Spanish State Research Articles

The Politics of Food and Hunger in Spanish Literature, 1945–2015

In Francoist Spain, food and hunger were empathically politicized and, though conspicuously absent from State discourses, Spain’s infamous ‘hunger years’ (1939–1952) pervade Spanish fiction. Literature is a particularly illuminating medium for (re)constructing (post)memories of food and hunger, as historiography underscores how trauma, shame and censorship refract memories of hunger. By interrogating the politics of food and hunger in the post-Civil War novel, fictionalized memoirs and postmemory texts, this article unpacks how Republican, Nationalist, sexual, gender and memory politics intersect, building on the burgeoning field of food cultural studies in Spain.

Spanish informalist art exhibitions in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1960

ABSTRACT This article explores the international reception of Spanish Informalism during the years of aperturismo, when this artistic trend was chosen to represent the Franco dictatorship at international art exhibitions and biennials. In contrast to the readings that study this phenomenon as a strategy of cultural diplomacy, the aim here is to pay attention to the local contexts where the Informalist avant-garde was exhibited, in order to analyse the ways in which the work of Spanish artists was re-signified when it came into contact with geographically situated curators, critics and audiences who had their own agency. Taking the example of the Federal Republic of Germany as a case study, this article examines a series of exhibitions that arose from private initiative in 1960, basing mostly on periodical and primary sources from the archives of the institutions that hosted the exhibitions.

Left Atheist Activism and Crime of Genocide in Francoist Spain

Abstract This article examines whether the mass killings of people with leftist ideology by the Franco regime can be interpreted as genocide in accordance with the provisions of international law. The present study underscores the influence of religion on the configuration of Francoist criminal policy and provides evidence that allows Francoist repression to be considered as genocide. Individuals with leftist ideologies were presented not only as a political group but also as a religious group with atheist and non-Catholic beliefs. In this sense, the mass political repression conducted by the Franco regime fulfils the objective elements (actus reus) of genocide due to the fact the religious element played a significant role in justifying the annihilation of Republicans. The victims of Francoist repression were in fact selected not only because they belonged to a certain political movement or party but also because they belonged to a certain religious group.

Observational study of gadolinium-enhancing lesions in MRI in patients with multiple sclerosis from the Spanish Mediterranean coast: seasonal variability and relationship with climatic factors

IntroductionEnvironmental factors appear to play an important role in the development and course of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Seasonal variability in disease activity has been described and it is postulated that it may vary according to geographical area. The aim of this study is to analyse the monthly distribution of activity observed on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and to look for a possible relationship with climate in patients with relapsing remitting MS. Material and methodsRetrospective observational study, carried out in the population of one hospital on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. A total of 238 MRI scans of 51 patients were evaluated. Climatological data were obtained from the Spanish State Meteorological Agency from 2012 to 2016. Activity was defined as contrast-enhancing lesions. ResultsThe distribution of gadolinium-enhancing lesions was found to be non-uniform across months (p=0.008). Visual inspection suggests higher activity in July and August. Regarding weather, tropical nights (defined as days with a minimum temperature above 20°C) were associated with increased risk of MRI activity (OR=1.06, p=0.001). ConclusionThese findings suggest a non-uniform monthly distribution of gadolinium-enhancing lesions and an association between warmer nights and increased MRI activity, pointing to a potential impact of environmental factors on multiple sclerosis activity in neuroimaging.

Poetry, Parody and the Construction of Contrarian Discourse in Franco’s Spain

This article examines how poetry subverted Francoist control over the written word in National-Catholic Spain. Despite the policing of culture by the regime’s censors, poets were able to use their works to express their nonconformity with the social and political situation. Spanish poets working under the regime resorted to subtle techniques in order to articulate their dissent. This article explores the political possibilities of one such technique: parody. It evaluates the limitations of parodic discourse as a form of political critique and offers an appraisal of the value of this literary form in the specific context of Francoist Spain. Offering a close reading of a work of parodic poetry by Ángel González, the article analyses how parody is used to appropriate and subvert Francoist National-Catholic discourse.

Mondragon, Humanity at Work

Mondragon is a corporation made up of 81 cooperatives located in the Basque Country (in the northern of the Spanish State). The Corporation also includes 104 noncooperative subsidiaries abroad that are wholly or partly owned by its member cooperatives and 23 superstructure and support organizations. It works in many different fields: industry, finance, distribution, agri-food, education, research, services, etc. In total, Mondragon employs approximately 70,500 people and has gross revenues of around 11,000 million euros per year.

