History Of Spain Research Articles

Revealing the impact of wildfires on groundwater quality: Insights from Sierra de la Culebra (Spain)

Wildfires induce changes in soil and vegetation composition, significantly impacting the hydrological cycle and altering future runoff and infiltration patterns. Ash residue on the ground can infiltrate the subsoil along with water, leading to modifications in groundwater hydrochemistry. Climate change and summer heatwaves can create favourable conditions for severe wildfires, such as the one that occurred in Zamora, Spain, in 2022. Fourteen simultaneous points of origin across various locations in Zamora triggered the worst environmental disaster in this province, as well as the largest fire recorded in the history of Spain. Following the severe wildfires in Sierra de la Culebra, Zamora, groundwater samples were obtained to compare the hydrochemistry with pre-fire background data spanning several years. A general decline in pH across all sampling points was observed, most notably at Z1, likely due to its very high permeability and leaching of organic acids from burned vegetation. Increases in major ions such as SO42− and NO3− were detected at Z1-2, while HCO3− levels decreased, indicating possible oxidation of soil organic matter and the introduction of wildfire-derived organic acids into the groundwater system. Elevated concentrations of Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Ca2+ were observed at Z3, suggesting possible ash residue infiltration. Despite the severity of the wildfires, the results indicate that there were no significant long-lasting impacts on groundwater quality overall. This finding suggests that the groundwater systems in the study area are resilient to such environmental catastrophes.

Sánchez-Albornoz, the Danger of the Fitna, and the Problem of Spanish Unity and History

This article focuses on the almost unknown novel Ben Ammar de Sevilla. Una tragedia en la España de los taifas, written by the famous medievalist Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz (d. 1984), who while paradoxically contributing greatly for the knowledge on the Muslim Iberia and its historiography, at the same time consolidated the 19th century discourses of the Reconquista and the «Hispanized» al-Andalus. The aim of this article is to study, on the one hand, how al-Andalus is depicted on Sánchez-Albornoz’s novel, and, on the other, to interpret why he wrote this book and how it blends with his general way of thinking the history of Spain and his own present. The paper argues that this novel must be read through Sánchez-Albornoz’s experience of civil war and exile, in which the problem of the unity of the Spanish people throughout its history becomes crucial in his historical thought. The Taifa period, in which the novel focuses, and the consequences of the fitna and disintegration of the Andalusi unity, are a mirror in which Sánchez-Albornoz reflects his own reality and his patriotic longings. Thus, the main characters of his novel, such as the exiled king of Seville al-Mu‘tamid, become (in)direct parallels of the author’s life. Ideas such as that of the homo hispanus, the concern for union and the avoidance of the fitna are fundamental for a global understanding of Sánchez-Albornoz’s historical proposal. These perspectives can explain the apparent contradictions in his approach on the history of al-Andalus, and can also explain how the Middle Ages consisted of a way to address his own present.

The chrononym “withdrawal” in the history of Spain: case study based on photography

The chrononym “withdrawal” in the history of Spain: case study based on photography

‘We are Patriots, not Fascists:’ Spanish Nationalism in 2017

AbstractThe 2017 Catalan Independence Referendum prompted a historic resurgence of Spanish ‘centre’ nationalism. Such resurgence is indicative of a change in Spanish national identity as overt nationalism and is connotationally related to the Franco regime. This research focuses on the power and dissemination of newspaper narratives in the promotion and descriptions of such nationalism. Newspapers are discursively analysed to understand the decreasing reticence towards ‘centre’ nationalism in Spain, as evidenced by nationalist rhetoric and symbolism, and the significance of this change for the Spanish transition to democracy. It is found that the Catalan referendum inspired a strong counter‐reaction of dissociating centre‐periphery relations suggestive of pre‐democratic transition sentiments in the maintenance of the ‘centre’ as dominant and relegating the ‘periphery’ to its Franco‐era ‘threat’ status. Newspapers facilitated this shift in the nationalist narrative through their descriptions of the independence movement and the use of references and allusions to Spain's history and ‘near past.’

