Spanish Studies

La reflexión sobre la inmortalidad en la obra de Unamno: Filosofía de la existencia, epistemología y pensamiento religioso

by Santiago Juan-Navarro

Published in Cuadernos de ALDEEU 14 (1998): 111-26.

La interrogante sobre la inmortalidad del ser humano ocupa un lugar central en el pensamiento de Unamuno. Alrededor de... more La interrogante sobre la inmortalidad del ser humano ocupa un lugar central en el pensamiento de Unamuno. Alrededor de esta cuestión giran los temas esenciales de su obra: las disquisiciones sobre el ser del hombre (mosofía de la existencia), las reflexiones acerca del conocimiento y la verdad (epistemología), su incursiones ocasionales en la crítica literaria y, muy especialmente, su pensamiento religioso. En todos estos casos, el ansia de inmortalidad, la superación del fenómeno de la muerte se manifiesta como el motivo estructural tanto de sus ensayos como de sus obras de ficción.

Spanish Scholarship on Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins: An Overview, 1478-2012/13

by Carlos Segovia

1. Overview
1.1. The beginnings: from the mid-15th to the mid-20th century
1.2. Looking back at the 20th... more 1. Overview
1.1. The beginnings: from the mid-15th to the mid-20th century
1.2. Looking back at the 20th century: chief developments from the 1950s to the 1990s
2. Spanish scholarship over the centuries
2.1. Spanish scholarship (15th century)
2.2. Spanish scholarship (16th century)
2.3. Spanish scholarship (17th century)
2.4. Spanish scholarship (18th century)
2.5. Spanish scholarship (19th century)
2.6. Spanish scholarship (1910s)
2.7. Spanish scholarship (1920s)
2.8. Spanish scholarship (1930s)
2.9. Spanish scholarship (1940s)
2.10. Spanish scholarship (1950s)
2.11. Spanish scholarship (1960s)
2.12. Spanish scholarship (1970s)
2.13. Spanish scholarship (1980s)
2.14. Spanish scholarship (1990s)
2.15. Spanish scholarship (2000s)
2.16. Spanish scholarship (2010s)
3. General statistics
4. Leading Spanish institutions of higher education, centres for scholarly research, learned societies, publishers, academic journals, and librairies in the field
4.1. Institutions of higher education
4.2. Centres for scholarly research
4.3. Learned societies
4.4. Piblishers
4.5. Academic journals
4.6. Librairies
4.7. Major manuscripts

El Hispanismo Histórico en Europa Central y Oriental

by Matilde Eiroa San Francisco

Co-authored with Egido, Ángeles et all, published in "Spagna Contemporanea", 28, XIV, 2005.

The Youth Participation in the Labour Market in Germany, Spain and Sweden

by Francesco Pastore

Co-authored with Floro Ernesto Caroleo.
In T. Hammer (ed.), Youth Unemployment and Social Exclusion in Europe, The Policy Press, Bristol, Ch. 7: 115-141.

Beyond the Frame(s). Narrative and Representation in Jerome Nadal's Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (Antwerp, 1593)

by Dominique Bauer

Crosscurrents in Illustrated Religious Texts in the North of Europe, 1500-1800 (12-13 January 2012)
http://emblems.let.uu.nl/congres/

Beyond the Frame(s). Narrative and Representation in Jerome Nadal's Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (Antwerp, 1593)more Beyond the Frame(s). Narrative and Representation in Jerome Nadal's Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (Antwerp, 1593)

In Jerome Nadal's Evangelicae Historiae Imagines, a number of engravings highlights distinctive, speaking moments of gospel stories read during Sunday mass. The pictures furthermore contain framed pictures themselves. These so called pictures-within-pictures simultaneously point to past or future events and in this sense they present different moments in time and space within one single image. Without breaking down the overall structure of the narrative that runs through the pictures, they however contribute in this way strongly to its fragmentation.
The picture-within-picture honored par excellence the Ignatian concept of the compositio loci. In this framework pictures generally exemplify the tension between the coherence of a story and its mental and psychological reenactment. They function as visualized mental reconstructions, mental spaces that are generated by the readers who "see" the story while they read or hear it and by doing so actively engage in its contemplation. Analyzing the picture-within-picture shows this tension in a very salient way. Though the attention is initially drawn to the internal fragmentation of both the image and the narrative, the source of this process is to be found precisely in the relation between the space of the beholder and the image. This can be better understood by turning to one of the earliest examples of the picture-within-picture, the 1324-1328 illuminations of Jean Pucelle in the Livre d'Heures of Jeanne d'Evreux. Pucelle's illuminations show how this type of picture essentially consists in the visualization of the act of beholding itself and how this type of representation affects narrative coherence.