Mythic, national, global, geological: the countryside in Catalan literature

ABSTRACT This essay analyzes the dominant ideologies of the different representations of the countryside in modern and contemporary Catalan literature. I propose three main tendencies or stages. First, in the nineteenth century the countryside provided a symbolic form to local fatherlands that portrayed the mythification of the native soil, the transmission of historical memory and an implicit defense against the penetration of the Spanish state. Second, in the twentieth century the countryside became part of the political process of spatializing the Catalan nation. Josep Pla’s oeuvre constitutes the most comprehensive effort to narrate the national genius loci. Finally, literary works in the twenty-first century have focused on representing the ways in which globalization has altered the Catalan countryside. In our present, the geography of the rural has been largely disjointed by suburbanization, tourism, overexploitation of natural resources, itinerant immigration, remote work and political clientelism, but also multiple instances of local resistance and alternative forms of life. As AMO/Rem Koolhaas argue in Countryside: A Report, the rural world is currently more volatile than the most accelerated city, and many of the tensions between the global and the local, capital and labor, and human and natural histories emerge there in more extreme ways than in any urban space. In this global context, one singular novel, Irene Solà’s Canto jo i la muntanya balla (2019), thematizes how even the geological sphere of the countryside has become an unstable space of postsubjective experience and magmatic violence.

Ordoliberalism in Spain: translations of Röpke’s publications

Röpke is considered one of the most prominent Ordoliberal economists. The objective of this work is to analyse the dissemination of Röpke’s works, within Spain, through diverse institutions: Instituto de Estudios Políticos, Revista de Occidente, Sociedad de Estudios y Publicaciones, CSIC and Fundación Villalonga. Most of these works appeared between 1946 and 1963. From 1976, after the Franco Dictatorship, some of his books were reissued. Grouped by topics, the main lines of argument exposed by Röpke are perceived as: Monetary Policy, Social Policy, International and European Economic Order, and the performance of small and medium-sized companies, within the economy.

Испанские оборонительные мероприятия на Канарских островах в контексте британских планов овладения Макаронезией в 1940–1942 годах

This article is devoted to the efforts of Francoist Spain to ensure the defense of the Canary Archipelago in 1940–1942. The obviousness of British plans to conquer Macaronesia forced the Spaniards to take measures to preserve sovereignty over the islands. The goal was achieved in conditions of resource scarcity and the threat of a naval blockade. In this situation, the leadership of the defense resorted to emergency measures. A partial mobilization of people and resources was carried out on the archipelago. The metropolis found reserves of weapons and military equipment, which made it possible to equip thecreated group. Thescarcity of the material base limited thecapabilities of thecontingent, but its presence made it possible to prevent the primary plans of a potential enemy. The article concludes that the Spanish military preparations, along with the political and operational situation, prevented the planned British expansion against the Iberian archipelagos.

Beyond Cerdá: Public housing in the Barcelona periphery

Mass migration into the city of Barcelona in the 1950s created an estimated deficit of 100,000 dwellings by the close of the decade, and by the early 1960s an estimated 100,000 people were living in shanty towns in and around the city. In an effort to address this crisis, central State and local housing authorities constructed a series of housing estates in the urban periphery, beyond the central ensanche (expansion), the centrepiece of Ildefonso Cerdá’s 1860 master plan for the city. Using secondary sources, original photographs taken at the end of the Franco era, and more recent Google Earth images, this article discusses the role of the main housing authorities at the time, and examines the planning process that allowed the construction of these housing estates and their subsequent demolition or remodelling in the post-Franco era. The article finds that the public authorities allowed planning regulations to be contravened, or used loopholes and special measures within the planning laws, to construct housing units of minimal dimensions and generally poor quality in areas often zoned for other uses. More recently, “special plans” have been used effectively to improve or replace the majority of these estates. The article concludes that political will was the dominant factor in determining housing construction in the Franco era with the planning process being largely an irrelevance, and that residents’ associations have led the struggle for improvements in these estates in the post-Franco era, with the revised planning laws providing an effective framework for change.