The photographic heritage as a motivational resource to learn and teach history

This article, linked to the research of new methods for teaching history, has as its main objective to analyse the motivation of future primary school teachers regarding the use of photographic heritage in the teaching of historical content. This investigation is based on a teaching experience carried out in the 22/23 academic year with 266 primary education student teachers, in which a key episode in the history of Spain is explored via a series of photographs. Data collection was done through a Likert-type questionnaire, which the students answered after the activity, with a response scale of 1 to 4 with some qualitative open-ended questions. Responses were also examined using the SPSS27 statistical programme. The results show how the analysis and interpretation of the photographs, as well as the activities developed from them, are a motivating resource for most of the participants. The latter consider photographs suitable, on the one hand, for their personal development, and on the other, for their professional training, since it allows them to design innovative and creative history teaching-learning programmes.

The Book “History of Spain” Is an Important Event for Hispanists

Book review: History of Spain / Translation from Spanish: V.A. Vedyushkin, G.A. Popova, E.E. Yurchik. — Moscow: Ves’ mir, 2023. — 544

Treatment of history content and written expression in texts for foreign students in compulsory education in Spain

The aim of this paper is to conclude on the state of the art in terms of research, materials and needs in the teaching of written expression through the contents of Spanish History in Spain. The starting hypothesis is that there are no suitable materials for the academic and social inclusion of foreign students in our educational system. On this basis, a systematic review of the literature on the subject and of the materials offered by the main publishers in Spain has been carried out. As a working tool, a rubric was developed for the analysis of the materials, and an account was given of the treatment of History content and written expression activities in the selected textbooks. The reference documentation for the teaching of languages and History has been reviewed transversally. The results show the scarcity, or almost absence, of materials specifically developed for non-native learners, the lack of research on issues related to L1 didactics for these children, and the need to establish a European reference framework for history similar to those existing for language teaching and learning.

What can the translation of «The History of Spain…» tell us?

Book review: Alfonso X the Wise and and his collaborators. History of Spain, compiled by the noblest king Don Alfonso, son of the noble king Don Fernando and queen Dona Beatriz. Edited by: Aurov Oleg Valentinovich. Saint Petersburg: Nauka, 2022. Т. 3. 727 p.

Resisting Models, Building Bridges: The Present and Future of Gender History in Spain

Resisting Models, Building Bridges: The Present and Future of Gender History in Spain

Irving’s Literary Historiography

Claudia Stokes, “Irving’s Literary Historiography” (pp. 195–222) This essay examines the importance of Washington Irving to modern disciplinary standards of historiography. Today, history and literature are distinct genres requiring different skills, but for centuries history was a recognized form of rhetoric readily available to writers, even those without special qualifications or training. This tradition of history writing proved important to Irving’s early career, and he found great success with his parodic A History of New York (1809). Decades later, he attempted to replicate that success with A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada (1829), a history of Spain’s campaign to control Granada. However, in the intervening years, historiographical standards had begun to change: historians were now expected to conduct original research and adhere as closely as possible to recorded facts. In accord with these expectations, Irving conducted significant archival research, but he blended this research with literary forms and devices, which included a fictitious narrator and an invented manuscript source. Decades earlier, these devices had rendered A History of New York a success, but critics of Conquest of Granada took issue with Irving’s literariness and accused him of perpetrating a hoax. To nineteenth-century observers, this controversy demonstrated the dangers that literariness posed to history and affirmed the need to separate these two modes. The public response to Irving’s A History of the Conquest of Granada contributed to the modern professionalization of history and modern historiographical standards.

REVOLUTION AND COUNTERREVOLUTION IN SPAIN AND IN SPANISH AMERICA. RIEGO’S FAILURE AND THE LIBERAL TRIENNIUM (1820-1823)

The liberal triennium is presented as a crossroads in the History of Spain and in much of America. A crossroads where the trajectories of the European and American continents converge. In these years, respect for the freedoms of the citizens was demanded. The right to freedom under the law, freedom of opinion and association, freedom of political action and choice. These movements have a predominantly liberal and nationalist political-social character. The different national projects of the overseas territories have an explanation and the possibility of building a liberal regime on the Peninsula under the protection of the Constitution of Cádiz depart for the future. Rafael de Riego's coup against Ferdinand VII of Spain, was one more in the long chain of those that took place in the period 1814-1820. Majority of then failed but Riego finally achieved the objective. The liberal faction reached the power to carry out a series of political, social and economic changes from an ideological base opposed to that of the Old Regime. The French invasion took place, which came to reestablish the absolutism, Riego led the resistance in Andalusia at 1823 but he was defeated, captured and executed. Riego’s dream disappeared.

