Spanish Reality Research Articles

The status of the term violencia de género in the modern Spanish language

The problem of gender-based violence is one of the key in the most modern societies including Spain. In the country where the tradition of patriarchal relations is rooted feminist organisations, nongovernment and state organisations are constantly fighting with the gender asymmetry. In addition, the topic of gender-based violence receives special attention in the Spanish media. There are even sections in leading newspapers named “Gender-based Violence” or “Domestic Violence”. The phenomenon of gender-based violence in the context of gender language policy is actively discussed. Spain is one of the leading countries in adopting progressive gender laws aimed to combat gender-based violence. This very active attitude towards the problem of gender-based violence contrasts with the language policy in this area. Analysis of the actual linguistic material, extralinguistic situation in the country, study of the data of official statistics allowed the author to come to the conclusion that in the modern Spanish reality there is an imbalance between extralinguistic factors (active struggle against gender-based violence, presence of progressive laws) and the same language, in which the term violencia de género has not yet been codified in the dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish language (while in other dictionaries and glossaries the concept is interpreted). The combination violencia de género is widely used in the Spanish speech, in the scientific papers and in the Spanish media space, that is confirmed by the Spanish language database. Free interpretations of this term because of its absence in the main dictionaries do not help the society to understand the problem properly and eradicate it.

MIGUEL DE UNAMUNO’S TRANSLATION ERROR IN THE INTERPRETATION OF HAMLET’S LAST WORDS VS META TRANSLATION OF SHAKESPEARE’S TEXT

The article is devoted to the study of two works created by the outstanding Spanish philosopher and writer M. de Unamuno in 1920-1922. Based on Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, a poem (1920) and an article (1922) with the same title Repose is Silence were written. Their name is interpreted by Spanish researchers as a curious translation error of Hamlet’s last words: “The rest is silence”. The considered works are vivid examples of meta-translation reflecting the conceptual image of the artist’s world. The study and reconstruction of the context of the creation of two texts and the analysis of their ideological and artistic content allow not only to get closer to understanding the peculiarities of the linguistic consciousness of the Spanish philosopher and poet, but also to understand the huge potential of meta-translation as the realization of Bakhtin’s idea of the life of great works in the ‘big time’ of culture. These Unamuno meta-translations embody two artistic methods of mastering Shakespeare’s spiritual experience and at the same time are the result of Unamuno’s understanding of the Spanish (and wider European) reality of the turning point.

Longevity trends in entrepreneurial activity. An analysis of the characteristics of senior entrepreneurship in Spain

PurposeOver the last decades, the development of entrepreneurial activity has allowed greater growth and economic development in Spain. However, within the analysis of Spanish entrepreneurial dynamics, insufficient attention has been paid to a key group: senior entrepreneurs. The fact that the first two decades of the 21st century have been accompanied by the two worst economic crises in remembrance since the Great Depression of the 1930s has had a great impact on the professional careers of the group of senior workers, whose careers have been cut short due to the closure of companies. In this way, the present work delves into the reality of senior entrepreneurs in Spain, analyzing the main characteristics of this group, which is becoming increasingly important in society.Design/methodology/approachUsing microdata from the Spanish National Statistics Institute's Labour Force Survey, the study focuses on reference persons who, being 50 years of age or over and actively working, work as an entrepreneur and have started their activity in the last 12 months. The study covers, in turn, the analysis period of the fourth quarters from 2005 to 2020. In relation to the methodology, the work focuses on the use of binary logistic regression techniques, given that the phenomenon to be studied is binary in nature: entrepreneurship or not.FindingsThe main conclusions drawn are the importance of sociodemographic factors such as educational level, age, the profession of the couple as well as the fact of having or not having children. The sector of activity and region are also significant. It is also concluded that senior entrepreneurship in Spain is of a necessary nature, considering the evolution of unemployment and decisions based on pension reform.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitations of the study refer to the lack of socioeconomic information. Thus, it would be interesting to know the link among the sociodemographic characteristics and the economic situation of the professionals, as well as the fact of whether they have started from a previous situation of unemployment or employment.Practical implicationsThe obtained conclusions allow progress to be made in the generation of economic policies aimed at the professional reorientation of a group of workers who, due to labor market circumstances, are obliged to end long professional careers and to seek alternatives. In fact, entrepreneurship is a viable professional alternative for these professionals.Originality/valueDespite the importance of senior professionals in the Spanish economy, more research is needed on their characteristics and needs. Despite important studies such as Socci et al. (2020) or Perez-Encinas et al. (2021), there are not many studies for the Spanish reality. This paper seeks to deepen the understanding of the sociodemographic characteristics of Spanish senior entrepreneurs, based on current public information and considering different stages of the economic cycle.

