of wine agriculture (the field) into a hybridized space between what he considers “civilization” and “barbarism,” that is, the pasture takes on the “rustic, culturally backward” agricultural nature of La Pampa as it advances a “civilizing” goal of industry and modernization typical of urban areas. Chapter two of this project provides a textual analysis of the Spanish Rioja wine region’s 2019 advertisement campaign, “Saber quién eres,” and how said promotional material links notions of “tradition” and “quality” into the narrative of the Rioja regional brand. I draw on the work of Simon Anholt (2007 & 2009) and Sarah May (2017) to discuss the consequences of such campaigns and how they position Rioja and its corresponding regionalism within the larger context of Spain and a globalized wine market. Ultimately, the qualified designation of origin (denominación de origen calificada Rioja) serves as a unifying force that collectivizes riojano citizens and encourages those not from the region to consume the brand through claims of authenticity and connoisseurship. Finally, chapter three looks at the Marqués de Riscal winery in Elciego, Álava, Spain, and how such winery sustains social exclusivity and maintains wine as, in the words of Pierre Bourdieu, a form of cultural capital. Through the spectacular architecture of Frank Gehry and the luxury amenities offered on the property, the winery and opulent hotel converts perpetuates wine tourism as a performance to the senses. Marqués de Riscal’s “City of Wine” is marketed as a 21st-century “Spanish château,” that depends on pillars of the hyper-local, “authenticity,” and individualized experiences for the consumer. Gehry’s architectural contribution reflects an increased inclination toward a Europeanized Spain, in which Marqués de Riscal attempts to improve a French tradition of wine elaboration, storage, and consumption through its Iberian iteration. As such, the Elciego winery exemplifies the use of wine in the construction of social class and exclusivity, a phenomenon linked to the eighteenth and nineteenth French château and even long before.
Paloma Martinez Cruz (Advisor)
Dionisio Viscarri (Committee Member)
Eugenia Romero (Committee Member)
Dorothy Noyes (Committee Member)
176 p.
European Studies; Foreign Language; History; Literature; Marketing; Modern Language

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Palmiscno, A. C. (2022). Transnational Dionysus: Regional and Colonial Representations of Wine in Spain and Argentina [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1661087170052048

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Palmiscno, Anthony. Transnational Dionysus: Regional and Colonial Representations of Wine in Spain and Argentina. 2022. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1661087170052048.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Palmiscno, Anthony. "Transnational Dionysus: Regional and Colonial Representations of Wine in Spain and Argentina." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1661087170052048

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1661087170052048
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.