Talk:White Towns of Andalusia
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[edit] Merge proposal
The more recently-created pueblos blancos article concerns the same subject matter (albeit with a different approach). Anything salvagable from that article ought to be brought into this one, and it then redirected to here (including, possibly, the rather fine joke on talk:pueblos blancos ;-)
If no objections, will look to do this in about a week or so.--cjllw | TALK 01:36, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
pueblos blancos now turned into a redirect to here (without, however, importing any of the text). For the record, here is the former contents of the pueblos blancos page: while evidently a POV-ish attempt to make some political point, there may be some kernels of information within it which could possibly be used (with supporting references, if they can be found) in the present article:
The Pueblos Blancos, or White Villages This term has been used in the terminology of state turism in Andalusia, southern Spain, to denote a series of villages in the 'comunidad' of Málaga where the houses are painted with whitewash or cal. Far from being an ancient custom, it was instituted by law by Miguel Primo de Rivera, the dictator, as a way of obscuring the relative economic status of the inhabitants of these upland villages, as only the more wealthy could pay for the red and yellow ochre tints used in the truly traditional Andalusian house. The aim of the dictator was thus to mask the yawning social/economic differences seething under the surface which would later reveal themselves in the Spanish Civil War. Indeed, during that war, many painted their houses red or blue according to their political stance. The significance of dazzling white villages is lost on many of the millions of annual visitors, who are likely unaware of the combination of moral and political struggles the cal represents or obscures. For Federico Garcia Lorca, the famous poet and dramatist, the cal signified the repression of women, of desire, and of society. "These four walls of whitewash" meant the repression of all instinct and a living death, since the cemetaries are like the pueblos blancos in miniature. When Spain is truly free again, no one will paint their houses white.