The Spanish Conflict of the 20th Century: from Disputes about the Future to Disputes about the Past

The state of conflict, originating in the 19th century, became an integral characteristic of Spanish reality in the 20th century and remains relevant to this day. The semantic center of the Spanish conflict was the Spanish Civil War of 1936—1939, when a dispute about alternative projects for the future and value guidelines turned into the tragedy of the split of the country. The conflict of the Francoist stage is associated with resistance to the regime and the formation of an opposition. Four key phases can be distinguished in it — the post-war state, the period 1945—1956, the expansion of the opposition during the period of the second Francoism and the search for compromises at the stage of late Francoism. The stage of democratic transition, as well as the period from the early 1980s to the end of the 1990s characterized by the “freezing” of the conflict and its reformatting. At this moment, the dispute about the future of Spain was actually resolved and the conflict was transferred from values and alternatives of the future to the presentation of accounts for the past. Disputes about the past, accounts for the crimes of the civil war and the Franco regime became the basis of a new conflict at the turn of the 20th — 21st centuries and continue to remain relevant in Spain to this day. This article is devoted to the analysis of the specifics of the ongoing Spanish conflict, its content and expression, as well as its characteristic semantic transformations.

‘Fascist Heroes’ vs. progressive policies and political correctness: Agenda and framing of the Spanish Alt-lite micro-celebrities on YouTube

The New Right has generated alternative communities on YouTube in which it wages its cultural battle without journalistic intermediation. Recent research has detected the existence of a popular Alternative Influence Network in the United States formed by creators who use the techniques of digital influencers to spread their radical messages. This article studies this in the Spanish reality with the aim of analysing the agenda and framing of the contents disseminated by its right-wing micro-celebrities. To do so, it applies a content and discourse analysis to 406 videos of five prominent YouTubers. The results show the thematic predominance of feminism, racial diversity, welfare state economics and public freedoms. The general framing is one of opposition to progressive policies and the culture of political correctness. The lack of explicit supremacism, the use of cultural rather than racial arguments, the recourse to offensive humour and the absence of a propositional dimension bring them closer to the discursive strategies of the American Alt-lite.

TRENDS IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE PARTY SYSTEM IN SPAIN IN THE POST-FRANCO PERIOD

The degradation of the bipolar party system established in Spain in the post-Franco period, based on the dominance in the political space of two system-forming parties of opposite political orientation, and its replacement with a multi-party model with a wider involvement of new alternative players in political processes seems to be a long-term trend. Taking into account the extreme problematic nature of the formation of mono-party cabinets of ministers in the future, the creation of government coalitions becomes inevitable. However, due to the absence of a “coalition culture,” which was not necessary before, as well as a noticeable polarization of political forces and the growth of mutual rejection at the level of leaders and party elites, the solution of this problem in modern Spanish realities threatens to turn into an endless political marathon and is fraught with significant increased political instability in the coming years.

НЕГАТИВНА МАРКОВАНІСТЬ ЯК АВТОРСЬКА СТРАТЕГІЯ ІСПАНСЬКОЇ АНАЛІТИЧНОЇ ПУБЛІКАЦІЇ (на матеріалі авторської колонки Х. Маріаса і Х. Серкаса)

This article deals with the Spanish analytic columns written by prominent modern writers J. Marías y J. Cercas for the Sunday supplement of Spanish national quality paper «El País» and one of its main strategies which can be defined as negative focus or a negative frame for presenting their articles. The aim of our investigation was to confirm our hypothesis by analyzing a significant corpus of publications (since 2010 till now) that the negative markedness turns to be a distinctive sigh of this type of analytical writings mostly due to relevant position of its authors in the Spanish literature world and its huge experience as journalists. Being determined by the actual social totally extralinguistic conditions, the preliminary negative evaluation influences on the author election of all language levels means such as lexical, syntactical, first of all, and by combining them in order to increase the pragmatic value of the publication. The author´s idea is expressed by integrating all possible means to transmit the main strategy which intention is to attract the readers´ attention to that particular part of the Spanish reality, to make him/her get interested and involved in the information and, if possible, to influence on his/her attitude to it by the unique interpretation methods used by Marías y Cercas. The negative evaluativity of author column detected even at first glance on semantic level is able to transform into powerful pragmatic tool. The examined material has widely proved that negative evaluative perspective of columns reveals the author´s intention to touch the reader and reach the efficiency by appealing to his emotions and evaluating criteria.