Sol y Luna: An Intellectual Publication of Argentine Catholic Nationalists in 1938—1943

The article is devoted to the history of Sol y Luna, an intellectual journal, which was published in Buenos Aires in the period from 1938 to 1943. The publication was an organ of Argentine Catholic nationalists, covering and analyzing issues of culture, philosophy and art, various aspects of intellectual and spiritual life in Argentina and Iberian America as a whole. The author of this article has studied the composition of the editorial and writing teams of the journal, as well as the peculiarities of its functioning, the structure and content of its issues. Much attention was paid to the clarification of the ideological orientation of Sol y Luna. It is shown that the ideology of the publication was based on the concept of “Hispanidad”, anti-modernism and the vision of a special, messianic role of the Francoist regime in the history of Spain and Latin America of the 20th century.

ПРО ДИСКУРСИ ПІДРУЧНИКІВ З ІСПАНСЬКОЇ МОВИ

This article is devoted to the topics that appear in the textbooks of the Spanish language written by Spanish authors. Special attention to the traditional discourses is paid. The textbooks are studied considering its didactic orientation, and it is observed that the topics represented in the textbooks change depending on its components: the texts and the tasks offered. It is shown that the text, the tasks and the exercises of the Spanish textbooks represent the cultural and mental characteristics of the Spanish nation along with the language. It is discovered that Spanish textbooks of Spanish language reflect traditional stereotypes and axiological points of the Spanish nation. It is especially characteristic of grammar books that, at first sight, seem to be far from the topics of Spanish day-to-day life, civilization, culture, and history. The discourse of the textbooks is described from the focus on the communicative, emotive, and metalinguistic functions of the language. The research has revealed that, in some cases, Spanish textbooks represent valuable sources for studying civilization and culture or even the history of Spain. As far as further research is concerned it is recommended to use the methods of the corpus linguistics. Free and directed associative experiments would be useful too as well as quantitative and statistical methods for their procession.

Reflection of the Developments of “Sexenio Democratico” (1868—1874) on the Example of the Catalan Caricature

The Sexenio Democrático (1868—1874) is one of the most eventful periods in the history of Spain in the 19th century. It was a time of ideological conflicts, civil wars, the First Spanish Republic and etc. All these events were actively discussed in the pages of the Spanish press, which thrived after the Glorious Revolution of 1868. Satirical press became an important means of communication, through which information about political, economic, and social changes was conveyed in a humorous and ironic form. Republicans, leading the ideological struggle, utilized expressive imagery in their activities. This article analyzes the visual language of the magazine La Flaca and its heteronyms: La Carcajada, La Madeja Politica, El Lio and La Madeja which had a significant influence on the Republican political culture. Specific topics such as the depiction of right and left-wing political figures, candidates for the Spanish throne, the church, Carlists, and cantonal uprisings the main opponents of the Republicans are examined in this study.

Альфонсо Х и его «История Испании»: перевод и издание памятника средневековой историографии

Альфонсо Х и его «История Испании»: перевод и издание памятника средневековой историографии

Exploring Pathways and Obstacles to Well-Being in Victims of Terrorism: A Qualitative Approach.

On March 11, 2004, Madrid suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of Spain, leaving more than 190 dead and 2,000 injured. For years, the psychological consequences of the attacks have been studied; however, its long-term effects on symptomatology and especially on well-being remains unknown. This study aims to explore, through a qualitative approach, pathways and obstacles to the well-being of those affected directly or indirectly by the attacks of March 11 in Madrid. Two focus groups were held, one for indirect victims and one for direct victims. Subsequently, a thematic analysis of the materials obtained was carried out. More than 10 years after the attacks, most of the participants reported great difficulty in achieving well-being. Acceptance and victims' associations seemed to act as key facilitators, while symptoms, political institutions and the media were the main obstacles. Direct and indirect victims presented similar data although aspects such as guilt and family relationships played a different role in their well-being.

