Review of Ilenia Colón Mendoza and Margaret Ann Zaho, eds., Spanish Royal Patronage 1412–1804: Portraits as Propaganda
/in Book Reviews, TOC SectionReview of Michelle Armstrong-Partida, Alexandra Guerson, and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, eds., Women and Community in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia
/in Book Reviews, TOC SectionResearch on Lockdown: Digital Scholarship in Madrid during the COVID-19 Pandemic
/in Forum: Doing Iberian Studies in Times of Crisis, TOC SectionCombining 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.
Spain in the Depths of Russia 1941-1944
/in Articles, TOC SectionThis article focuses on the history from 1941 to 1944 of one of the orphanages created for three thousand young Spaniards evacuated in 1937 and 1938 from war-torn Spain to the USSR. It examines the relationship between Spaniards at the orphanage, both children and adults, with their Soviet counterparts at that facility and in the surrounding community. It also measures the extent of a Soviet commitment to the well-being of its young guests and the revolutionary cause abroad. Finally, this article’s close observation of a Spanish institution compels, if ironically, an assessment of the loci and practice of political power at the USSR’s center and periphery. This work is based on memoirs, interviews, and abundant archival records produced by and about the orphanage.
Mario/Elisa and Marcela: Scandal and Surprise in the 1901 Spanish Press
/in Articles, TOC SectionThis paper analyzes the coverage found in the local and national press of the now-famous marriage of Mario/Elisa Sánchez Loriga and Elisa Gracia Ibeas in 1901 Galicia. We show that the coverage that appeared in the weeks following the event reflected the public’s willingness to question the stability and validity of gender as a category that structured social rights and privileges. We contextualize that questioning within the post-1898 Spanish fin de siglo sense of social instability and reassessment of traditional Spanish cultural institutions. We conclude that today’s framing of the event as a story of two exceptional lesbian women elides both Mario/Elisa’s self-identified transgenderism and the 1901 public’s recognition of the profound social significance of the successful passing act that the marriage represented.
