Historias: The Spanish History Podcast

Whether Rioja, Ribera del Duero or Albariño, Spanish wine has become a major component of the country's image internationally, but this wasn't always the case. In this episode, Karl Trybus, a professor of history at Limestone University, traces the history behind Spain's wines from the nineteenth century to the present day, including the the effects of the oidium and phylloxera epidemics in the country and Spain's efforts to promote its wines abroad, with a special emphasis on its unique sherry and cava wines. Trybus even treats us to a few recommendations of some of his personal favorites to try.

Cuando en los años ochenta los capos colombianos buscaban ampliar su negocio más allá del continente americano e introducirse en el mercado europeo, en los gallegos encontraron los perfectos socios para trasportar la cocaína, no solo por su condición de marineros innatos, sino también por su experiencia en el contrabando y, sobre todo, por su discreción. En este episodio con Sabrina Laroussi, profesora titular de estudios hispánicos en el Instituto Militar de Virginia, hablamos del origen del tráfico de drogas en el noroeste de España y cómo se fraguó la colaboración entre los cárteles colombianos de Medellín y Cali y los clanes amateurs gallegos. En este contexto, no podemos dejar de hablar de la narcocultura y sus manifestaciones en la televisión, las plataformas digitales de streaming, el cine, y la literatura.

In this episode, we begin by discussing the origins of the Crown of Aragon. Then, we transition into a conversation about the role and treatment of religious minorities in the Late Middle Ages not only in the Crown of Aragon, but across medieval Europe more broadly. Within this broad topic, we focus on the role of royal processions and what they can tell us about religious minorities and their place within medieval societies. Finally, we explore some of the sources, archives, and techniques that historians use to engage with the past, and we hypothesize about where the field might go in the future.

As part of our continuing series on Spain and Morocco, in this episode Eric Calderwood returns to the podcast to discuss his new book On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of Al-Andalus and the many ways in which the idea of al-Andalus, the medieval period of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula, has been taken up by groups as varied as Arabs, Berber/Amazigh people, feminists and Palestinians. In the second half of the podcast, we'll listen to clips from three musical works that illustrate how musicians have also been inspired by al-Andalus to imagine various connections across time and space.

In this second part of our two-part series on Equatorial Guinea, we're joined by Michael Ugarte and Benita Sampedro Vizcaya to take a look at the literature of this West African nation, considering everything from European travel writers to European settlers, authors from Equatorial Guinea, and women writers. We pay special attention to the subject of exilic writing and highlight a few of the country's most well-known authors along the way, including Donato Ndongo Bidyogo and María Nsué Angüe.

In this episode, we explore the development of Jewish identities during the Medieval and Early Modern Periods. Amongst other topics, we discuss the origins of Jewish communities in Europe, the creation and impact of Judeoconversos in medieval Iberia, and the development of a unique Jewish civilization and identity during the Early Modern Period.

In this episode, we explore the development of Jewish identities during the Medieval and Early Modern Periods. Amongst other topics, we discuss the origins of Jewish communities in Europe, the creation and impact of Judeoconversos in medieval Iberia, and the development of a unique Jewish civilization and identity during the Early Modern Period.

Como parte de nuestra serie sobre España en África, en este primer episodio de dos episodios bilingües sobre Guinea Ecuatorial, hablamos con el profesor Gonzalo Álvarez Chillida sobre la colonización española en Guinea Ecuatorial. Empezamos con una revista de la geografía y la economía del país y de la historia de los principios de su colonización por varios poderes europeos. A continuación, examinamos los métodos de control colonial utilizados durante la dictadura franquista, el proceso de independencia y la formación de un nuevo régimen dictatorial allí bajo Francisco Macías Nguema.

In this second part of our series on slavery in Spain's colonies in North Africa, we speak with Ali Al Tuma about slavery in the Spanish Sahara. Al Tuma provides an overview of how slavery formed part of the social and economic structures in the Sahara and discusses the Spanish colonial policy towards slavery. He then shares some of the stories he has uncovered of slaves who navigated this complex and dangerous web of owners, traffickers, soldiers and policemen in search of a better life.

En este primero de dos episodios sobre la esclavitud en las colonias españolas en África, hablamos con el profesor Josep Lluís Mateo Dieste sobre la esclavitud en el protectorado español de Marruecos, enfocándonos en Tetuán, la capital. Discutimos las diferencias entre la esclavitud en el mundo árabe y en las Américas, la vida diaria de estas personas esclavizadas en Tetuán y su cultura única. Además, charlamos sobre los esfuerzos del profesor Mateo Dieste para recuperar la memoria de las esclavas domésticas (las tatas) de Tetuán, e incluso escucharemos a un poco de música de la tradición gnawa.

