There’s a certain kind of art that appears whenever politics gets too involved in culture. It’s grand, symbolic, completely certain of itself — and often, unintentionally, a bit absurd. You see it in Stalinist skylines, Soviet statues, gold-plated presidential monuments. Different countries, same instinct: culture not as something messy and alive, but something to simplify,…
On Homer’s return, the right’s suicide pact, and the peculiar madness of men who invite their own devourers There is something deeply reassuring about the fact that, in 2026, we have decided—collectively, enthusiastically—that what this moment really needs is more Homer. Film studios are adapting The Odyssey. Theatre directors are reinventing Penelope. Musicals are turning…
If you don’t follow Spanish regional politics, the name María Guardiola may not mean much to you. She is the current president of Extremadura, one of Spain’s poorest regions — a place rich in history, agriculture, and chronic underinvestment. But her recent political trajectory offers something far more universal than local intrigue: a near-textbook case…
I’ve just published a new opinion piece in El Cuaderno Digital titled “Elegir al verdugo: manual extremeño de autodestrucción electoral” (Choosing the Executioner: an Extremaduran Manual of Electoral Self-Destruction). The article is not about a single party or a single election. It’s about a recurring political gesture: the moment when frustration, abandonment, and long-term neglect…
Here’s the blink-and-you-miss-it summary: my latest Camino a Ítaca column dives into the Groucho-grade absurdity of political morality in Extremadura — a tale of ironclad vows that dissolved in record time, the machinery of hypocrisy grinding everything to paste, and the saints of this land who may be scarred but are no longer innocent. Read…
(English below) Hay eventos que se venden como “fiestas de la cultura”, pero huelen más a cóctel de poder y subvención.En Cáceres montaron una bienal con 650.000 € de dinero público, pantallas gigantes, discursos sobre “la libertad” y, sí, Vargas Llosa elevado a santo laico del neoliberalismo. Lo que faltaba era público.Y verdad. Mi nuevo…
The Art of Erasure — and What It Reveals In my latest Camino a Ítaca column for HOY, I begin with a haunting image: a Banksy mural that appeared one night on the façade of London’s High Court — a furious vision of justice turned executioner, of law stripped of its ceremony and reduced to…
Brendan Boyle took the time to read my book and was curious about it and we chatted about all things Extremadura on his podcast, La Comunidad. If you’re curious about the book or why it’s so damn hard to get out here, have a listen. Exploring under-explored Extremadura by Brendan Boyle With Troy Nahumko, author…
In my latest piece for Boston Review, I examine how Spain’s far-right party, Vox, is actively working to rehabilitate the legacy of Francisco Franco. By revisiting the brutal events of the 1936 Badajoz massacre, the article explores how historical atrocities are being reframed to serve contemporary political agendas. This manipulation of memory reflects a broader…
The Camino a Ítaca is in no way linear, it circles and loops and starts all over again. As spring turns Cáceres into the allergy sufferers nightmare, another event takes places, one that has been going on for more than thirty years. It’s quasi-religious in the way that in some sectors it can’t be questioned for…