Korrida i karliści. Wspomnienia Piotra Falkenhagena-Zaleskiego z podroży do Hiszpanii (1843)

Among the accounts of travels in Spain in the 1st half of the 19th century, there is a rather unknown memoir of Piotr Falkenhagen-Zaleski, written on the basis of his 1843 experiences. This exceptionally capable and flexible emigrant began his career in international trade, having successfully tried his hand at journalism and politics in the past. He became an employee at the Henry Hall department store in London, and then opened his own company of the same sort, establishing contacts in many European countries. The travel to Spain aimed at securing another contract. It appears that he did not achieve this goal. On the other hand, the stay behind the Pyrenees, mainly in Barcelona and Madrid, and the very travel from France to Spain allowed the Polish traveller to become familiar with two elements of the Spanish (political and cultural) reality through an incident with the Carlists and the corrida spectacle. He put those experiences in an interesting, although brief report from Spain.

Transfer Specifics of Spanish Realities into Russian

Abstract: The article deals with the problem of the transfer of Spanish realities in translation. It was found out that the difficulties in translating realities, on the one hand, are due to the lack of an equivalent or analogue in the translation language, and on the other hand, the need to transfer the subject (semantic) meaning, taking into account the connotation (nationalhistorical coloring). As a result of the analysis of the translation text of the novel, it was found that translators mainly resort to such methods of translating realities as transcription, descriptive and approximate translation. Keywords: realities; transcription; transliteration; semantics; descriptive translation; approximate translation

Free to Bury Their Dead: Baptism and the Meanings of Freedom in the Eighteenth-Century Caribbean

ABSTRACT This essay closely examines the testimonies of maritime maroons who fled Jamaica to seek religious sanctuary in Cuba. The case unfolded during the mid-eighteenth century, a peak time for sugar production in the British colony. Across the Caribbean Sea, the southern shores of Cuba offered possibilities that contrasted with the reality of plantation life in Jamaica. A well-established and active marine underground linked the two islands, bringing information about different slave systems and religious traditions, while also serving as escape routes for enslaved Africans trying to survive Atlantic slavery. Taking into account African and especially Akan funerary rites, and considering the differences between Spanish and British colonial realities, this article asks what role religious sanctuary in general, and baptism in particular, might have played in seaborne escapes. In doing so, the article offers a unique window into the lived experiences of maritime maroons and the ways in which they interpreted the benefits religious sanctuary had to offer. I argue that the testimonies of these self-liberators reveal multiple conceptions of freedom, including the freedom to give dignified burials to their dead.

The Image of Spain in Russia at the Second Half of the 1870s – 1880s: the Peculiarities of the Perception of the Country`s Socio-Political Sphere

The article deals with the representations of the Russian educated society of the second half of the 1870s–1880s of socio-political development of Spain. The deconstruction of Russia`s perception of Spain in the 19th century is topical as the part of the research field of interaction and interference between Russia and Europe as one of the main themes for Russian thought. It is notable that Russia and Spain both located far from the geographic center of Europe and having to deal with fringe movements have a lot in common, that causes keen interest of Russian authors to the Spanish realities. The image of the Other, presented in their works, reflects significant features of the Russian society of those times, and the study of the issue can have a positive feedback of drawing on Spainish experience. The article fits within the framework of such a research direction as imagology, but appeals to the wider problems of intellectual history in general. The characteristics of Spanish realities given by Russian authors are represented within the context of the genesis of Russian thought that had always been in a dialogue with Europe. The representations of Spain are analyzed on the base of the materials of five travelogues published in the 1880s when both countries were going through the period of modernization. The article defines the peculiarities of the individual perception of the socio-political and economic spheres of Spain`s life by particular authors as well as general views on this country in Russia, for example an increased interest to the phenomenon of the Spanish Inquizition. The article reveals the changes in the perception of Spain by Russian authors in the 1880s as well as its main factors. Russian educated society`s representations of Spain from the point of view of the development of the state during this time period became less integral and were reinforced and supplemented with the problem of regionalism. Catalonia, the very symbol of regional independence movement, became another center in the country`s image along with the areas such as Castilla and Andalusia that were traditionally familiar to the Russian readers in terms of culture.

