Research on Lockdown: Digital Scholarship in Madrid during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Volume 45 Issue 1

Author(s):

Sara J. Brenneis - Amherst College

Recommended Citation:

Brenneis, Sara J. (2020) “Research on Lockdown: Digital Scholarship in Madrid during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies: Vol. 45 : Iss. 1 , Forum 1.

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Abstract:

Combining digital and in-person archival research is optimal for historical scholarship, yet there are many reasons why this balance cannot always be achieved. The work/life gender inequity in academia has already made research time precarious for many; the COVID-19 pandemic made it nearly impossible. As a reflection on doing Iberian History in a time of crisis, this article provides a starting point for digital scholarship in the field of 20th Century Iberian History via a case study. In dialogue with Lara Putnam’s article “The Transnational and the Text-Searchable,” the limitations of a purely “digital turn” in historical research became apparent as the author researched a Spanish Mauthausen concentration camp survivor during the coronavirus pandemic in Madrid in the Spring of 2020.