Workshop: ACADEMIC SCIENCE AND CULTURE AS CULTURAL DIPLOMACY IN THE PERIPHERY OF WESTERN EUROPE: SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND GREECE FROM THE END OF WORLD WAR I TO THE COLD WAR (II), UPF - January 25th - 26th 2024

 

Abstracts & Biographies

 

Session 1. The integration in the transnational academic networks of the interwar period

 

Diplomacia cultural catalana: les exposiciones de arte catalán durante el periodo de entreguerras

Eva March (UPF) (CV).

El mismo año que empezó la Primera Guerra Mundial Cataluña conseguía recuperar parte del autogobierno que había perdido doscientos años atrás. Con el nacimiento de la Mancomunitat (1914-1924) cristalizaba una de las mayores aspiraciones del proyecto político iniciado por la Lliga Regionalista en 1901: construir una Cataluña autónoma y moderna dotada de propias estructuras políticas, culturales y científicas que le permitieran acercarse a lo que se hacía en Europa. Se ambicionaba, también, y como contrapartida, a que la especificidad catalana dejara de ser invisible en el extranjero. El punto de inflexión que marca el inicio de este segundo objetivo viene condicionado por dos factores. Por un lado, el fracaso de la campaña autonomista impulsada por la Lliga: a principios de 1919 el proyecto del Estatuto de Autonomía elaborado por la Mancomunitat era desestimado en las Cortes de Madrid. Por el otro, la ventana de oportunidad que brindaba el contexto internacional en el momento del final de la Primera Guerra Mundial, con el Tratado de Versalles (1919) inaugurando una nueva era basada en la Europa de las Naciones. A ambas circunstancias se refirió Puig i Cadafalch el 12 de septiembre de 1919, el día que tomó posesión, por segunda vez, del cargo de presidente de la Mancomunitat (1917-1924). Unas circunstancias, que, unidas a la propia idiosincrasia de Puig –desde su juventud, como historiador del arte y como arquitecto, manifestó su voluntad internacionalizadora– provocaron que aquel día lanzara su ya célebre “Conocer y ser conocidos! He aquí una labor para llevar a cabo”.  

Puig, la Mancomunitat, la Lliga, no tenían tiempo que perder, y menos si lo que se pretendía, al promover relaciones de carácter político e institucional con otros países, era obtener un reconocimiento con el que poder presionar al gobierno español para conseguir que Cataluña tuviera autoridad para gobernarse. Aunque habían precedentes anteriores, fue en los años sucesivos y hasta 1923, inicio de la dictadura de Primo de Rivera, cuando se produjeron diversas tentativas para introducir la cuestión catalana en la agenda política internacional. Se utilizó, también, la diplomacia cultural y científica con otros países para intentar que esas relaciones revertieran sobre Cataluña. Algunas de estas acciones han sido analizadas en los últimos años, hubieron otras, no obstante, menos conocidas, el estudio de las cuales es necesario abordar si lo que queremos es obtener un mapa más preciso de la diplomacia paraestatal ­–o paradiplomacia– catalana durante el período de entreguerras. Nos referimos a la celebración de la “Exposición de Arte Catalán” en París en 1920, seguida de la de Portugal en 1921 y de la de Ámsterdam en 1922. Tres exposiciones que formaban parte del muy ambicioso "Proyecto de expansión del movimiento artístico catalán en el extranjero", el cual, como esta contribución intentará demostrar, poco tenía que ver con el arte. Se trataba, más bien, de poner de manifiesto  que los artistas catalanes compartían una misma genética, que podían organizarse de forma autónoma y, sobre todo, que no necesitaban vincularse a ninguna institución oficial del Estado para presentarse al mundo. Analizar los recursos utilizados por las autoridades políticas catalanas tanto para ofrecer una determinada imagen de Cataluña a un público ilustrado como para utilizar estas manifestaciones culturales para vincularse con las instituciones científicas de los países visitados será uno de los temas centrales de esta propuesta.  Se intentará responder a las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cuáles fueron los principales actores mediadores? ¿Qué papel jugaron las instituciones políticas en el control y articulación de los discursos? ¿Qué impacto lograron?, y ¿Qué beneficio obtuvieron dichas empresas?

 

Ciencia, diplomacia, guerra: la misión médica española a Alemania en 1925

Francisco Javier Martínez Antonio (Universidad de Zaragoza) (CV).

