The ubiquity of populist discourse in politics and across various sectors of contemporary Spanish society prompts an inquiry into the use of populism in current literature. Almudena Grandes’s polyphonic novel Los besos en el pan ( Kissing the Bread ) (2015) offers a snapshot of the housing crisis in an ordinary neighbourhood of Madrid. This article will analyse the novel’s discursive strategies in order to identify the defining features of what could be considered the use of populist techniques within it. It will also assess whether these techniques serve an anti-hegemonic function of denunciation or whether the populist discourse may, in some way, have become embedded in the narrative as a form of acquiescence to the new political normal.

Science-fiction film is not among the most produced genres in Spain. However, in recent decades, some film productions have been released related to the science-fiction genre, which have tried to be internationally competitive in order to achieve economic success. This article will analyse the case of Automata (2014), a film by Spanish director, Gabe Ibáñez, in the context of both Spanish and European science-fiction cinema. Its industrial strategies will be examined to highlight how Spanish science-fiction productions need to be international products to be competitive. In addition, Automata will be compared with other Spanish films, evaluating factors such as budget, box office earnings, locations, cast composition and other cultural elements. Thus, the diverse strategies carried out by producers of science-fiction films in Spain will be considered, as well as their different degrees of commercial success.

Review of: Habitação Para Além Da ‘Crise’: Políticas, Conflito, Direito , Simone Tulumello (2024) Lisbon: Tigre de Papel, 252 pp., ISBN 978-9-89357-041-8, p/bk, GBP 13.00

This article examines Smiley (2022), a Catalan- and Spanish-language LGBTQ+ romantic comedy on Netflix, as a critical intervention in debates over digital intimacies and platform-mediated relationships. As both romcoms and relationships themselves become increasingly platformized, the article analyses how the series visualizes the digital enclosure of dating through split-screen aesthetics and palimpsestic overlays, formally mirroring the fragmented, gamified nature of dating/hook-up apps like Grindr. Smiley dramatizes the affective labour and disorientation inherent in data-driven matchmaking, interrogating tensions between somatic and cyber-mediated intimacies. Reflecting broader trends towards physical, flesh-and-blood sex in Netflix romcoms, amid the post-romantic, heteropessimistic turn in screen productions, it balances queerer modes of interface design, digital affect and embodied sex with traditional genre discourses of the Soulmate and The One. While offering a nuanced critique of quantified, marketized love, Smiley ’s prioritization of corporeal, monogamous, (homo)normative connection over multiple, virtual encounters reveals both the constraints and possibilities of contemporary (LGBTQ+) courtship and social bonding.

The aim of this article is to contribute to the notion that Ibero-Romance languages form a linguistic continuum. From an intrinsically linguistic perspective, it is more interesting (and fruitful) to identify linguistic forms that vary continuously – and contiguously – across geographical and social spaces than to trace rigid boundaries between languages that are assumed to be essentially and categorically different. The former view can provide a deeper understanding of the structural overlaps that place closely related languages – such as Mirandese, Portuguese and Spanish – on intersecting paths and not on opposite sides of insurmountable fences. In light of this approach, this article provides synchronic and historical data that make it possible to deepen the comparison of the phonology of Mirandese with the phonologies of Portuguese and Spanish. The objective is not merely to present a list of similarities and differences; rather, the study will demonstrate that such similarities and differences are part – and evidence – of the language continuum that is the very nature of the identities of these languages within the broader range of Romance languages.

Ana Lena Rivera’s novel, Las herederas de la Singer (‘The Singer Heirs’) (2023), celebrates sewing while using the age-old gendered textile art to address the importance of community support in empowering women through emotional crises – often as a result of sexual violence – and economic hardship. Through the lens of trauma and postmemory studies, this article explores the role of sewing and the gendered object of the sewing machine in forging intergenerational ties of four women in Rivera’s Las herederas de la Singer. As the protagonists navigate trauma, they challenge patriarchal structures and fight to break cycles of abuse through acts of creative labour and collective resistance. Sewing and the inherited Singer merge as metaphors for inheritance, resistance, healing and repair.

This article explores the presence of Mirandese in its linguistic landscape, that is, the language on display in public spaces. A fieldwork campaign in ten of the thirteen freguesias, or parishes, of the Miranda do Douro municipality reveals a noticeable lack of signage due to the eminently rural nature of the area under study, whose socio-economic structure does not favour elements of this nature in the public space. The article illustrates the diminished presence of the Mirandese language, with two defining characteristics: on the one hand, a mainly institutional origin of the signals, with scant private initiative, which hinders the transfer of oral usage to written output, and, on the other hand, the variety’s restricted functionality. Even if Mirandese has a part to play in local culture and identity, it adopts a symbolic rather than an informative role. The latter is reserved for Portuguese, as the dominant language used in all areas of communication. Nevertheless, following the implementation of remedial measures over the past 30 years, there appears to be an improvement in attitudes towards the autochthonous language, which has clearly gained prestige as a local hallmark.

Incorporating technology into language teaching has been the subject of numerous studies over the past few years. However, minority and minoritized languages have not been given sufficient attention in most of these studies. This article is an attempt to bridge that gap, by focusing on the Mirandese language. Providing a general overview of the current sociolinguistic situation and legal protection of Mirandese, this article centres on the challenges facing teachers of this minority language in the first decades of the twenty-first century. After examining the current state of linguistic and didactic resources available for teaching Mirandese, pedagogical strategies and tools teachers can employ to address the lack of such resources will be highlighted. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of allocating more time and resources to teaching Mirandese to younger generations.

Review of: Performance Art in Portugal, Cláudia Madeira (2024) London and New York: Routledge, 204 pp., ISBN 978-1-03218-265-0, h/bk, £101.25

Review of: Maricas: Queer Cultures and State Violence in Argentina and Spain, 1942–1982, Javier Fernández Galeano (2024) Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 342 pp., ISBN 978-1-49623-497-1, h/bk, USD 99 ISBN 978-1-49623-955-6, p/bk, USD 30 ISBN 978-1-49623-983-9, e-book (PDF), USD 30 ISBN 978-1-49623-982-2, e-book (ePUB), USD 30