The Sobremesa Podcast

Alcarràs, Cinco lobitos (Lullaby), En los márgenes (On the Fringe), El Agua, As bestas and Modelo 77 - 2022 has been a great year for Spanish cinema. Eoghan sits down with La Base's Anita Fuentes to review the year in film and discuss the impact a new generation of women and feminist directors are having on cinema in Spain.

Anita Fuentes is also the host of the English language Security In Context podcast :https://open.spotify.com/show/3hIPIuuHDMcr6br147HXTr

Anita's interview with En los márgenes director Juan Diego Botto for La Base is available here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4eO5ewPuMZFuhLL2AA96ma?si=C0zncS6VTpWYsmx2033JmA

In the wake of the recent climate protest at the Prado museum in Madrid, as well as the use of the museum for a dinner during this summer's NATO summit, Eoghan sit down with art historian Almudena Cros to discuss the relationship between the iconic gallery and politics. Cros argues that the Prado itself needs to become much more open to critical approaches to art history and explore the complex relationship between power, patronage and its collection, which represents one of the greatest in the tradition of European oil painting.

Details of Almudena's tours can be found here: https://www.acrossmadrid.com/en/

This week Eoghan talks to Sebastiaan Faber about Spain’s best known contemporary novelist,Javier Marías, who died aged 70 in Madrid in September and who was the author of 15 novels including Todas Las Almas, Corazón Tan Blanco and Berta Isla.

Andrew Dowling joins Alan to discuss his latest book A New History Of Catalonia (2022, Routledge)

Andrew Dowling is Reader in Spanish History at Cardiff University and researches the history and politics of Catalonia. He has previously published The Rise of Catalan Independence: Spain’s Territorial Crisis with Routledge in 2018 and Catalonia since the Spanish Civil War: Reconstructing the Nation (Sussex Academic Press, 2012).

Catalonia: A New History revises many traditional and romantic conceptions in the historiography of a small nation. This book engages with the scholarship of the past decade and separates nationalist myth-history from real historical processes. It is thus able to provide the reader with an analytical account, situating each historical period within its temporal context. Catalonia emerges as a territory where complex social forces interact, where revolts and rebellions are frequent. This is a contested terrain where political ideologies have sought to impose their interpretation of Catalan reality.

This book situates Catalonia within the wider currents of European and Spanish history, from pre-history to the contemporary independence movement, and makes an important contribution to our understanding of nation-making.

Get it here from the publisher's website. 

This week Spain's progressive coalition unveiled its budget for next year aimed at dealing with the cost of living crisis. Eoghan sat down with sociologist Carlos Delclós to analyse the package of measures that were agreed by the country's progressive coalition and to discuss what it says about Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's party political strategy as we enter a big election year.  

Eoghan is back and he joins Alan in recounting some of their favourite news stories from the summer.

Max Ferrar joins Alan to discuss his project which links the effects of globalism on the modern day image and shape of the Catalan independence movement. Here they specifically discuss the effect mass tourism has had on the movement and the physical area of Girona itself. 

If you have any suggestions for episodes or want to be a guest on the podcast get in touch at [email protected]

Often when you read, watch or hear about the International Brigades, the United Kingdom and sometimes Ireland, are lumped together into one big group. In this episode Fraser Raeburn joins me to discuss how the 'Scottish context' was different. We talk about Aid for Spain and the ideological and political context that convinced so many Scots to join the brigades to fight fascism in Spain.

Fraser's book is called Scots and the Spanish Civil War: Solidarity, Activism and Humanitarianism. (Edinburgh University Press)

Following the retreat of republican forces at the end of the Spanish Civil War, many people become refugees in France and North Africa. Whilst some would later return, many men of fighting age who had been in the Republican army could not. This is their story from how they ended up in refugee camps in the south of France to being members of the British army including members of the SAS. 

Sean Scullion is currently writing a book on this topic. He also gives battle field tours and speaks on the subject at public events. 

Spain's Democratic Memory Law is passed by parliament after nearly 2 years of gruelling negotiations. The law aims to protects the rights of Franco's victims to truth and justice and includes a raft of advances but also runs up against major limits. Eoghan is joined by doctoral student Tom Wardle, a researcher into the country's historical memory movement from the University of Southampton, to discuss the new law and its background.

Felicity Hughes joins Alan in the real world to discuss the origins of Lavapies in Madrid and some interesting places that you would normally have just walked past. 

Felicity Hughes is a professional writer and editor based in Madrid. Her work has appeared in a variety of different publications including Lonely Planet, The Guardian and Wire magazine. The Making of Madrid is a pet project that was born out of a desire to get to know her adoptive city better and share her passion for its history with other inquisitive individuals.

The Blog: https://themakingofmadrid.com/

Her husband's petition: https://www.change.org/p/paremos-la-cesi%C3%B3n-gratuita-en-usera-de-un-terreno-valorado-en-millones-de-a-la-iglesia