A principios de julio de 1925 Laboratorio. Revista de Ciencias Biológicas y de Medicina Experimental, una de las más importantes publicaciones españolas de investigación en biomedicina, fundada en Barcelona en 1917, hizo un llamamiento para organizar una misión médica a Alemania, Dinamarca y Suecia. Tras el mismo se encontraban los doctores José María Rossell, miembro del Instituto de Medicina Práctica de Barcelona y Wifredo Coroleu y Borrás, decano del Cuerpo Médico Municipal y secretario perpetuo de la Real Academia de Medicina de Barcelona. El resultado fue que una treintena de médicos, la mayoría de centros hospitalarios y de investigación de Barcelona, pero también otros de Tarragona y Zaragoza, y algunos latinoamericanos que ejercían como diplomáticos y periodistas en España, se sumaron a una iniciativa que los cronistas describieron como representación del “mundo médico español e hispano americano”. El grupo partió de la Ciudad Condal el 3 de agosto y tras hacer escala en París, visitó las ciudades de Colonia, Hamburgo, Copenhague, Malmö, Berlín, Frankfurt y Darmstadt, antes de regresar de nuevo por la capital francesa a España el día 23 del mismo mes.

            Ante todo, la misión médica tenía como objetivo contribuir al estrechamiento de las relaciones científicas hispano-alemanas. Por parte española, como señaló el doctor Rossell en su discurso en la capital alemana, se trataba de mostrar la simpatía española “hacia la ciencia alemana, poniendo de relieve la satisfacción al ver a la ciencia alemana recobrando en el mundo su antiguo rango”, es decir, aquél que había sido desplazado y dañado por la Primera Guerra Mundial. En contrapartida, Rossell destacaba que “Alemania apreció siempre en su justo valor los trabajos científicos españoles […] a Ramón y Cajal y al doctor Ferrán”, lo que no podía decirse de otros países, especialmente de Francia. De hecho, la misión tuvo al frente la figura señera de Jaime Ferrán y Clúa, pionero de la investigación bacteriológica en España, que contaba ya por entonces con 74 años de edad. En la Sociedad Médica de Berlín, Ferrán recibiría “una ovación delirante”, leyéndose en su honor “un fragmento de su trabajo sobre las vacunas antituberculosas”, entregándosele el diploma de honor de dicha asociación y nombrándosele miembro de la Sociedad Alemana de Anatomía Patológica.

            La ciencia, sin embargo, debía contribuir al propósito más amplio de consolidar las relaciones entre ambos países. A diferencia de otros intercambios previos organizados por Laboratorio a Francia y Gran Bretaña, la misión a Alemania contó con “el patronato del Consulado General alemán [en Barcelona], que la ha declarado oficial”. Por ello, los médicos, además de visitar centros académicos y sociedades científicas, fueron recibidos por altas autoridades políticas como los alcaldes de Berlín, Arthur Scholtz, y Hamburgo, Carl-Wilhelm Petersen, e incluso por el recientemente nombrado canciller de la República, Hans Luther. Se trató, en definitiva, de una importante iniciativa de diplomacia cultural en tiempos de la Dictadura de Primo de Rivera, aunque no haya recibido hasta ahora atención historiográfica. En un contexto de relaciones entre ambos países que, sin ser “especialmente problemáticas”, estuvieron inicialmente marcadas en dicho periodo por tensiones diplomáticas (competencia por un puesto permanente en la Sociedad de Naciones), políticas (rechazo al régimen autoritario de Primo) y económicas (difíciles negociaciones de un tratado comercial bilateral), los intercambios académicos actuaron como mecanismo de encuentro y colaboración. Como señaló en su discurso Petersen, el alcalde de Hamburgo:

“los médicos españoles, que vienen animados por sus sentimientos de amistad hacia Alemania, tendrán seguramente la impresión de toda la alegría que ha causado la visita de los representantes de la ciencia médica española a Alemania. Hamburgo, añadió, debe particular reconocimiento, mayor que otro cualquier país, a España, nación que ha desempeñado el papel histórico y magnífico de desarrollar y educar a las regiones de la América Central y Meridional. El señor Petersen terminó expresando la esperanza de que la renovación de las relaciones científicas entre Barcelona y Hamburgo influirá notablemente en las relaciones de nación a nación”.