Una disputa de cos present. Controvèrsies en la mort de Josep Maria de Sagarra (1894–1961)

This article analyzes the different reactions that followed the death of the writer Josep Maria de Sagarra in 1961, one of the most popular authors in 20th-century Catalan culture, for his poetic and narrative work, journalism, and especially theater. In the context of the Franco dictatorship, Sagarra’s funeral became a large-scale political act, organized and used by the authorities to show their capacity to integrate an author who had written all of his significant work in the Catalan language. Sagarra lived between two worlds, with some links to the cultural resistance, but publicly signified by his willingness to adapt to the official sphere. For this reason, the Francoist authorities took a great interest in capitalizing on the funeral, which in turn left clandestine Catalanism without a civic-political reference. The article details the clear awareness of the official initiative, widely disseminated through the press, as well as the reactions of the opposition sectors, in restricted-circulation publications and on exile platforms. These controversies about Sagarra’s civic and political role were only on a few occasions translated to the evaluation of his work.

Guimerà: la persistència d’un mite popular i els debats al voltant del cinquantenari de la seva mort (1909–1974)

Few authors are able to represent and exemplify in life the continuity between national literary canon and territorial identity as well as Àngel Guimerà i Jorge (1845–1924). This article sets out to trace the continuities and permanence in Catalan culture of the figure of Guimerà, but at the same to highlight the contrasting or contradictory elements that have characterized public evaluations of his legacy. Beginning with brief consideration of the monumentalization of Guimerà in the early 20th century and immediately following his death in 1924, we will go on to focus on debates around his significance towards the end of the Franco dictatorship, as it was then that new generations of intellectuals and artists who had not directly experienced the civil war would consider the continuing relevance or validity of his writings. This process culminated in 1974 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his death: when there was open debate in the press about the place of Guimerà in Catalan culture, and, more specifically, on the Catalan stage. Here we aim to contextualise these debates, elucidating both the challenges presented by different aspects of his figure and work for recovery in the Catalan society of the period and the light they shed on the ways in which literary figures are resignified over time.

Caribbean timber supply for the Spanish Navy: Shipbuilding and maintenance of war vessels in the Maritime Department of Cadiz (1729–1759)

This article constitutes an introduction to the Caribbean timber supply for the service of the Spanish state shipbuilding industry in the context of the reforms of the naval sector promoted by the early Bourbon administration. The selected case study focuses on the hardwoods from Cuba (as well as Mexico, Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo) shipped to Cadiz during the reigns of Philip V and Ferdinand VI, between the late 1720s and 1750s. This supply was facilitated by the naval infrastructures established in Havana and Veracruz, as well as the trade networks of the Carrera de Indias and naval squadrons that took charge of its transport. From the state shipbuilding programmes to the repair and maintenance activities motivated by the participation of vessels in the warfare dynamics of the post-Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle geopolitical orders, the rhythm of this transatlantic timber supply was the result of multiple factors that had a direct influence on the metropolitan demand for timber.

Minority Narratives: The Voices of Women Architects from the School of Madrid in Early Democratic Spain (1975-1982)

Since the mid-19th century and until the 1964 study programme, students at the Madrid School of Architecture had to undergo various entrance exams for university. Women architects in Francoist Spain represented a mere 5% of the profession, a gender gap only overcome many years after the democratic restoration. Yet most of them did not consider feminism as a matter major concern, since the lack of freedom in Spain held greater importance for women that gender issues, which were relegated to a secondary position in public discussions. Starting in 1985, with the development of the Autonomous Regions in Spain and its accession to the European Economic Community, the country underwent a propound transformation. Former generations of women architects would then play a relevant professional role. This paper aims to expose, through the chronological sequence of their graduation—initially in a testimonial and isolated manner and later forming small networks—how their professional careers developed. This chronological approach, as well as a study of their links from a series of conversations with several women architects that studied and/or set their practice during the years of the democratic transition allows us to conclude that they were not only pioneers but also role models and mentors to each other. Their status as a determined minority is reflected in the relationships they established, with friendships and student complicity that accompanied them throughout their lives, as confirmed by their professional collaborations, comments, and vivid memories of their belonging to a group or community.

Fifty years of Spinozism in Spain

The purpose of this paper is to give an account of the journey that Spinoza’s philosophy made in the last fifty years through Spain, from the final years of the Franco regime till today. Our aim is to show the foundational role played by Spinoza’s philosophy during the decisive moments of the transformation of Spanish society and the Spanish university. We start by addressing the revival of Spinoza’s philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) during the final years of the Franco regime (1966-1975). We then divide the last fifty years of Spinozism in Spain into three periods: (1) the consolidation and the institutionalization of Spinozism (1975-1990); (2) the expansion of Spinoza’s influence through the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the Seminario Spinoza and the first three International Spinoza Conferences (1990-2000); (3) the diverse and manifold Spinoza of the third millennium (2000-2023). In the appendix we briefly address the state of Spinozism in Latin America and its relations with Spinozism in Spain.

