Tamar Groves

The impact of international mobility as experienced by Spanish academics

ABSTRACT The objective of this research is to explore the experiences of the first generations of Spanish academics that carried out research stays in foreign institutions. The analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews shows the interviewees’ evaluation of their stay abroad, the impact that this had on their academic career and how the return to the home institution was a complex process of adaptation. It is an exploratory research which attempts to contribute to current debates about international mobility of academic staff. While it confirms that generally speaking mobility is perceived as positive there are negative aspects related to academics’ (re)integration related to cultural specificities and of the maturity of the scientific system.

Analysing the potential of Wikipedia for science education using automatic organization of knowledge

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the presence and structure of scientific content in the Spanish version of Wikipedia by applying social networks analysis techniques. Design/methodology/approach Wikipedia articles have hyperlinks that connect them, so it is possible to represent Wikipedia as a network, in which the nodes are the articles and the edges are hyperlinks. The authors use communities detection techniques, in order to identify clusters of articles with similar content and then the authors carry out a manual analysis to detect science articles and identify the most representative scientific fields and their main features. Findings The authors conclude that science articles comprise 11.66 per cent of Spanish Wikipedia articles and that the most important clusters of scientific articles do not always coincide with classical science disciplines. Originality/value As Wikipedia is an open content resource, which is constructed by a community of users, and is widely employed in educational contexts by both students and teachers, this kind of analysis contributes to understanding Wikipedia better as an educational tool.

Catholicism and Citizenship Under the Franco Dictatorship

This chapter looks at the contribution of transnational Catholic networks to the recovery and reconstruction of citizenship within the dictatorial context of Franco’s Spain. The scarcely-studied contribution of nonconformist Catholics to the revival of citizenship under Franco was fomented above all by a transnational phenomenon: the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965. This chapter explores how Catholic activists redefined their religious leadership in terms of social and political activism. They used the cultural, economic and symbolic resources emanating from their position in order to empower their communities and diffuse models of participative democracy not only in their churches, but in much wider circles as among students and workers.

Professional Citizenship in the Workplace: Teachers’ Civic Initiatives

This chapter focuses on the social movements of teachers in order to explore the implications of their professional struggles for the construction of new forms of citizenship. The chapter shows that the teachers’ movements adopted strategies that were intimately connected to the essence of their work. These practices extended their obligations and rights not only as professionals, but also as citizens. By perceiving their work in the schools as part of a struggle for social rights, they were turning it into a meaningful civic act. Their negotiation of their professionalism through the reaffirmation of their knowledge, the enhancing of their autonomy, and the extension of their ideals of service strengthened their ties to the community as professionals responsible for the weakest sectors of society.

Citizenship and Democracy in the Spanish Countryside

This chapter analyzes two key issues related to the interaction between local mobilization and national change. First, it deals with what was happening in most Spanish towns and villages while the main (national) treaties were being signed in Madrid. Second, it deals with what life was like in these towns and villages during the period when there was a democratic government at the national level (since April 1977), but local democratic elections had not yet been held. Focusing on these issues, the chapter provides an analysis of the process of democratization in Southern Spain, paying attention to the building process of Social Citizenship. Three towns serve as case studies for this chapter: Osuna (Sevilla), Montefrio (Granada) and Carcabuey (Cordoba).

The Right to the City and the Right to the State: Neighbourhood Associations and the Negotiation of Citizenship

This chapter analyses the role played by squatters’ associations in shaping notions of entitlement and citizenship in Spain: from the final years of the Franco dictatorship and through the period of democratic transition and consolidation. Specifically, the chapter focuses on the case of Orcasitas—one of the largest shantytowns that formed on the outskirts of the city of Madrid in the mid-1950s. The patterns of squatting and of community life in Orcasitas were representative of hundreds of other shantytowns all over Spain. The chapter shows that as the struggle for urban renovation merged into a process of political transition, local experiences of self-management and grass-roots activism interacted with an evolving discourse on democratic citizenship and with other forms of collective mobilization.

Citizen Building During the Spanish Transition to Democracy: Between the Spanish Debate and the Social Movements Debate

The concluding chapter strives to show how the four case studies represent different dimensions of the same phenomenon. Using contemporary new social movements’ theories, it attempts to demonstrate how the Spanish case was both a national and international phenomenon that illustrates how the cycle of mobilization that swept across the west, from the 1960s, introduced changes into the meaning and practices of citizenship. It also ties these changes to current social mobilization, which seems to reemploy them not only in Spain, but in other parts of the world that share the political aspirations of the Spanish “15 m” movement.

Civic education and visions of war and peace in the Spanish transition to democracy

Abstract This article explores visions of war and peace in the education system during the Spanish transition to democracy. During those years, the Spanish state was faced with the challenge of leaving its authoritarian political past behind and forging a democratic civic culture. As the concepts of war and peace are inextricably linked to those of state and citizenship, they are a useful tool with which to examine changes in civic education. A wide variety of educational sources has been explored, with particular attention to the emotional nature of the depiction of both war and peace. This study reveals two opposing styles. The official discourse demonstrated a factual treatment of war and a tendency to concentrate on international bodies and their actions, when it came to fomenting peace. The treatment of peace in the circles of teachers’ local initiatives was different. First, peace was defined not only as the absence of war but also in terms of social equality and solidarity. Second, there was a conscious effort to get the students involved in opposing war, reinforced by emotionally charged messages regarding its horrors.

The implications of Wikipedia for contemporary science education: using social network analysis techniques for automatic organisation of knowledge

Wikipedia is an Open Content resource, which is constructed by a users community, and is widely employed in educational contexts by both students and teachers. Wikipedia articles have hyperlinks that connect them, so it is possible to represent Wikipedia as a network, in which the nodes are the articles and the edges are hyperlinks. In this paper we analyze a complete copy of the Spanish Wikipedia. We apply Social Networks Analysis Techniques and, more precisely, Communities Detection Techniques, in order to identify clusters of articles with similar content. As the number of clusters is relatively small we use manual analyses to detect science articles. In addition we identify the most representative scientific fields and their main features. We conclude that science articles are about 11.66 % of Spanish Wikipedia articles and that the most important clusters of scientific articles do not always coincide with classical Science disciplines. This kind of analyses contributes to understanding better Wikipedia as an educational tool.