This article analyses the relationship between the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and the throne of Alfonso XIII of Spain. It explores how the monarch supported and legitimized the military dictatorship, becoming one of its key pillars. It also explores the regime's monarchism. Primo de Rivera made the Crown one of the ideological pillars of his authoritarian regime. In other words, the article seeks to examine the monarchical element of Primo de Rivera's dictatorship and determine the extent to which he developed monarchism as the regime's ideology - an aspect that is completely unknown to historiography. Through public ceremonies and political initiatives, the monarchy was highly visible in the public and ideological spheres of the dictatorship, with strong links to Spanish nationalism. Understanding the monarchy of Alfonso XIII is essential to comprehending Primo de Rivera's regime. Furthermore, the study is contextualized within interwar Europe, drawing comparisons with other countries in the region where modern dictatorships and monarchies coexisted.
This article analyses the journalistic treatment of charity in the Madrid press during 1821, in the context of the Liberal Triennium. The main objective is to identify critical discourses on the functioning of the welfare system and the care of the poor, focusing both on the problems of financing and on the structural, institutional and human deficiencies that affected the charitable centres, with special attention to the foundling homes. The research is based on a newspaper corpus centred on publications such as El Censor and El Universal, using a methodology that combines discourse analysis with a contextualised reading of the sources in order to reconstruct the logics of representation and denunciation present in the public debate. The results point to a landscape dominated by precariousness, neglect and inefficiency, where reformist initiatives clashed with scarce resources, administrative fragmentation and the persistence of clientelistic practices. The criticisms reported in the press reveal not only an emerging social sensitivity, but also the lack of articulation of a welfare model in line with the principles of the new constitutional regime, making welfare a reflection of the tensions of incipient liberalism.
The identity of most existing nations is based on myths and built upon stories that bring nationals together, highlighting certain attributes, minimizing others, and emphasizing differences with the neighbors. Basque nationalism storytelling is not different. This article analyses the hegemonic nationalist storytelling in the Basque region after the dissolution of ETA. It explores the elements of the modern Basque nationalism narrative by analyzing the interaction of foundational myths, the use of master plots, and current affairs. It concludes that Basque nationalism has adopted a pragmatic character, mainly based in the promotion of the Basque language as the main sign of identity, that has enabled it to integrate current affairs into the foundational myths.
This text is the result of research carried out on a Portuguese pilgrimage: the pilgrimage in honor of Our Lady of Fetal. This religious festival, of Catholic origin, takes place in the "Reguengo do Fetal" village, municipality of Batalha, Portugal. This pilgrimage is distinguished from other national and international religious festivities because it includes two processions known as "processions of the snails." The routes taken by the processions and other symbolic places of the local community are illuminated by thousands of snail shells, inside which olive oil and a wick are placed. An interdisciplinary team, made up of anthropologists, museologists, media technicians, students, and others, met between 1 September 2022, and 31 December 2023, to study the particularities of this cultural practice, through the ethnographic method. Our objectives included the study, the preservation, and the dissemination of this cultural practice, also contributing to the classification of the "Snails Processions" as National Intangible Cultural Heritage.
This article examines how contemporary Black-authored literature challenges hegemonic representations of Brazil and Brazilian identity through an analysis of three novels-Torto Arado by Itamar Vieira Jr. O Avesso da Pele by Jeferson Ten & oacute;rio, and Solit & aacute;ria by Eliana Alves Cruz. It argues that these works confront unresolved colonial legacies by critically re-engaging with dominant discourses of nation-building. To situate these discourses, the article first scrutinises the role of the Brazilian essay-writing tradition in shaping national ideologemes, including the "ideology of mesti & ccedil;agem," the "myth of racial democracy," and the belief in a "cordial Brazilian-ness." The analysis then turns to the novels to show how they actively contest these entrenched narratives. As expressions of an emerging literary trend that interweaves fiction, Black historical experiences, and contemporary realities, the novels foreground non-exemplary events, situations, and figures typically marginalised within hegemonic representations of the nation. By doing so, they operate as literary counternarratives of nation-building, bridging narrative gaps in official history, exposing racism, racial violence, and social injustice, and placing Afro-descendant struggles, symbols, and aspirations at the core of a reimagined national text.
