The Spanish National Research Council and the Shaping of Science in Franco´s Spain
Author(s) Fernando García Naharro
Language: English
Series: Iberian and Latin American Studies
- July 2026 · 256 pages ·216x138mm
- · Hardback - 9781837723997
- · eBook - pdf - 9781837724000
- · eBook - epub - 9781837724017
This book delivers on the promise of a new direction in the study of science by focusing on the political influence of dictatorial ideology on scientific publishing – and, more broadly, on the scientific field and on women in science in Franco’s Spain. While restricting the scope of the study to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), objectives are broadened by analysing the criteria applied by Franco’s Spain to define both science and scientific authority. This study also examines how such criteria determined which social actors were able to participate in the production and validation of scientific and theoretical knowledge, in both practical and discursive terms. Contextualised by a scientific field shaped under dictatorship, epistemological questions are explored through a fragmentary analysis of specific sites and social actors, political discourses and scientific publications within the spatiotemporal framework of Franco’s Spain.
List of Figures
Note on Sources and Acknowledgments
Prologue by Richard Cleminson
Introduction: A Plea for the Study of the Insignificant
Words (or the Disperse Fragments that Nurture the Homogenous Appearance of the Official Narrative about Science)
Actors (or the External Shapers of their Names and the Collective Image of the Scientist)
Printed Objects (or the Socio-Material Reality of Scientific Journals that Incorporate Meanings and Help to Shape the Scientific Field)
Places (or the Physical and Normative Limits of the Library Space, Understood as a Means of Organization and Social Interaction)
Part I: Words
José Ibáñez Martín: The Enduring Imprint of the Founder of the Spanish National Research Council
Doing Things with Words: Epistemological Concerns
Dismantling the Official Discourse around Science: Defining and Delimiting all Things Scientific
The International Influence: Role Models from Abroad
Part II: Actors
The Figure of the Scientist: Shaping the Vir Modestus, Subverting Women
Women Scientists on Paper: Science, Gender and Power in Franco’s Spain
Women Travelling: Research Residencies Abroad
IV. Women Publishing: Articles by Female Authors in the Journal Revista de Ciencia Aplicada
Part III: Printed Objects
A Format for Science: The CSIC Technical and Scientific Journals
The Journal as Object of Study: Epistemological Concerns
The Scientific and Technical Journals of the Juan de la Cierva Board (CSIC): A Whole Human Comedy behind the Periodicals
Coda The Hidden Side: Foreign Perceptions of Science in Franco’s Spain
Part IV: Places
The CSIC Libraries: Library Services and International Exchange
The Alonso Barba and Alonso de Santa Cruz Institutes Library: The Antonio de Gregorio Rocasolano Institute for Physical Chemistry
Confiscated Collections: The Private Libraries of Blas Cabrera and Enrique Moles
Reading Science in Franco’s Spain: The Early Years
Conclusion
Epilogue
Bibliography