Sexual-affective education on Instagram: branded content in Spanish sex shops

ABSTRACT Modern day branded content generates engagement with users and this participation is taking place on social networks. This article uses methodological triangulation to analyze how the most popular Spanish sex shops manage branded content on Instagram, and how much importance do they give to sexual education in their communication. It is important to analyze this phenomenon in Spain where the values of Francoist dictatorship still persist in certain sectors of society. The results demonstrate that sex shops opt for a communicative model in which the product is relegated to the background, while the dissemination of content on sexual education constitutes the essential element of the branded content.

“The camera got through safely”: photography and women’s memory activism after the Irish Civil War and Spanish Civil War

ABSTRACT This article takes a comparative approach to gendered legacies of civil war and militant women’s post-war memory activism in Ireland and Spain, and highlights a shared practice of photographic memory-keeping as a means of constructing counter-narratives of war. It focuses specifically on the testimonial memoirs “Blaze Away with your Little Gun” (1968–69) by Siobhán and Mairead de Paor and Cárcel de Mujeres (Vol. 1 and 2, 1985) and Mujeres en la Resistencia (1968) by Tomasa Cuevas, which commemorated women’s experiences of activism and imprisonment in the Irish Civil War and Spanish Civil War respectively. This article unpacks how militant women on the losing side of civil war navigated the gendered repression and enforced erasure of the post-war Irish Free State and Francoist dictatorship and uses the two case studies to demonstrate that women’s photographic practices enabled them to contest national narratives of war. It thus highlights how women’s testimonial photographic practices, the ways in which they created, re-defined, and circulated images within written memoirs, allowed them to reclaim agency over their experiences of activism and imprisonment and commemorate women who were otherwise erased from official remembrance.

The Anti-Cold War Left: Third World Imaginaries and Protest Cultures at the Local Level in Spain, 1968–1986

This article contributes to recent scholarly efforts to reassess the history of Third-Worldism in Europe during the Cold War. Focusing on left-wing activists who mobilized through and beyond the long 1960s in the Spanish city of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, the article demonstrates how local communities drew meaning from and projected meaning onto the Third World to help them understand domestic conditions under the Francoist dictatorship, find common ground during the transition to democracy, and carve out a new role for Spanish democracy on European and global stages based on the collective values of non-alignment, participation, Third-World optimism and solidarity.

Survival Strategies and Non-Aggression Pacts Between the Guardia Civil and the Republican Guerrilla in Spain's Irregular War, 1936–1952

Existing literature on the anti-Francoist guerrilla has focused on the origins, development and decline of guerrilla parties. However, many aspects of the irregular war of 1936–1952 that pitted rebel forces, and later the Francoist dictatorship, against Republican resistance fighters remain unexplored. Historians have often cited civil guards as sources on killings and torture that took place in spaces of anti-guerrilla warfare, and the violence employed by the guerrilla has also been the subject of a significant amount of research. In contrast, this article looks at how civil guards deployed in the irregular war and guerrilla fighters not only interacted peacefully, but in fact came to establish non-aggression pacts as a survival strategy. The existence of such agreements was known not only to the men on both sides, but also to the civilian population and the dictatorship itself.

Analyzing 1937 AD Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange through the Hispano-Arab-Islamic Mecca Pilgrimage

This research employs Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to delve into the historical interactions between Spain and the Arab-Islamic world during Franco's regime, with a focus on the 1937 pilgrimage to Mecca. This initiative exemplifies the use of cultural and religious diplomacy to enhance bilateral relations, revealing efforts to portray Spain as respectful of Islamic practices. By examining unpublished documents, including Francisco Limiñana's detailed planning of the pilgrimage, the study highlights the complexity of colonial and post-colonial relationships, blending cooperation and power dynamics. The analysis underscores the intertwining of Spain's internal policies with its external posture, aiming to bolster national identity and Franco's legitimacy. The findings challenge oversimplified narratives, offering a nuanced view of Western-Arab-Islamic interactions, essential for understanding contemporary challenges and fostering intercultural dialogue. Significantly, Limiñana's role transitioned from organizing the pilgrimage to becoming Spain's first ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 1956, illustrating the evolution of Spanish-Arab relations.