Almudena Grandes and the "Problem of Spain"

Abstract: From 2008 until her untimely death in 2021, Almudena Grandes wrote a weekly column in El País where she often addressed, and lamented, the state of Spanish democracy and the need to reconcile Spain's history for a chance at a better future, a topic familiar to readers of her novels. Although her fiction writing on these themes is well studied, her nonfiction has garnered less attention. The 2019 publication of a selection of these columns, La herida perpetua , spanning the decade marked by the 2008 economic crisis through the 2018 resurgence of the far right, provides us an opportunity to look more closely at the impact and importance of Grandes's nonfiction. Informed by recent scholarship on the state of Spanish democracy and criticism of traditional narratives of the transition to democracy (1975–1982), I argue that these columns represent a public call to action with the goal of (re)building a society that values open debate and fosters an active citizenry, one with the resilience to exercise their rights daily to hold accountable corrupt politicians. Collecting a selection of Grandes's weekly writing into one volume allows readers to contemplate the political events of an important period in Spain's democracy and to engage the legacies of the past while suggesting possibilities for the future, a dialogical exchange that defines democracy and is necessary for its survival.

Spain is Different?: Historical Memory and the "Two Spains" in Turn-of-the-millennium Spanish Apocalyptic Fictions by Dale Knickerbocker

Reviewed by: Spain is Different?: Historical Memory and the "Two Spains" in Turn-of-the-millennium Spanish Apocalyptic Fictions by Dale Knickerbocker Sara Martín (bio) SF as Historical Allegory: Apocalypse and Democracy in Spain. Dale Knickerbocker. Spain is Different?: Historical Memory and the "Two Spains" in Turn-of-the-millennium Spanish Apocalyptic Fictions. U of Wales P, 2022. 288 pp. $82 hc & ebk. Dale Knickerbocker is a professor of Hispanic Studies at East Carolina University and one of the US's most active specialists in the Spanish-language fantastic. His new book Spain is Different? is published in the Iberian and Latin American Studies series of the University of Wales Press and follows the publication of his edited volume Lingua Cosmica: Science Fiction from around the World (U of Illinois P, 2019), a fascinating tour of the many linguistic domains in which sf thrives. In contrast, Spain is Different? focuses specifically on six sf novels published in Spain between 1990 and 2005 by noted names in the field. According to Knickerbocker, these novels express in their (post-)apocalyptic plotlines anxieties regarding the history of Spain between the end of General Francisco Franco's regime (1939-1975) and the passage of the Law of Historical Memory in 2005 by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Socialist government. This legislation intended, among other aims, to end the drama of the missing war victims still buried in mass graves. The title Spain is Different? alludes to the slogan that Franco's Minister of Information and Tourism, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, used in the 1960s to publicize the attractions of Spain among tourists. Knickerbocker's question is [End Page 574] whether Spain really is different—and hence the uniqueness of its apocalyptic turn-of-the millennium sf—or if it demonstrates the same preoccupations that currently articulate sf at an international level. The inevitable conclusion is that Spain is indeed different, yet it is also similar to other nations in which sf plays a similar allegorical function as a vehicle to discuss the tensions brought on by history. The novels Knickerbocker examines are Rosa Montero's Temblor [Tremor, 1990], Javier Negrete's Nox perpetua [Perpetual Night, 1996], Juan Miguel Aguilera's La locura de Dios [God's Folly, 1998], Enrique del Barco's Punto Omega [Omega Point, 2004], Eduardo Vaquerizo's Mentes de noche y hielo [Minds of Night and Ice, 2001], and José Miguel Pallarés and Amadeo Garrigós's Tiempo prestado [Borrowed Time, 2005]. Of these, only Temblor and La locura de Dios have been translated (into German and French respectively). It is to be hoped that Knickerbocker's monograph will interest prospective publishers and will result in more translations. Among the authors analyzed, all well-known in sf circles, Rosa Montero stands out as one of the most accomplished writers in Spain, as a journalist and as a novelist working in diverse genres. Knickerbocker introduces each author adequately, but readers might miss the fact that sf still occupies a marginal position in Spain beyond fandom circles. Knickerbocker also proficiently presents the theme of the "two Spains" and the historical situation of the nation at the turn of the millennium. Any minimally informed Spaniard can perceive a deep division between the more progressive, left-wing half of the country and the more backward, right-wing half. This is usually attributed to the Civil War (1936-1939) caused by Franco's coup against the legitimate democratic Republic (1931-1939), but readers of Benito Pérez Galdós's marvelous series of 46 novels, Episodios Nacionales [National Episodes, 1872-1912], will understand that the Civil War was yet another "episode" in this constant warfare between the two Spains. Knickerbocker dates this split back to King Philip V, crowned in 1700, the first monarch of the current Borbón dynasty and the man responsible for importing into obscurantist Catholic Spain the ideas of the French Enlightenment. Knickerbocker proposes that in these six sf novels the narrative about the two Spains resurfaces in a fantasy version shaped as much by the old tension between illustrated modernity and repressive religion as by current sf themes, with a special incidence of questions related...