La Cámara Internacional del Cine dentro del contexto de las coproducciones hispano-italianas de los años 1939-1943

by Felix Monguilot

Felix Monguilot Benzal, La Cámara Internacional del Cine dentro del contexto de las coproducciones hispano-italianas de los años 1939-1943, Actas del X Congreso de la AEHC: El Documental Carcoma de la Ficción, Tomo 2, Consejería de Cultura Filmoteca de Andalucía / Ediciones Litopress, Córdoba, 2004, pp. 65-80.

The International Film Chamber in Europe The International Film Chamber in Europe

Las Guerras de Independencia en las cinematografías de Cuba y España: Una visión transatlántica

by Santiago Juan-Navarro

Published in Solaluna Académica (Arizona State University) 1 (2010)

La Guerra hispano-cubano-americana tuvo una gran importancia desde el punto de vista político para las tres naciones... more La Guerra hispano-cubano-americana tuvo una gran importancia desde el punto de vista político para las tres naciones beligerantes. Para España representa el fin de su imperio y el comienzo de un debate sobre su identidad. Para Cuba significó el fin de una etapa colonial y el comienzo de otra, bajo el control de la nueva potencia hegemónica. Para los EE.UU. sirvió como ensayo de su política expansionista, que tuvo sus momentos más agresivos a partir del 98.

Tanto el cine español como el cubano han tratado este acontecimiento histórico desde posturas nacionalistas, a menudo tendenciosas, y casi siempre de forma muy superficial. En la ponencia se explora el poder legitimador de las imágenes cinematográficas de este acontecimiento en distintas etapas de la historia política de Cuba y España, así como su papel en la construcción de una teleología de la nación.

En el caso español la Guerra de Cuba ha dado lugar a visiones diametralmente opuestas del conflicto. Si durante la dictadura franquista el 98 representaba la traición de la clase política al estamento militar, una afrenta que algunos creyeron ver “reparada” con el alzamiento militar de 1936, a finales del milenio han dominado las versiones revisionistas que, aunque critican el ya agonizante colonialismo español, denuncian a su vez las primeras manifestaciones del imperialismo norteamericano, dentro de un esquema transnacional de coproducciones en las que prima el capital económico e ideológico de la antigua metrópoli.

Por lo que se refiere al cine cubano, las guerras de independencia del siglo XIX tuvieron una importancia crucial en la creación de una hermenéutica oficial de la historia de Cuba. Si las luchas por la emancipación de la antigua colonia española son el trasfondo de algunas de las primeras producciones cubanas, tales luchas adquieren un papel central durante las celebraciones del primer centenario de la insurrección en 1968. Esto habría de dar lugar a numerosos filmes históricos que interpretan el pasado desde la perspectiva de la Cuba socialista y en los que se recurre a las Guerras de Independencia para consolidar el imaginario mítico de la Revolución.

"Drawing Lessons from Turkey’s and Spain’s Security Sector Reforms for the Mediterranean" Volkan Aytar, Eduard Soler i Lecha, Debora Miralles & Ümit Cizre,EuroMeSCo (Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission) Research Paper No: 52, October 2006

by Volkan Aytar

"Drawing Lessons from Turkey’s and Spain’s Security Sector Reforms for the Mediterranean" Volkan Aytar, Eduard Soler i Lecha, Debora Miralles & Ümit Cizre,EuroMeSCo (Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission) Research Paper No: 52, October 2006

Security Sector Reform (SSR) and more specifically the Democratic Civilian Control of the Armed Forces (DCCAF) have... more Security Sector Reform (SSR) and more specifically the Democratic Civilian Control of the Armed Forces (DCCAF) have become key issues in current debates on political reform. As SSR and DCCAF are emerging topics, intersecting both comparative politics and security studies fields of international relations, their theoretical frameworks are largely developed around comparative studies. This project attempts to contribute to the design of the EU’s policies on democracy and good governance promotion in the Mediterranean region by drawing lessons from Turkey’s and Spain’s DCCAF.

Illusions of Love: The ‘Woman-Who-Never-Was’ and the 'Libro de buen amor'

by Nicholas Ealy

Sexuality, Sociality and Cosmology in Medieval Literary Texts, Edited by Jennifer Brown and Marla Segol, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 (ISBN: 978-0230109803)

This essay examines the connection in the 'Libro de buen amor' between the Archpriest’s cosmological imperative to... more This essay examines the connection in the 'Libro de buen amor' between the Archpriest’s cosmological imperative to love and the portrait of an ideal lady given to him by Amor. In this analysis, the essay argues that the portrait both embodies the Archpriest’s endless search for love and symbolizes the very nature and limits of human desire.