Secret Cables of the Comintern, 1933–1943

Secret Cables of the Comintern, 1933–1943

Assessment of the perceived quality of nursing care in internship departments: an observational study in a Spanish reality

Nursing students represent an important resource both for the patients and for the company organization; however, the impact of their presence on the quality of care is still underestimated. To provide an objective assessment of the quality of care perceived by the patient admitted to hospital departments where internships are held for nursing students. A descriptive observational study was conducted, recruiting a convenience sample made up of patients hospitalized in clinical departments where internships for nursing students of La Fe Hospital in Valencia (ES) are located. 75 patients out of 160 hospitalized partecipated to the survey, with a response rate equal to 46.87%. Most patients believe that nurses have careless attitudes towards them (42.9%) even though there is a noticeable emotional support from nurses perceived by patients (90.1%). The degree of relationship and information perceived by patients (96%) suggests that nurses in most cases guaranteed confidentiality and the assistance time employed (70.5%) was perceived as longer than usual, defining a high opinion of patients about the treatment received. The data showed that patients were very keen to be taken into consideration from a social and human point of view and not only from a clinical point of view, so much so that they claimed to perceive a careless attitude from nurses. Despite this, however, the perceived quality of nursing care by the patient was not affected. Regarding the presence of the trainee student, being the latter in the Spanish reality totally flanked by that of the nurse, almost in symbiosis, the degree of attention perceived by the patient in relation to the assistance provided does not vary.

Испания на переходе к стрессоустойчивой модели роста

The authors analyze the most significant changes taking place in the socio-economic sphere and in the field of international relations of Spain under the influence of recent crisis shocks. The focus is on the complex and contradictory process of forming a resilient (stress-resistant) growth model, which should determine the main vector of development of the Spanish state for the period up to 2050. For the first time in the national scientific literature the key components of the new model are comprehensively studied, and a predictive assessment of the areas of structural changes in the economy, social sphere and international policy of Spain is given. A special place is reserved for consideration of the current state and prospects of Russian-Spanish trade and economic relations. The article shows that the Spanish state, after several decades of progressive development, is in a state of escape from the maze of crisis shocks and another transitional period associated with the need for deep socio-economic transformations. In fact, we are talking about the formation of a new model of growth: instead of the paradigm of development established at the end of the last century, which rested on three “whales”: construction and trade of real estate, accepting international tourism and priority trade and investment cooperation with partners in the European Union. In the face of largely unprecedented internal and external challenges, the Spanish State must adopt a new macroeconomic policy that takes into account the tectonic changes that have taken place (and continue to occur) in the modern world. The future of Spain and its place on the geoeconomic map depend on how the political leadership of the country, business and society as a whole will make a major transformation. Spanish socio-economic realities, interesting and significant as themselves, have an international sound and significance, as they closely correlate with the problems of a long number of countries in the world (including Russia, the states of southeastern Europe and Latin America) facing a similar challenge – the need to change the growth model. It is not so important whether their ruling circles are focused or not on this issue now, the need exists objectively and makes itself felt more and more every day.

‘This man is looking for a gesture’: John Dos Passos’s Transcultural and Transnational Views about History and Literature in "Rosinante to the Road Again"

This interdisciplinary essay analyzes John Dos Passos’s travel book Rosinante to the Road Again (1922) from a Jamesonian perspective, focusing on the implicit dialectical interaction between creativity and the totality of history, the role of the modernist utopian illusion and the quest for return to an Edenic past, the cosmopolitan expatriate individual as a fundamental part of a historical context, and the implications of the literary form in relation to a concrete textual tradition or movement. For this purpose, the analysis draws on Jameson’s The Modernist Papers and The Political Unconscious to establish a dialectical criticism that investigates how the literary form is engaged with a material historical situation. Therefore, the Spanish socio-historical reality depicted in Rosinante becomes a symbol of Dos Passos’s search for the return to the mythic Arcadia. In his transcultural and transnational quest for the Spanish gesture, Dos Passos was searching how to define his own unstable hybrid modernist identity in the context of Spanish history and literature. As a result, Rosinante becomes a sort of paradigmatic modernist epic in which the American writer experiments with the literary motif of the journey as a form of self-exploration. His temporary expatriate condition, and the reality of being an American with Portuguese roots, determined his need for a more Edenic and epic culture far from the limitations of the American urban industrialization and materialism.

El derecho humano al agua en España: Reconocimiento y accesibilidad económica como elementos clave para su efectividad

El derecho al agua ha sido reconocido como norma de derecho humano en varios tratados internacionales, declaraciones y otros instrumentos. La asequibilidad de este derecho, es decir, su accesibilidad económica, es uno de los principales factores que influyen en el acceso al agua y que pone en riesgo la dignidad de los ciudadanos. De este modo, este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el reconocimiento del derecho humano al agua y su efectividad a partir de la realidad española. Para ello, estudiamos la legalidad de los cortes de suministro de agua por impago. Se constató que el derecho humano al agua no puede depender del poder adquisitivo de las personas, ya que se trata de un recurso fundamental para la vida.

