Instituto Cervantes London presents a series of 5 lectures to mark the 50th anniversary of the beginning of democracy in Spain.
These events are a reflection on the country's recent past and its impact on the present. We are also screening Ken Loach's historic film Land and Freedom, which will be attended by Professor Paul Preston.
The programme begins with an analysis of the late Franco´s era and the opening up of Spain, followed by a critical review of the figure of Franco before the Civil War and the effects of the dictatorship in the contemporary world. The series will then focus on the Spanish Transition, approached from a political and cultural perspective, continuing with a panel of experts who will discuss the legacies of Francoism in the LGBTQ+ community. The last event will be about Jules Stewart’s first encounter with Madrid in 1962, when he worked as a journalist – freelance and later as a reporter for Reuters – covering momentous events like the death of Franco and the Transition.
The series will feature experts from different disciplines, who will offer a British academic perspective to complement Spanish and international perspectives.
Our 5 lectures are:
30 October - Instituto Cervantes Londres
British Spanish Society-Instituto Cervantes Annual Conference
Late Francoism, openness and democratic reconciliation
Tom Burns Marañón, writer and journalist
5 November - The Garden Cinema
Screening of Land and Freedom by Ken Loach
Paul Preston, Hispanist
6 November - Instituto Cervantes Londres
Franco before the civil war and the memory of Francoism in contemporary Spain
Sebastian Balfour, London School of Economics
Alison Ribeiro de Menezes, University of Warwick
20 November - Instituto Cervantes Londres
Political and cultural transformation after the Transition
Duncan Wheeler, University of Leeds Nuria Capdevila, University of Exeter
25 November - Instituto Cervantes Londres
Queer Legacies of Francoism
Event organised in collaboration with Romancero Books and CERU-SRUK as part of the V London Festival of Queer Spanish Culture
9 December - Instituto Cervantes Londres
Madrid 63 Years Later
Jules Stewart, writer and journalist
Events organised in collaboration with the Bristish Spanish Society, CERU-SRUK, Romancero Books, The Garden Cinema and The Association of Hispanists of Great Briatain and Ireland.