Nostalgia culturalista y modernidad tardía. Persiguiendo la cultura en Castilla-La Mancha

by Monica Cornejo Valle

Me cuesta tanto olvidarte: Mecano and the Movida Remixed, Revisited and Repackaged

by Santiago Fouz Hernandez

Fouz-Hernández, Santiago (2009) ‘Me cuesta tanto olvidarte: Mecano and the Movida Remixed, Revisited and Repackaged’, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies 10.2, 167-187. ISSN 1463-6204.

The commercially successful Gran Via “pop” musical Hoy no me puedo levantar (premièred in 2005 reaching one million... more The commercially successful Gran Via “pop” musical Hoy no me puedo levantar (premièred in 2005 reaching one million spectators by its fourth season in 2007) was one of the first major cultural products to mark the 1980s revival that has become ubiquitous in literature, music, film, media and visual culture in Spain in the second half of this decade. Using a carefully chosen repertoire of popular hits by the iconic and enormously popular 1980s pop group Mecano (disbanded in 1998) and a calculated balance of comedy and drama, the musical seeks to revive the thriving atmosphere of the early 1980s Madrid music scene 25 years later. The popularity of the show (directed by a former Mecano member in its first four seasons) led to the re-release of the band’s entire discography, a tribute CD recorded by young “indie” bands, a greatest hits album, a CD boxset, a four-disc DVD set and a sold-out tour of Mecano hits played by former band singer Ana Torroja, among other lucrative ventures. This article discusses Mecano’s relevance in the movida years and uses the musical and its wider context as a case study in order to explore the commercialization of nostalgia characteristic of this timely revival of the so-called “golden age of Spanish pop”.

• “Modern Science as Emergent Culture: Luzán’s ‘Juicio de Paris renovado: Fábula épica’.” Hispanófila 132 (Fall 2001): 53-68.

by Ruth Hill

Pace, onore e giustizia nella trattatistica spagnola di età barocca

by Paolo Broggio

in «Stringere la pace». Teorie e pratiche della conciliazione nell’Europa moderna (secoli XV-XVIII), a cura di P. BROGGIO, M. P. PAOLI, Roma, Viella, 2011, pp. 429-464

Sobre la viabilidad de la energía nuclear: Implicaciones de los accidentes de Fukushima-Daiichi

by François Diaz Maurin

SPANISH - published in Ecología Política Vol. 41 (July 2011)

Los accidentes en la central nuclear de Fukushima-Daiichi
como consecuencia de desastres naturales —el... more Los accidentes en la central nuclear de Fukushima-Daiichi
como consecuencia de desastres naturales —el terremoto
y el posterior tsunami— ponen en cuestión si la energía
nuclear es verdaderamente segura y, por lo tanto, si re-
presenta realmente una alternativa viable como fuente de
energía. A pesar de las advertencias sobre la «vulnerabilidad
fundamental de las centrales nucleares» en Japón en caso de
terremotos (Katsuhiko, 2007), no se habían tomado todas
las medidas para prevenir que aconteciese un desastre nu-
clear en Fukushima. Intentaré demostrar aquí que tal cosa
no es debida a una falta de voluntad, sino que se debe a
un problema sistémico que afecta a esta industria y que le
impide aprender las lecciones del pasado.

Un pequeño Hollywood proletario: El cine anarcosindicalista durante la Revolución Española (Barcelona, 1936-1937)

by Santiago Juan-Navarro

Published in Bulletin of Spanish Studies 8.4 (2011): 523-540.

The article surveys anarchist film production during the Spanish Revolution (the early years of the Spanish Civil War... more The article surveys anarchist film production during the Spanish Revolution (the early years of the Spanish Civil War during which the means of production were socialized in parts of Spain).  Between 1936 and 1937 the anarcho-syndicalist organizations produced over 100 documentaries and feature length fiction films. “Un pequeño Hollywood proletario” focuses on film production during this period in Barcelona, where the film industry was fully collectivized and theatres functioned as political centres under the control mostly of the anarchists. In addition to documentary films, such as Reportaje del movimiento revolucionario en Barcelona, the essay addresses the paradoxical combination of sentimental romance and consciousness-raising in the anarchist fiction films (Aurora de esperanza and Barrios bajos), which portray working class struggles, women’s emancipation, marginal counter-culture,  and land collectivization during those years. I interpret this idiosyncratic synthesis of anarcho-syndicalist agitprop and the recycled genre conventions of melodrama as a short-lived (and often failed) attempt to fuse radical politics with mass entertainment.

