From the late fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, the Hispanic Monarchy was one of the largest and most diverse political communities known in history. At its apogee, it stretched from the Castilian plateau to the high peaks of the Andes; from the cosmopolitan cities of Seville, Naples, or Mexico City to Santa Fe and San Francisco; from Brussels to Buenos Aires and from Milan to Manila. During those centuries, Spain left its imprint across vast continents and distant oceans contributing in no minor way to the emergence of our globalised era. This was true not only in an economic sense-the Hispano-American silver peso transported across the Atlantic and the Pacific by the Spanish fleets was arguably the first global currency, thus facilitating the creation of a world economic system-but intellectually and artistically as well. The most extraordinary cultural exchanges took place in practically every corner of the Hispanic world, no matter how distant from the metropolis. At various times a descendant of the Aztec nobility was translating a Baroque play into Nahuatl to the delight of an Amerindian and mixed audience in the market of Tlatelolco; an Andalusian Dominican priest was writing the first Western grammar of the Chinese language in Fuzhou, a Chinese city that enjoyed a trade monopoly with the Spanish Philippines; a Franciscan friar was composing a piece of polyphonic music with lyrics in Quechua to be played in a church decorated with Moorish-style ceilings in a Peruvian valley; or a multi-ethnic team of Amerindian and Spanish naturalists was describing in Latin, Spanish and local vernacular languages thousands of medicinal plants, animals and minerals previously unknown to the West. And, most probably, at the same time that one of those exchanges were happening, the members of the School of Salamanca were laying the foundations of modern international law or formulating some of the first modern theories of price, value and money, Cervantes was writing Don Quixote, Velázquez was painting Las Meninas, or Goya was exposing both the dark and bright sides of the European Enlightenment. Actually, whenever we contemplate the galleries devoted to Velázquez, El Greco, Zurbarán, Murillo or Goya in the Prado Museum in Madrid; when we visit the National Palace in Mexico City, a mission in California, a Jesuit church in Rome or the Intramuros quarter in Manila; or when we hear Spanish being spoken in a myriad of accents in the streets of San Francisco, New Orleans or Manhattan we are experiencing some of the past and present fruits of an always vibrant and still expanding cultural community. As the reader can infer by now, this book is about how Spain and the larger Hispanic world have contributed to world history and in particular to the history of civilisation, not only at the zenith of the Hispanic Monarchy but throughout a much longer span of time.

La publicación de este volumen representa un caso relativamente insólito. Un pequeño grupo de jóvenes investigadores de menos de treinta años convence a un grupo mucho más numeroso de la misma edad para celebrar en Salamanca la First Conference of Young Researchers on Anglophone Studies. El resultado es deslumbrante. No solo demuestran una gran capacidad organizativa, sino que los resultados individuales de las aportaciones científicas son sobresalientes. Este volumen, Current Trends in Anglophone Studies, recoge una selección revisada de las propuestas presentadas en el Encuentro y gira en torno a una estructuración tripartita clásica: estudios culturales, lingüísticos y literarios. En ella caben todos aquellos que se mueven en el campo de los estudios anglófonos. Cada uno de estos campos podría haber sido suficiente para celebrar un congreso, pero parece razonable que en este tipo de encuentros tengan cabida todos. De ese modo, este volumen se convierte en un ejemplo de aproximación interdisciplinar a los estudios anglófonos. Desde un punto de vista cuantitativo, los estudios culturales ocupan sin duda un espacio menor. Sin embargo, sobresale la variedad de temas tratados, así como la internacionalización de los autores, dentro de este apartado. Estudiantes españoles e italianos acometen estudios relacionados con la música, la pintura, el cine, la traducción, la marginalidad social o el impacto de las nuevas tecnologías en la producción artística. Si no pareciera demasiado atrevido, podría decirse que estos jóvenes estudiosos irían más allá de lo que un día ya lejano pudieron imaginar Richard Hoggard o Raymond Williams. Los estudios aquí presentados reflejan, sin duda, la evolución que la propia sociedad ha experimentado en estos últimos cincuenta años y exploran la relación entre las prácticas culturales, la vida diaria, y los contextos económicos, políticos e históricos. No es de extrañar que una gran parte de las contribuciones presentadas en este volumen se centren en el estudio de la lengua, ya que la demanda del inglés se ha incrementado de forma considerable en los últimos años. Sobresalen los análisis puramente filológicos y sobre todo los relacionados con el aprendizaje del inglés como segunda lengua. Por eso, destacan estudios que contemplan rasgos morfológicos, léxicos o sintácticos. Sin embargo, el mayor número de participaciones hace referencia al ya citado aprendizaje del inglés como L2, tanto desde el análisis de materiales, como desde la práctica oral o escrita. Las contribuciones literarias ofrecen una evaluación teórica, formal e interpretativa de distintas tendencias desde perspectivas tanto interdisciplinares como interculturales. Cronológicamente los estudios abarcan textos desde el siglo XVIII hasta nuestros días, con un acento especial en los autores más contemporáneos y en el género narrativo. En general estos estudios se fijan en textos concretos y los analizan desde perspectivas culturales, sociológicas o psicológicas. Pero abundan menos las aproximaciones desde la teoría literaria, desde la técnica narrativa o, como tal vez cabría esperar al tratarse de estudiantes tan jóvenes, desde la aplicación de las nuevas tecnologías. Por el contrario, se repiten temas como los traumas heredados de la Guerra de Vietnam, las cicatrices del 11 de septiembre o los problemas de género. En definitiva, se trata de una selección de artículos claramente prometedora, que transmite la seguridad de que el futuro de la Filología Inglesa está en buenas manos y podrá experimentar una positiva evolución en los próximos años. Por todo ello, hay que felicitar a todos los participantes individuales y, sobre todo, a los organizadores del evento, y editores de este volumen, que han demostrado una enorme capacidad de trabajo y de saber hacer.