            Pero había un factor que ni los médicos españoles ni sus colegas alemanes mencionaron y que estaba contribuyendo posiblemente más que cualquier otro en aquel momento al acercamiento hispano-alemán: la Guerra del Rif. La misión tuvo una agenda paralela: en vísperas de la gran ofensiva militar que España iba a lanzar en Marruecos en colaboración con Francia en septiembre de 1925, los médicos españoles debían realizar gestiones para obtener ciertos adelantos de la medicina, la farmacología y la química alemanas que ayudarían finalmente a ganar un conflicto que tantos costes humanos y económicos venía causando desde hacía cuatro años. En un contexto de prohibición internacional a las exportaciones de cualquier tipo de material de guerra como parte de las estipulaciones del Tratado de Versalles, fueron las empresas privadas alemanas las que desempeñaron el papel clave. No en vano, además del respaldo del Consulado General, la misión organizada por Laboratorio contó con el “apoyo así de orden científico como material de las importantes casas alemanas, Laboratorios Bayer, Meister Lucius, Reiniger & Veifa y Siemens & Halske”. El viaje de los médicos incluyó por ello la visita a algunas de las principales instalaciones industriales de dichas empresas. Por ejemplo, durante la estancia en Colonia, la misión se desplazó a la cercana localidad de Leverkusen para visitar la gran fábrica de colorantes y medicamentos de Bayer. En relación con este contacto, la casa alemana propondría inicialmente al ejército español la adquisición de compuestos desinfectantes. Aunque la propuesta fracasó, Bayer procedería después a registrar en España la patente para su nuevo medicamento contra la malaria, la plasmoquina, y terminaría suministrando grandes cantidades del mismo para las primeras campañas antipalúdicas que se llevaron a cabo en el Protectorado de Marruecos y en Guinea.

            En este trabajo se reconstruirá el origen y desarrollo de la misión médica española a Alemania de agosto de 1925 y se analizarán sus diversas dimensiones de intercambio científico, diplomacia cultural y negocio bélico. Para ello se utilizarán fuentes de archivos españoles y alemanes, así como publicaciones científicas y prensa españolas.

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Session 2. Flirting with Fascism and National Socialism

 

Between Dictatorship and Democracy: frameworks and dynamics of Portuguese cultural diplomacy between 1929 and 1986

Fernanda Rollo (NOVA University of Lisbon) (CV).

 

In the early twentieth century, in a context of growing recognition and appreciation of science with effects on the creation and affirmation of national institutions in the international context, was born the idea of creating an independent agency designed to promote and organize scientific funding in Portugal. The Junta Nacional de Educação (JEN), created in 1929, was the first Portuguese institution whose mission was to promote and support science development and organization.

A few years later, in 1936, already under the Estado Novo (dictatorial regime that lasted until the Revolution of 25 April 1974), JEN was transformed into the Instituto para a Alta Cultura, a title it kept until 1952, when its name was changed to Instituto de Alta Cultura. This Institute came to be extinct after the Revolution and the Institute de Cultura Portuguesa was created in its place. It was succeeded in 1981 by the Institute of Culture and Portuguese Language, which in 1992 was replaced by the current Instituto Camões.

From a historical perspective, one understands the dimension and importance of these successive instituiçoes which, over time, have been given responsibilities both in terms of the policy to support scientific research – a mission that is currently the responsibility of the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia – and in the policy of promoting cultural development, artistic improvement and external cultural relations, playing an essential role in terms of cultural and scientific diplomacy.

This communication will highlight the fundamental aspects of JEN/IC's performance in the fields of cultural and scientific diplomacy, including the successive political frameworks (authoritarianism versus democracy) and the challenges that were posed in terms of the internationalization of scientific and cultural activity, namely in the context of Portugal's European integration.

 Scientific policy; Cultural and scientific diplomacy; Dictatorship; Democracy; Europeanization

 

Crossing borders at war times. Les dones del feixisme espanyol com a agents de diplomàcia cultural

Toni Morant (Universitat de València) (CV).

Les fluïdes relacions bastides durant la Guerra Civil Espanyola i la Segona Guerra Mundial entre el feixisme espanyol i l’Alemanya nazi poden ser analitzades des de la perspectiva de la diplomàcia cultural. No només perquè ja fa més de quatre dècades que els països poden ser entesos com a sistemes culturals i, per extensió, les relacions internacionals com a relacions interculturals (Iriye 1979), sinó perquè també qui dissenyava i protagonitzava els contactes transfronterers entre ambdós feixismes els entenien, ja en el seu moment, com a tal.