El artículo ofrece una visión panorámica del cine anarquista durante la Revolución Española (los primeros años de la Guerra Civil durante los cuales los medios de producción fueron socializados en gran parte del país). Entre 1936 y 1937 las organizaciones anarcosindicalistas produjeron más de 100 documentarles y largometrajes de ficción. “Un pequeño Hollywood proletario” se centra en la producción cinematográfica durante este periodo en Barcelona, donde la industria cinematográfica fue completamente colectivizada y los teatros funcionaron como centros políticos bajo el control principalmente de los anarquistas. Además de documentales, como Reportaje del movimiento revolucionario en Barcelona, el ensayo estudia la paradójica combinación de sentimentalismo folletinesco y concienciación política en los largometrajes de ficción anarquistas (Aurora de esperanza y Barrios bajos), que describen las luchas de la clase trabajadora, la emancipación femenina, la cultura marginal y el proceso de colectivización durante aquellos años. Esta original síntesis de agitprop anarcosindicalista y convenciones del melodrama puede interpretarse como un breve (y a menudo fallido) intento de fusionar el radicalismo político con la cultura de masas.

“Una poética de la memoria: la poesía de Rafael Juárez"

by Pablo Valdivia

Tonos (Murcia: Universidad de Murcia) 20 December (2010) ISSN 1577-6921. http://www.tonosdigital.com

Intimate Suffering and Moral Communities in Con la miel en los labios By Esther Tusquets.

by Christian Moretti

Esther Tusquets Conference, 5th March, University of London

The Seeking of Sponsorship by Christopher Columbus

by Juan A. Caballero Prieto

Final Project for a class on Islamic Spain. The previous project on "El Cid" was posted a while back. I focused my research on the Spanish reactions to the invasion of 711 and the subsequent years; thus El Cid (the turning of the tide for Spain in the 12th century) and Christopher Columbus (15th century and the end of moor rule) were logical choices.

There was much more to Columbus’ voyages than the simple fact he was a man bent on sailing west to obtain land and... more There was much more to Columbus’ voyages than the simple fact he was a man bent on sailing west to obtain land and glory. Columbus was a deeply religious man, and more important than the riches he sought by sailing was the religious belief that he could be ushering a new age in human history.

“Performance of Saint Teresa of Avila in Spanish contemporary classical music”.

by Susan Campos

Campos Fonseca, Susan (2011). “Performance of Saint Teresa of Avila in Spanish contemporary classical music”. Perfoma 2011, Encontros de Investigacao em Performance, Panel 17: Hispanic Heritage performance as projected on the female body (S. Campos, J. Lorenzo, M. Molina, SIBE Group). Lecture 20/05/2011. . Oficial publication: http://performa.web.ua.pt/ (paper in press).

Abstract:
I propose a paper presentation dedicated to the performance of Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), her... more Abstract:
I propose a paper presentation dedicated to the performance of Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), her person, life and work, in Spanish contemporary classical music as result of a poiesis of Christian mysticism and body politics. Both processes can be studied departing from the music based on the writings of the nun, and her representations as cultural, political and mystical icon. This research work requires a theoretical and practical knowledge, not only of historical musicology, musical analysis and theory, but also of ethnomusicology and performance studies. However, that this is a preliminary study, really a kind of “Directions for further research”, and such does not have a specific argument.
There exists an extensive bibliography dedicated to the person and work of Saint Teresa of Avila, but a comparative study related to the reception of her person and work in musical creation has not been carried out. In the same way, the presence of musical and speculative practice in the work of the nun have been documented, but not her representation and resignification in later musical creation, or the possible relation of this phenomenon with the institutionalisation of this woman as cultural Hispanic icon.

Key word: Performance, St. Teresa of Avila, Body, Mysticism, Music.

RESEARCH NOTES PROCESS (brief series of experimental essays):http://susancampos.wordpress.com/category/estudios-de-performance/

Synchronized arousal between performers and related spectators in a fire-walking ritual

by Dimitris Xygalatas

co-authored with I. Konvalinka, J. Bulbulia, U. Schjødt, E-M. Jegindø, S. Wallot, G. Van Orden, and A. Roepstorff.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2011.

Collective rituals are present in all known societies, but their function is a matter of long-standing debates. Field... more Collective rituals are present in all known societies, but their function is a matter of long-standing debates. Field observations suggest that they may enhance social cohesion and that their effects are not limited to those actively performing but affect the audience as well. Here we show physiological effects of synchro- nized arousal in a Spanish fire-walking ritual, between active participants and related spectators, but not participants and other members of the audience. We assessed arousal by heart rate dynamics and applied nonlinear mathematical analysis to heart rate data obtained from 38 participants. We compared synchro- nized arousal between fire-walkers and spectators. For this comparison, we used recurrence quantification analysis on in- dividual data and cross-recurrence quantification analysis on pairs of participants’ data. These methods identified fine-grained com- monalities of arousal during the 30-min ritual between fire- walkers and related spectators but not unrelated spectators. This indicates that the mediating mechanism may be informational, because participants and related observers had very different bodily behavior. This study demonstrates that a collective ritual may evoke synchronized arousal over time between active partic- ipants and bystanders. It links field observations to a physiological basis and offers a unique approach for the quantification of social effects on human physiology during real-world interactions.