Abstract

The intellectual history of Galician nationalism comprises a set of political and cultural concepts that defined the principal vectors and trajectories of nationalist ideology. The aim of this study is the integrate analysis of Celtism as one of the historical frameworks within the intellectual development of Galician nationalist thought. This determines the study’s novelty for Russian historiography. The author examines the cultural and social strata of Celtic ideas as a mode of Galician nationalist imagination. The article addresses: (1) the genesis and place of Celtic imagery in the history of ideas of Galician nationalism; (2) the forms and manifestations of political Celtism within Galician nationalist ideology; (3) the depoliticization and de-ideologization of Celtic narratives in post-authoritarian society; and (4) the transformation of political Celtism toward cultural nationalism, whereby Celtic ideas became part of Galicia’s academic discourse. It is argued that Celtism’s transformation into a political tradition of nationalism resulted from the instrumentalization of Celtic heritage and its integration into the ideological contexts of Galician nationalism. In analyzing Celtism as a segment of Galician nationalist ideology, the author contends that Galician nationalists’ use of these ideas legitimized their political and ideological claims by satisfying a collective demand for possession of illustrious historical ancestors. The article also examines Galician nationalism as a predominantly cultural and intellectual movement in relation to the development of Celtism as an imagined and invented political tradition. The author’s principal conclusions are as follows: (1) over time, the Celtic idea mutated from a form of political discourse into one manifestation of cultural nationalism; (2) the development of the Celtic myth became a form of solidarity between Galician and Irish nationalism; and (3) in the 20th century, Celtic narratives functioned as a cultural archaism, genetically linked to the traditions of Romantic nationalism and therefore incapable of resolving concrete political tasks.