Des de les primeres del segle XX, la cultura havia anant ocupant un lloc destacat entre els agents determinants de les relacions internacionals (tradicionalment, la política i l’economia) fins esdevindre’n un instrument més. Després de la Primera Guerra Mundial, la tendència no feu sinó consolidar-se i les polítiques cultural i científica exteriors passaren a ocupar-hi un paper creixentment central. Per al cas espanyol, fa ara un quart de segle que un dels pioners d’aquest camp d’estudis (Delgado 1998/99) va establir que “el fruit més destacat” durant el segle XX no va ser-ne cap altre que formar minories dirigents: una part cabdal de la diplomàcia cultural i –podríem afegir-hi– científica espanyola era enviar a l’estranger aquelles persones de qui s’esperava que, en un futur més o menys proper, acabaren assumint posicions i funcions rellevants. Quan, a la tardor del 1936 quedà clar que el fracassat cop d’Estat havia desembocat en una guerra civil, les activitats culturals no només quedaren intrínsecament lligades a les finalitats propagandístiques, sinó que passaren a estar completament supeditades als requeriments de la política exterior, també al bàndol rebel.

Tot i la manifesta preeminència dels afers militars, la cultura en un sentit ample ocupà –i des de primera hora– un lloc important en les relacions entre l’Alemanya nazi i els rebels espanyols, primer, i després l’Espanya franquista. En complir-se el primer any de guerra, hi havia ja en marxa un sistema de traducció i repartiment de propaganda nazi per tota la zona ‘nacional’, dissenyat per l’ambaixada a Salamanca en estreta col·laboració amb les instàncies centrals de Falange Española. Poc després, a l’hivern del 1937, tan bon punt es considerà consolidada la distribució de material, hom decidí passar a la següent fase d’aquesta estratègia de política cultural: l’enviament no ja de propaganda alemanya cap a l’Espanya rebel, sinó de figures espanyoles a Alemanya, de qui s’esperava tindrien un paper rellevant a la futura Nueva España.

Certament, no va ser cap relació idíl·lica ni mancada de friccions, desacords i diversitat d’interessos, però els objectius d’ambdós feixismes, l’espanyol i l’alemany, resultaven aleshores ben complementaris. D’una banda, les instàncies nazis, sobretot al voltant de Wilhelm Faupel i el seu Sonderstab a la capital rebel, buscaven garantir el posicionament favorable de la “Nova Espanya” que hauria d’eixir vencedora de la guerra, per així assegurar-se el retorn de la seua ajuda als rebels. De l’altra, Falange, la qual –arribada al poder de forma sobtada a l’estiu del 1936 i tot just esdevinguda, de la nit al dia, un partit de masses-- volia bastir un Nuevo Estado feixista i cercava a l’estranger referents ideològics i pràctics on emmirallar-se. A més a més, ningú no volia esperar a la fi de la guerra per a posar-s’hi: ni els alemanys, conscients de la força de la tradicional influència franco-britànica a Espanya, ni tampoc els falangistes, conscients igualment de la força dels seus aliats-rivals no-feixistes dins del compromís autoritari.

L’objectiu, en plena coherència amb els principis pedagògics feixistes, que primaven la pràctica i l’experiència viscuda per damunt de la ‘freda’ teoria, era que mandos falangistes pogueren vore, amb els seus propis ulls i sobre el terreny, com era ‘la nova Alemanya d’Adolf Hitler’ i en pogueren extreure les seues pròpies conclusions sobre què aplicar una vegada hagueren tornat a l’Espanya franquista. Perquè se n’esperava una funció de ‘multiplicació cultural’: qui haguera aprofitat l’estada i l’experiència a Alemanya, podria al seu torn formar més mandos falangistes. De nou, no era sinó la ja esmentada formació de minories dirigents, però ara ‘en feixista’.

Cal remarcar que no es tractà només dels homes de la futura política espanyola. Ben al contrari, també les dones de la Sección Femenina de Falange, hi estigueren presents... i ho feren des de bon començament, des dels plans inicials. I, encara més: amb la situació creada l’abril del 1937 arran del Decret d’Unificació, reberen fins i tot prioritat per davant dels falangistes: es considerà que –ben al contrari que la ‘secció masculina’– les feixistes espanyoles presentaven ja una clara estabilitat personal i orgànica, la qual donava moltes més assegurances de ‘retorn de la inversió’. Així les coses, les invitacions i les visites de les falangistes a Alemanya començaren tot seguit i, tret de la seua sobtada interrupció temporal arran de l’esclat de la Guerra Mundial, continuaren si més no fins al 1943.

Els contactes transfronterers entre Falange i l’Alemanya nazi constitueixen un cas d’estudi especialment adient per a estudiar des d’una perspectiva transnacional les diplomàcies culturals feixistes en temps de guerra. A partir de la documentació dels respectius partits i ministeris, la meua contribució presentarà aquestes relacions en la intersecció entre la política cultural exterior nazi i les pretensions de Falange i, en particular, de les falangistes. De fet, la seua anàlisi permet observar en la pràctica els instruments mitjançant els quals ambdós feixismes feien diplomàcia cultural (visites, publicacions, trobades bi- i multilaterals, conceptes i projectes), però també –entre d’altres– els interessos de les feixistes espanyoles; el paper de la cultura, l’esport i la música; l’aparent contradicció del protagonisme femení com a agents i representants exteriors del Nuevo Estado (amb Pilar Primo de Rivera com a cas paradigmàtic), així com la hibridació entre ideologia i identitat nacional, però també entre els plànols nacional i transnacional en la intersecció entre Nova Espanya falangista i Nova Europa nazi.