As part of our Historias for BSPHS series, in this episode we interview Katie Harris and Pamela Radcliff, the editors of a new special issue of the Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies entitled New Currents in Iberian History, about the divisions that they noticed in the field of Iberian history when editing this issue and how recent work is attempting to bridge these gaps. We’ll explore the temporal and spatial boundaries within the field as well as the innovative new approaches that historians are taking to studying questions of race and gender in particular in the Iberian Peninsula and beyond.

From streaming music to Tictok videos to podcasts, recorded sound is ubiquitous in our lives, but few of us give much thought to how it all started. In this episode, we’re joined by Eva Moreda Rodríguez, a reader in music at the University of Glasgow, to do just that. We follow the origins of the recording all the way back to Edison’s first phonograph, tracing its path in Spain through scientific demonstrations, traveling fairs and early recording studios. Along the way, we’ll have a chance to listen to some of these early recordings and discuss both the reactions people had to them at the time and our impressions of them today.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of the Biblical story of Cain and Abel on medieval Spanish literature. This story was told and retold throughout the ancient in medieval worlds. In medieval Iberia, it formed an important backdrop to the composition of historical narratives and often served as a model for their accounts of disputes between kings and members of the royal family. Along with our exploration of the story of Cain and Abel, we will also explore some of the ways that digital tools can help us to better understand and think about some of the big topics in the study of medieval Iberia. In particular, we will discuss Dr. Peña Fernández’s new digital project focusing on Alfonso X’s General estoria and some of the new insights offered by the project.

Any visitor to Spain today will be familiar with the Cortes Inglés department store as the anchor of Spanish commercial cityscape. But how did department stores take hold in Spain and what there the political implications of their rise? In this episode, Alejandro Gómez del Moral tells their story in the context of Spain’s turbulent early-twentieth century and long Francoist dictatorship. In Part I, we examine how department stores thrived even within the restrictive culture of the dictatorship.

Any visitor to Spain today will be familiar with the Cortes Inglés department store as the anchor of Spanish commercial cityscape. But how did department stores take hold in Spain and what there the political implications of their rise? In this episode, Alejandro Gómez del Moral tells their story in the context of Spain’s turbulent early-twentieth century and long Francoist dictatorship. In Part II, we discuss to what extent the rise of consumer culture contributed to the undermining of the dictatorial regime.

Between the removal of Franco’s remains from the Valley of the Fallen and the new Law of Democratic Memory, the legacies of Spain’s recent past have been in the news a lot recently. But how much of the Franco dictatorship survives in Spanish politics and society today and in what forms? How can those hold overs be addressed? In Part I of this episode, Prof. Sebastiaan Faber of Oberlin explores the legacies of Francoism in Spanish business, courts, politics and more.

Between the removal of Franco’s remains from the Valley of the Fallen and the new Law of Democratic Memory, the legacies of Spain’s recent past have been in the news a lot recently. But how much of the Franco dictatorship survives in Spanish politics and society today and in what forms? How can those hold overs be addressed? In Part II of this episode, Sebastiaan Faber discusses ideas about historical memory and how to address Franco’s legacies in Spain in a transnational context.

In this episode, we discuss the intersection of chivalry and violence with Dr. Sam Claussen, with a focus on the chaotic Trastámara period of Castilian history (1369-1516). In examining chivalry, we find ourselves immersed in the bloody history of late medieval knights, grappling to understand the purposes of chivalric violence, their meanings and consequences. The destruction wrought by knights and nobles in late medieval Castile was closely tied to the ideas broadcast in chivalric writings and helped shape the course of Castile as it approached the early modern world and stood on the precipice of a European and global empire.

Although it declared an end to its armed activities in 2011, ETA remains one of the most controversial phenomena in the historical memory of Spain’s recent past. Often missing from these debates is discussion of the lives of ETA members themselves, who are usually portrayed as either terrorists or freedom fighters. In this episode, Nicolás Buckley traces the rise and fall of ETA, as seen through the eyes of seven ETA activists he interviewed. Along the way, we discuss such topics as their motivations, the violence they experienced from the Spanish state and their experiences in prison. We also touch on larger questions such as Spain’s democratization process, Spanish and Basque identity, the line between victims and perpetrators, and oral history methodology.

In this episode of Historias, we discuss the origins of the Crown of Aragon, the rise of James I as a conqueror, and his impact on the legal system not only within his kingdom, but throughout medieval Iberia. In particular, we explore the impact of the Vidal Mayor—the law code composed during his rule by Vidal de Canellas—within the Crown of Aragon with particular attention on how the law code helped determine the redistribution of land in Valencia following its conquest. With Belen Vicens.