Introduction: Revisiting centres and peripheries in Iberian studies: Culture, history and socio-economic change

Abstract

The centres and peripheries that form the focus of the book are markedly diverse and interdisciplinary in nature. In terms of geography these range from considerations of transnational influences in the wider Hispanic and Lusophone worlds to a closer focus particular regions such as Catalonia or Asturias. The historical and transhistorical processes studied are also varied in character, with consideration given to a number of cases of economic and political change from the late nineteenth century to the present. In terms of cultural representations, more marginal social groups including migrants, children and the elderly are considered as well as those excluded in periods of dictatorship or by the developing democracies. Themes of memory, identity, regionalisms and nationalisms are frequently salient in the interconnectivities across time and space which the volume explores. Contributors are drawn established academics and early career researchers from the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Costa Rica and the USA.