 

Greece before Mamma Mia!: the archaeopolitics of cultural significance

Dimitris Plantzos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) (CV).

Cultural visibility has long now been identified as one of archaeology’s main aims, at least within the national framework. Constructed as a scholarly discipline during the second half of the 19th century, archaeology was at the time expected to provide tangible evidence of the nation’s antiquity, and in a way proof of its present significance as well. Sites, finds, and museums were expected to showcase the nation’s latent materiality, usually elevated to the status of cultural treasure: spectacular, meaningful, prominent.

Imagined (and imaged) as modernity’s “model kingdom”, late-19th and early-20th century Greece was promoted as Europe’s memory-scape, as the cradle of an intellectual genealogy coveted by the West’s elites – real or self-styled – and as an archaeological Eldorado where more and more splendors were to be excavated and treasured.

Greeks of the 19th and 20th centuries were encouraged – if not made – first to cleanse antiquities found on their soil from any unwanted cross-mixtures (such as Frankish, Venetian, and of course Ottoman) and then to restore what was left to its former glory: most Greek sites to this day still betray an angst to return everything as close as possible, chronologically as well as aesthetically, to a thoroughly imagined classical ideal, whereas most Greek museums, despite the technological advancement and contemporary feel displayed by most contemporary exhibits, still abide by the late-19th century exhibition ideals promoting chronological linearity and typological tedium.

At the same time, archaeology in Greece has been entrusted with the task to attract the international gaze towards the modern country and its present inhabitants; this was thought to guarantee on the one hand the furthering of the country’s political and diplomatic goals at a time of uncertainly and flux, and on the other its actual survival, as tourism was fast becoming Greece’s larger industry.

Already in the 1840s, Greek archaeologists were envisaging turning Greece into an archaeological landscape, a heterotopia of ruins bound to attract international tourism (following the example of neighbouring Italy). By the 1930s, Greece’s “archaeological dream” had become a fully fleshed project, whereby the restoration and revival of the country’s ancient sites (such as theatres ad stadiums where public spectacles could be held) was recommended by an emerging caste of Greek technocrats as the answer to the country’s shaky financial state.

In this paper, I will survey a series of archaeopolitical strategies deployed by the Greek state between the end to the Great War and the Military Dictatorship of 1967-1974, in order to define ways in which archaeology – both as an academic discipline and a scientific praxis – was utilized, instrumentalized, and in effect nationalized as way of promoting Greece’s cultural diplomacy.

To this end, I will survey:

1. Tourist posters and other tourism marketing strategies, deploying archaeology and the country’s cultural treasures as a means to attract international holidaymakers. Such marketing gestures placed an emphasis on archaeological landscapes (mostly Greek temples, but also museum artefacts), often combined with the other pleasures Greece had to offer (nature, local culture and so on).

 

2. Restoration of sites (especially ancient theatres) and the organized revival of ancient drama, promoted as a tourist attraction. As a trend active to this day, this demands the commitment of a vast army of archaeologists, architects, restorers and monument “enhancers”, hoped to suggest that, on the one hand, Modern Greece is the land where Classical Hellas flourished and, on the other, that its present inhabitants are worthy of (their) classical heritage and can serve as its most suitable curators. 

 

3. The systematic attempt, from the 1950s onwards, to attract the international film industry (and especially Hollywood) to Greece as a setting for popular movies centering on Greece and its cultural treasures (e.g. Boy on a Dolphin from 1957; Phaedra from 1962). This wave of newly-found Greco-philia was initially successful into turning Greece into a top tourist destination, while at the same time creating a series of spin-off cultural products (such as internationally successful pop-songs, recognizable imageries, and more movies). 

 

These attempts, haphazard and they may have been, prefigure a more systematic attempt on behalf of national archaeology to capitalize on the country’s cultural capital for financial as well as political gains. By the 1970s, after the restoration of parliamentary democracy, new laws allowed Greek authorities to export temporarily antiquities usually on display in Greek Museums in order to organize fixed-term exhibitions abroad, aiming to achieve greater cultural visibility for the country and its people, as well to strengthen its international political standing. This was a new, less improvised phase in the country’s history of deploying archaeology as an instrument for cultural diplomacy; old habits died hard, however, as the persistence of the “sun, sea, and syrtaki” model for Greek archaeological management in some quarters goes to prove, to a certain extent affecting the ways in which the Greek state views the archaeological discipline and its practitioners.