Life in Pictures: Auto(Bio)Graphic ‘I’s of Carlos Giménez

Carlos Giménez belongs to the most acclaimed Spanish authors of autobiographical comics. His series Paracuellos (1977) has been placed among the most relevant works regarding historical memory as it provides a testimony of the Spanish dictatorship and life among the walls of Francoist boarding schools. Throughout his oeuvre, Giménez addresses not only themes of historical and political affairs of each period, but he also confronts many social ills, offering a faithful portrayal of roughly four of the most tumultuous decades in Spanish history. This paper aims to revise Giménez’s graphic life narratives and the way he moves forward in time to construct significant milestones of his personal life story, inseparably embedded in the history of Spain. Through his unique style, which combines caricatured characters set in a black & white layout and his typical dose of skepticism, Giménez dissolves himself as a narrator and a character by means of multiple alter egos who challenge the premises of Lejeune’s autobiographical pact.

Lejana y rosa by Rosario Izquierdo

Reviewed by: Lejana y rosa by Rosario Izquierdo Ana M. López-Aguilera Rosario Izquierdo Lejana y rosa Barcelona. Comba. 2021. 290 pages. CARMEN, a thirty-six-year-old professor, visits her hometown, Tarsis, a mining town in the province of Huelva in southern Spain. The return brings back memories of the summer she turned seventeen, a summer marked by the accidental death of her father, her first forays as a writer, as well as her conflictive love relationships with Julián, school boyfriend, and Álvaro G., famous writer residing temporarily in the area. Carmen’s return offers her the opportunity to make peace with those events and move on with her life. Lejana y rosa (Far and pink) is more than a novel about the personal problems of a woman in crisis. It recovers the working-class memory of the region with its history of class conflicts, fights for emancipation, and working-class solidarity. Through the experiences of a teenaged Carmela (Carmen’s nickname as an adolescent), the book discusses two key moments in the history of Spain: the decade of the 1920s that prepared the way for the advent of the Second Republic in April 1931, and [End Page 75] the change from Franco’s dictatorship to a liberal democracy in the 1970s (a period known as Transición). On one hand, the conflicts in the 1920s between the British Company, owner of the mines in Tarsis, and the Spanish miners become the background of the novel that Carmela starts to write that summer. The mining conflicts make up the subject in the essay Álvaro is writing and the memories her abuela Concha shares. The stories of love, adultery, and suicide that Carmela researches for her novel serve to foreground social and political issues such as ownership of resources, foreign interference in the Spanish economy, political corruption, environmental degradation, and poverty. On the other hand, the young Carmela lives the Transición, when Spain moves from a dictatorship to a liberal democracy. While Carmela’s relatives and neighbors contemplate such change with unrestrictive optimism, her lover and mentor, Álvaro G., offers a more sober view. During his conversations with the protagonist, in articles and interviews mentioned in the novel, Álvaro points out the limitations of the Transición to satisfy the demands of the populace for changes leading to a more equal distribution of wealth and power in Spain. Lejana y rosa combines personal and social history in a fiction that defines a social and political conflict. In doing so, Izquierdo aligns with a political trend in contemporary Spanish literature alongside authors such as Rafael Chirbes, Isaac Rosa, and Belén Gopegui. After the publication of Diario de campo and El hijo zurdo, this third novel by Izquierdo confirms her literary trajectory as a politically committed author. Ana M. López-Aguilera Bemidji State University Copyright © 2022 World Literature Today