As in other European contexts, the state-building process in Spain during the first half of the nineteenth century culminated in a centralized, monarchical, and Catholic state that institutionalized the dominance of the upper and middle classes. In response, a republican countermovement emerged, aiming to redirect the liberal revolution toward full democracy. This article analyzes the foundations of this democratic alternative by examining the political thought of one of its most radical leaders, Francisco Pi y Margall. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship on fiduciary relationships, it argues that Pi y Margall's project for a republican transformation of the Spanish state was comprehensively structured by a fiduciary logic of political power and property. The article develops this argument by exploring four core dimensions of his program: the recovery of revolutionary natural law to universalize citizenship; the design of institutions to prevent public agents from exercising power arbitrarily; the federal reorganization of the state and empire through a pact-based model; and the subordination of private property to its social function. In doing so, the article offers a new interpretive framework for Spanish radical republicanism and positions Pi within broader contemporary debates on democracy and the limits of state power.
With the Bourbon Restoration, Spain achieved - at a high political cost - a degree of stability that enabled the consolidation of the liberal state-building process initiated by the Moderates in the 1840s. This situation led political forces, both within and outside government, to reflect on the direction in which the state should develop, on the meaning of the nation, and on how its institutions were to be conceived, from the political centre of the nation-state to local administrations. These issues were closely connected to the processes and mechanisms of nationalisation with which they were intertwined. This article aims to analyse how processes of nationalisation unfolded at the local level, particularly in rural settings, departing from the premise that local life was permeated by elements of nationalisation operating across different spheres, specifically the public and semi-public spheres. Methodologically, the research is focused on a case-study approach, using documentary evidence - primarily from press sources - to test the proposed hypothesis. Ultimately, the article is intended to show how local and municipal life played a significant role in processes of nationalisation, not only because it represented the lowest tier of the state's administrative structure, but also because it provided everyday and banal experiences of politics to the people with
The Nahua historian Don Domingo de San Anton Mu & ntilde;on Chimalpahin Cuahuatlehuanintzin created one of the few long-standing works on the history of the Nahuas written in their language. This article analyzes the diverse native sources that Chimalpahin used in his works Las ocho relaciones and Memorial de Colhuacan. It focuses on Chimalpahin's strategies for recomposing the Nahua archive, showing that he presents his prismatic version of Nahua history rather than defining a single possible narrative. It examines the impact of such historiographic work, focusing on how generations of intellectuals recognized Chimalpahin's works as repositories of indigenous knowledge. This symbolic power influenced the preservation of parts of the Nahua archive, as Chimalpahin's works became the primary source of information on indigenous history and culture for future generations.
After the Cuban Revolution, Czechoslovakia sought to strengthen its influence in Latin America through a more active and multidimensional foreign policy. In the case of Colombia, Czechoslovakia intended, through the transfer of people, goods, and information, to harness in this country also its cultural diplomacy while at the same time fulfilling its economic necessities. The Czechoslovak cultural propagation took place in various spheres (Radio Broadcasts, Film and Cinema, Press and Literature, Educational and Scientific Cooperation, and Exhibitions and Tours); still, Prague has decided to complement its cultural diplomacy in the region with the activities of its foreign intelligence service. This contribution aims to clarify the entanglement of Czechoslovak trade, culture, and secret service within the Czechoslovak-Colombian relations in the 1960s. It focuses on the forms, actors, motivations, and objectives of the Czechoslovak cultural propagation in Colombia. The study also sheds light on the role of Colombian citizens who acted within the mutual relations not only as cultural brokers but also as collaborators of Czechoslovak State Security and its foreign intelligence.
This article examines some of the roles performed by Chilean priest Joaqu & iacute;n Larra & iacute;n Gandarillas during his journey to the United States and Europe between July, 1851 and October, 1853. On the one hand, the article analyzes his role as a tutor of his nephew and younger brothers, whose education in foreign colleges was under his supervision. On the other, considering that he was appointed rector of Santiago's seminary while he was in the United States, this work studies his search for statutes and theology manuals in nineteenth-century central Catholic renovation places, such as Paris, Belgium, Rome, and the United States. This twofold analytical perspective - combining the study of his roles as tutor and rector - makes it possible to understand how the priest's family responsibilities operated in parallel with his role as a mediator of an American and European ultramontane culture to Chile.
In this article, I argue that Diego Maradona - Argentina's football legend and cultural totem - never truly left. Instead, he lingers as a ghost, haunting the streets, murals, and collective imagination long after his death. Through an analysis of Jorge Boido's photographs of Maradona's muralizaci & oacute;n in Buenos Aires and Santiago Spigaroli's paste-ups of his image - not just in Argentina but in Naples and Morocco - I explore how these artistic tributes turn him into a phantom, a restless presence that refuses to fade. Drawing on Jacques Derrida's hauntology, Avery Gordon's work on spectral social forces, and Mark Fisher's ideas on cultural haunting, I examine how Maradona's afterlife in art reflects deeper, unresolved wounds in Argentine society. These tributes emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when public mourning was dangerous, even forbidden. Yet people risked gathering, painting, pasting - proof of Maradona's stubborn grip on a nation that, like much of the Global South, has seen its political dreams fail. The resurgence of myths like "Argentina potencia" (Argentina as a world power), the lost welfare state, and the trauma of the Malvinas War during this period shows that Maradona was never just a footballer; he was a vessel for collective longing, a ghost who still demands to be reckoned with.