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Session 3. Adaptation and integration in the West in the aftermath of the Second World War and the first phase of the Cold War

 

España y la carrera espacial americana en la Guerra Fría (Spain and the American Space Race during the Cold War)

Lorenzo Delgado (Instituto de Historia, CCHS-CSIC) CV; Óscar J. Martín García (INGENIO-CSIC) (CV)

Una amplia bibliografía ha indagado en la enconada rivalidad entre Estados Unidos (EEUU) y la Unión Soviética (URSS) por alcanzar la supremacía científica mundial durante la Guerra Fría. Tales contribuciones identifican la exploración espacial como uno de los principales campos de batalla, junto al desafío atómico, de esa contienda. Ambas superpotencias encontraron en los logros espaciales un potente símbolo de la fortaleza y superioridad técnica, económica y política de sus respectivos sistemas. Así, desde mediados de los años cincuenta, la conquista del espacio se convirtió en el epítome de la lucha ideológica entre el capitalismo y el comunismo por ganar las mentes y los corazones de la humanidad.

El lanzamiento del satélite soviético Sputnik en octubre de 1957 encumbró a la URSS al frente de la nueva era espacial, al tiempo que supuso un golpe devastador para el prestigio internacional estadounidense. En respuesta, Washington aumentó considerablemente los recursos del programa espacial norteamericano, convirtiéndolo en piedra angular de su actividad diplomática en el extranjero. En 1958 creó la National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), que invirtió un notable esfuerzo en fomentar la cooperación aeroespacial con otros gobiernos, incluida la dictadura de Franco. Fruto de dicha colaboración se estableció en España un complejo de estaciones de seguimiento espacial que ocuparon un lugar importante en la red global de apoyo terrestre a las operaciones estadounidenses de exploración del deep space y tomaron parte en las principales misiones norteamericanas del periodo.

El reflejo en España de la carrera espacial resulta especialmente interesante. Desde los años cincuenta la península ibérica fue considerada por los estrategas estadounidenses como una magnífica base de despliegue aéreo para la defensa de Europa occidental y, más tarde, también una excelente ubicación para las estaciones de seguimiento espacial. El interés de las autoridades españolas fue evidente. La dimensión científico-técnica se combinaba con la vertiente militar y la económica, y además permitía asociar al régimen franquista con una imagen modernizadora. Para contextualizar la historia de la colaboración bilateral en el sector aeroespacial conviene señalar algunos antecedentes que ayudan a comprender mejor la trayectoria posterior.

A comienzos de los años cincuenta, el ejército del aire español intentó adquirir tecnología y bienes de equipo norteamericanos para renovar su obsoleto material. Fue entonces cuando una misión de investigadores del Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeronáutica (INTA) se desplazó al país americano, invitados por Theodore von Karman, que ocupaba una posición relevante en el Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) de la OTAN fundado a comienzos de aquella década. Poco a poco el INTA incrementó sus vínculos con aquella organización internacional.

Tras la firma de los acuerdos bilaterales de 1953, el ejército del aire español se incorporó a los planes de adiestramiento desarrollados por Estados Unidos hacia países aliados. Oficiales, suboficiales y personal civil realizaron cursos sobre diversas materias en instalaciones de la US Air Force (USAF). En la misma época, empezaron a desplazarse con regularidad a aquel país grupos de ingenieros aeronáuticos para ampliar su formación, con el INTA como uno de sus principales interlocutores.  A partir de los contactos establecidos con el Instituto Tecnológico de California, se comenzaron a recibir fondos del Air Research and Development Command (de la USAF), para el desarrollo de proyectos concretos. Tales contactos facilitaron más adelante el envío de nuevos ingenieros a otros centros norteamericanos, con becas del acuerdo NASA-ESRO (European Space Research Organization, a la que España se incorporó desde su fundación en 1964).

Mientras se desarrollaban esas acciones formativas, la puesta en órbita del Sputnik supuso un shock en la sociedad americana, que veía como su primacía tecnológica era cuestionada por su antagonista soviético. Los servicios informativos norteamericanos en España (USIS) comenzaron a hacerse eco de la carrera espacial entablada por las superpotencias, lanzando la campaña “Ciencia para la paz” a través de Noticias de Actualidad, su principal órgano de expresión escrita. Esa campaña glosó inicialmente las peripecias de los satélites Vanguard y Explorer. También se introdujeron en Noticias de Actualidad una serie de secciones fijas tituladas “América inventa para el mundo”, “Ciencia y Espacio” o “Ciencia e Industria”, poniendo en circulación una narrativa tendente a ilustrar el liderazgo científico de Estados Unidos.