Provides new ideas to address today's global development challenges, evaluating past experience and exploring answers for the future.

Decolonial Approaches to Latin American Literatures and Cultures engages and problematizes concepts such as “decolonial” and “coloniality” to question methodologies in literary and cultural scholarship. While the eleven contributions produce diverse approaches to literary and cultural texts ranging from Pre-Columbian to contemporary works, there is a collective questioning of the very idea of “Latin America,” what “Latin American” contains or leaves out, and the various practices and locations constituting Latinamericanism. This transdisciplinary study aims to open an evolving corpus of decolonial scholarship, providing a unique entry point into the literature and material culture produced from precolonial to contemporary times.

When tourists travel, they often seek the exotic. The farther they venture, the more unique the cultures they gaze upon, the greater the prestige accrued; cross-cultural contact is commonplace. Yet despite the obviously transnational character of the tourist experience, national borders define existing studies of tourism. Spanish, French, or German tourism is treated almost in isolation and there are only hints of a larger transnational impetus behind the creation of national tourism products. This volume tells a different story. Although modern tourism first evolved in Europe changes were never confined to national borders. The Grand Tour, the birthplace of modern tourism, was consummately transnational in both its execution and its influence. Although seaside resorts originated in Britain, the aesthetic and scientific ideas that made beaches desirable emerged through conversation among Dutch painters, English travellers, and both British and Continental scientists and philosophers. When travel was finally available to the masses, Irish tourism advocates looked to England, Continental Europe, and America for ideas. The Nazi leisure organization, Strength through Joy (KdF), was based on an earlier Italian model, the Dopolavoro. World's Fair promoters raided previous fairs in other countries for ideas. European-wide demand and taste helped shape nudist practice in France and beyond. At every turn, practices and products developed because tourism lent itself to trans-national discourse. The contributors examine a wide range of topics that together make a powerful argument for the adoption of a new transnational model for understanding modern tourism. An essential addition to the library of academics studying the history of tourism, popular culture and leisure in Europe, the book will also provide interest to scholars of transnational topics, including Europeanization and globalization.

"A book of rich detail.”--The Wall Street Journal Bestselling author of Ghosts of Spain Giles Tremlett traverses the rich and varied history of Spain, from prehistoric times to today, in a brief, accessible primer with color illustrations throughout. Spain's position on Europe's southwestern corner has exposed the country to cultural, political, and literal winds blowing from all quadrants throughout the country's ancient history. Africa lies a mere nine miles to the south, separated by the Strait of Gibraltar-a mountain range struck, Spaniards believe, by Hercules, in an immaculate and divine display of strength. The Mediterranean connects Spain to the civilizational currents of Phoenicians, Romans, Carthaginians, and Byzantines as well as the Arabic lands of the near east. Hordes from the Russian steppes were amongst the first to arrive. They would be followed by Visigoths, Arabs, and Napoleonic armies and many more invaders and immigrants. Circular winds and currents extended its borders to the American continent, allowing it to conquer and colonize much of the New World as the first ever global empire. Spain, as we know it today, was made by generations-worth of changing peoples, worshipping Christian, Jewish, and Muslim gods over time. The foundation of its story has been drawn and debated, celebrated and reproached. Whenever it has tried to deny its heterogeneity and create a “pure” national identity, the narrative has proved impossible to maintain. In España, Giles Tremlett, who has lived in and written about Spain for over thirty years, swiftly traces every stretch of Spain's history to argue that a lack of a homogenous identity is Spain's defining trait. With gorgeous color images, España is perfect for lovers of Spain and fans of international history.