Spanish policemen played a pivotal role in the reforms between 1905 and 1912 that modernised policing in Spain. This article focuses on their protest and advocacy strategies to compel the government to acknowledge their rights and concerns. The first section covers pre-reform protest campaigns organised by policemen. The second explores how police journals influenced the provisions and decrees shaping subsequent restructurings. The next section examines the inception of police provident societies, particularly the formation of the first montep & iacute;o. The final section analyses the campaign of protests led by police sectors adversely affected by the reforms, emphasising their innovative approaches in language and strategies. Some officers consistently advocated for more ambitious reform policies, while others staunchly resisted measures detrimental to their interests. Despite internal conflicts within their complex organisation, policemen managed to significantly influence the institution's restructuring.
In the strategy adopted by the Catholic hierarchy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to mobilise its followers in order to counteract the influence of currents it considered harmful to "social morality" and the maintenance of its power; women were given a new leading role. Militant Catholic women were to become essential to the "re-Catholization" of the public space by taking on the role of "social mothers," transcending the private space to which they had hitherto b een relegated. Their role as mothers extended beyond the family sphere to occupy a pre-eminent role in the social sphere. Hence the significant involvement of Acci & oacute;n Cat & oacute;lica Femenina (Women's Catholic Action) in Castell & oacute;n in the 1920s, which sought to influence the authorities to control the type of public spectacles that were performed and shown in the city, among which film screenings were a major concern.
This paper explores the impact of the ideas of Britain's classical economists on Spain's intellectuals and politicians in the first half of the nineteenth century. It suggests three different versions of Adam Smith's model of the new commercial society, then emerging in Europe, were used to support Spain's main political groups and the range of interests they represented.
This article examines the reciprocal images that were created and circulated in Mexico and Spain regarding the republican experiences that took place in both countries, using as a source the press and other printed material. The analysis follows an Atlantic perspective, which emphasizes the closeness of ideas over the national spaces. The aim of this examination is twofold. On the one hand, it seeks to show how these reciprocal images contributed to the definition of distinct republican models among publicists who were sympathetic to this political culture in both countries, as well as to identify which models gained greater prominence in the context of the liberal parliamentary crisis in which this work is set. On the other hand, it aims to highlight the usefulness of the rhetorical device of the specular narrative to propose ideas that, if expressed directly, might have been controversial.
The novel Elbrigadier y Carlota, by Ignacio Garc & iacute;a Malo (1792), stands out as one of the most notable Spanish works of the eighteenth century dealing with women's rights. The story follows a vulnerable young woman who loses her virginity to a man who never intends to marry her. It critiques the limited freedoms available to women once they have lost their "virtue" and portrays the protagonist's drastic response as she takes matters into her own hands by rebelling against the man who exploited her. The narrative recounts how Carlota decides to murder the man who manipulated and abused her under the false promise of marriage. This article analyzes the text, focusing on its ideas and representations of women, concepts often associated, though anachronistically, with feminist thought.
This article analyses discourses within Brazilian and Portuguese anarchist periodicals on the subject of homosexuality. It shows that many concepts and languages employed by the anarchist movement were what may now be termed both heterosexist and homophobic. Rather than straightforwardly condemn the movement for this approach, however, the article seeks to understand "homosexuality," often expressed as sexual inversion or pederasty, as a relational category, which formed connections with broader ideological concerns that the anarchist movement held as important. In the early twentieth century, these concerns were often related to the influence of religion. Forging an association between anticlericalism, the denunciation of Church sexual abuse and other issues such as antimilitarism and the promotion of rationalism and sexual science, anarchists developed a position on homosexuality that reinforced their stance against religion and what they perceived as expressions of unjust influence and power. This approach was transnational in nature, being fomented by anarchists who criss-crossed the Atlantic. By the mid-1920s, however, the rather blunt association between Catholicism and homosexuality began to wane as influential voices engaged with scientific thought on the question; such a move also reflected the shift from viewing homosexuality as a practice to one acknowledging emerging same-sex identities.