De esa forma se fueron recibiendo noticias en España sobre los satélites de comunicaciones y meteorológicos que Estados Unidos lograba colocar en el espacio, los cohetes propulsores, los avances en el diseño de capsulas espaciales tripuladas, etc.  Muy pronto se materializaría una implicación más directa con aquella aventura espacial. En marzo de 1960 se firmó un acuerdo para el establecimiento en la isla de Gran Canaria (Maspalomas) de una estación de seguimiento y comunicación con vehículos espaciales, que se utilizaría para la ejecución de los programas Mercurio y Géminis. Ambos gobiernos delegaron en la NASA y en el INTA la aplicación de dicho acuerdo. La construcción de la instalación y el material para su funcionamiento estarían a cargo de los norteamericanos. El personal español colaboraría con aquellos, a la vez que recibiría información y formación técnica. A partir de entonces, la participación de España en actividades de esta naturaleza fue en aumento.

En julio de 1963 se creó en España la Comisión Nacional de Investigación del Espacio, adscrita al Ministerio del Aire. Aunque también existieron acuerdos con Francia en el campo de la investigación espacial, la vinculación con Estados Unidos fue siempre preferente en este terreno. En enero de 1964, se firmó un nuevo acuerdo de cooperación científica y técnica en materia espacial, que se plasmó en la construcción de otra estación de seguimiento de satélites en Robledo de Chavela, a la que seguirían las de Cebreros (1966) y Fresnedillas (1967). Esas estaciones participaron en varios de los proyectos Pioneer, Surveyor, Lunar Orbiter y Apolo, incluido el Apolo 11 que llevó al primer hombre a la Luna.

La participación española en aquellas misiones alentó la curiosidad de la sociedad española ante la aventura espacial. El proyecto Mercurio, que puso en órbita alrededor de la Tierra al astronauta John Glenn, se recreó en una exposición que recorrió España en 1962. En 1965 los astronautas de la Géminis V también visitaron el país, donde fueron recibidos de forma multitudinaria. Esa mezcla de fascinación y curiosidad tuvo uno de sus momentos estelares con la visita a España de los integrantes del Apolo 11.

 

Portuguese cultural diplomacy in the Cold War period

Carlos Vargas (HTC-CFE NOVA FCSH) (CV).

At the beginning of the 1950s, Portugal had not been admitted as a member of the United Nations Organization (UN), which only took place in 1955, although it was one of the founding countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. In fact, in the post-war period, Portugal found itself in an ambivalent situation. It was part of the brand-new Atlantic Community from its creation and benefited from the all-important Marshall Plan that revived the European economy with US support. At the same time, Portugal faced growing international isolation, namely because the dictatorial Portuguese government refused to grant independence to its colonial possessions.

In the context of the Cold War, the self-determination of peoples until then under the colonial control of European countries – the then so-called Third World, which the literature now refers to as the Global South – emerged as one of the most obvious signs of a growing tension between the US and the Soviet Union.

In this context, Portuguese cultural diplomacy, at the service of the isolationist policies in force, mirrored and reflected these same policies, their impasses, contradictions, and limitations. It is in this sense that we must read, namely, the conditioned and censored participations of Portugal in the Venice Biennale, since 1950, organized, then, under the National Secretariat of Information (SNI), the participations, since 1964, in the Eurovision Song Festival, organized by the Portuguese Radio and Television (RTP) and the presences of Portugal, with an associated cultural programme, namely in Expo58 - Brussels World's Fair and Expo70 - Osaka World's Fair.

In the 1960s, with the emergence of independence movements and the outbreak of the wars of independence, namely in Angola, Guinea and Mozambique, the Portuguese political power defended a proudly alone country, maintained a repressive regime internally in which there was fierce censorship on artistic and intellectual creation, and faced externally the geopolitical and military tensions determined by a Cold War that spanned all geographies and with growing episodes of violent confrontation.

In the 1970s, Portugal underwent a profound transformation of its political reality with the democratic revolution of 1974, which led to the independence of the former colonies, the holding of free elections in 1976 and the approval, in that same year, of a new Constitution. Also in 1976, Portugal created the Institute of Portuguese Culture (ICAP), precursor of the current Camões Institute, organisation responsible for the Portuguese external cultural action, and became a full member of the Council of Europe (EC). The following year, in 1977, the Portuguese government applied to join the Portuguese Economic Community (EEC).