La agricultura como producto turístico en áreas rurales: Un debate abierto en la literatura

La agricultura, como producto turístico, se basa en una diversidad recursos que permiten múltiples usos, de lo que deriva un enorme potencial de desarrollo para las áreas rurales. Destacan el patrimonio colectivo, el paisaje agrario y el entorno rural, además del rico patrimonio gastronómico donde los productos agroalimentarios y el vino son indisociables de su historia e identidad. La oportunidad de participar en tareas agrícolas y contactar con los agricultores puede ser factible con la puesta en marcha del agroturismo, aunque ese producto no debe desvincularse del entorno rural. Las conclusiones presentadas se basan en un análisis sistemático de la literatura, buscando algunas orientaciones para la realidad de Portugal y España.

Mitigation and boosting as face-protection functions

Mitigation is undeniably and necessarily linked with the social aspect of communication. No speaker mitigates an utterance without a goal in mind, which makes mitigation a means to an end and not an end in itself. Even though the various definitions of mitigation do not assign the same aims to this phenomenon, the social impact it has on the participants in the communication is generally agreed upon throughout the literature (Fraser, 1980; Meyer-Hermann, 1988; Bazzanella et al., 1991; Briz, 1998, 2003; Caffi, 1999; Thaler, 2012; Briz and Albelda, 2013; Schneider, 2013; Albelda et al., 2014; Albelda, 2016, 2018). In this paper, the mitigating and boosting strategies in relationship with face-protection are analysed in a self-compiled corpus containing the transcriptions of the Spanish reality television show Gandía Shore. The results demonstrate that the aforementioned mitigating functions do not belong exclusively to the domain of mitigation, but they can also be performed using boosting. The findings suggest that the functions associated with mitigation in previous studies are, in fact, the face-protection functions, which thus constitutes a broader and hierarchically higher category.

Accountability e transparência na mídia

Alguns dos desafios mais emergentes para a ética jornalística estão relacionados à capacidade de profissionais e meios de comunicação adotarem boas práticas de prestação de contas e de transparência de seus métodos e procedimentos. Para além da criação de instrumentos que facilitem uma maior aproximação entre os produtores da informação e seus públicos, é necessário ainda desafiar culturas profissionais locais. Na comunidade global em língua portuguesa, os países mais avançados em termos de transparência e accountability jornalística são Portugal e Brasil, mas essa condição não os exime de aperfeiçoar seus sistemas e desenvolver soluções mais efetivas que fortaleçam a ética nos meios. Neste artigo, apresentamos resultados parciais da pesquisa “Accountability y culturas periodísticas en España. Impacto y propuesta de buenas prácticas en los medios de comunicación españoles”, a partir de grupos focais com especialistas em deontologia e ética da comunicação. Percebemos que a realidade espanhola – embora complexa, dinâmica e específica – não se distancia tanto do que já conhecemos nos países lusófonos, e as considerações dos especialistas consultados oferecem contribuições potencialmente implementáveis em nosso contexto.

Post-machismo, gender violence, and opinion dynamics in digital media. Exploring the Spanish reality through the experience of eldiario.es

Gender violence has gradually become a public issue and a matter of State concern under permanent discussion in the Spanish media. Its increasing visibility has stimulated social and political awareness, but has also given rise to controversies, which are especially manifested in the digital environment. In this environment, meanings are built and expressed not only by the media, but also by online audiences participating through various mechanisms. This work observes the dynamics of the readers’ views on gender violence, as expressed in a politically progressive born-digital medium like eldiario.es. A sample of 716 comments to articles on gender violence published by this online newspaper are analyzed. A quantitative analysis shows a male-dominated participation of readers who are not subscribed to the site and whose views are contrary to those of eldiario.es’ editorial charter and its commitment to equality. A qualitative analysis of the contents of those comments reveals the recurring use of the feminist-antifeminist dichotomy in the debate, as well as a questioning of the scientific nature, purpose and suitability of feminism for the eradication of gender violence. Finally, the promotion of a genuine democratic debate in digital sites as the one here analyzed is discussed in light of women’s notable underrepresentation in the debate and of the possible misuse of participation as a means to perpetrate symbolic violence against women.