In the 1980s, Portugal promoted multiple transformations towards the consolidation of its democracy and the democratisation and modernisation of its economy, with a growing reopening of the country to the international community and its fora, international integration that culminated in 1985 with Portugal's accession to the EEC and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC).

In this new democratic reality, in a context of openness to the world and internationalisation of Portuguese society, cultural diplomacy, as a soft power, was a fundamental instrument for the definition and implementation of a strategy to update the image of a democratic and modernising Portugal, namely in Europe, of circulation of contemporary creation, of promotion of the national artistic heritage, but also of circulation of academics, thinkers and artists in a network of universities and international cultural institutions.

Thus, the renewed participation of Portugal in the Venice Biennale and of publishers and writers at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the international tours of the National Ballet Company and, later, of the National Theatre of São João, but also of the Gulbenkian Ballet and Orchestra, among other examples, contributed to an important rapprochement of international audiences with Portuguese culture and creators. At the same time, they promoted the international circulation of those same artists and creators.

The significant internal and external impact of the holding, in 1983, of the XVII European Art, Science and Culture Exhibition, organised by the Portuguese Government, in Lisbon, under the auspices of the Council of Europe, with the theme "The Portuguese Discoveries and Renaissance Europe", should be noted. Pursuing a concerted effort by Portugal to opening up to the world, and to Europe in particular, it would be followed, with remarkable success and international projection, in 1991, by the holding of Europalia - Biennial of Arts and Culture, in Brussels which, in its XI edition, had Portugal as its theme country.

The desire to be European, the (in)voluntary return home and to Europe, together with a semi-peripheral condition and the specific circumstances of the country's economic and social development, coexisted with a desire to open up to the world, to others and to the culture of others, starting a gradual process of dissemination and export of Portuguese culture, of its contemporary creation, which Portuguese cultural diplomacy naturally accompanied.

References

ARNDT, Richard T. The first resort of kings. American cultural diplomacy in the Twentieth century. Potomac Books, 2006.

BENNETT, Oliver (ed.). Cultural diplomacy and international cultural relations. Volume 1. Routledge, 2019.

CARBÓ-CATALAN, Elisabet e Diana ROIG-SANZ (eds.). Culture as soft power. Bridging cultural relations, intellectual cooperation, and cultural diplomacy. De Gruyter, 2022.

DANTAS, Vera. A dimensão cultural do projecto europeu. Da Europa das culturas aos pilares de uma política cultural europeia. Lisbon: MNE, 2007.

FINK, Carol K. Cold War. An international history. 3^rd edition. Routledge, 2022 [2014].

MIKKONEN, Simo, e Pekka SUUTARI (eds.). Music, art and diplomacy. East-West cultural interactions and the Cold War. Routledge, 2016.

PEREIRA, Bernardo Futscher. Orgulhosamente sós. A diplomacia em guerra (1962-1974). Lisbon: Dom Quixote, 2022.

ROLLO, Maria Fernanda, Maria Inês QUEIROZ, Tiago BRANDÃO, e Ângela SALGUEIRO. Ciência, cultura e língua em Portugal no século XX. Lisbon: Instituto Camões e INCM, 2012.

VARGAS, Carlos. Governação da cultura. Famalicão: Edições Húmus, 2022.

WESTAD, Odd Arne. The Cold War. A world history. London: Allen Lane, 2017.

 

Westernizing the national in southeast Europe: Cultural diplomacy in early Cold War Greece

Areti Adamopoulou (University of Ioannina) (CV).

There was a time that Greece was a fashion trend in Western Europe. From the mid-1950s to about the mid-1960s the country became a favorite tourist destination, its cultural heritage was at the center of attention of many European cultural institutes, its contemporary culture traveled its borders for the first time and “neohellenic” studies were fostered in prestigious universities worldwide. Τo mention but a few examples, Giorgos Seferis (1900‒1971) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963; Manos Hadjidakis won an Oscar Award in 1960 for the music of the film Never on Sunday; and the film Zorba the Greek (1965), based on the novel The Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas by Nikos Kazantzakis and directed by Michael Cacoyannis (1922‒2011) won three Oscars Awards; a true translation explosion of Cavafy’s poems took place after 1951. Every celebrity of the 1950s and 1960s aspired to be photographed on the Athenian Acropolis. In the voluminous photographic material that survives one sees all the jet-setters of the time ‒Rita Hayworth (1951), Elizabeth Taylor (1950s), Sophia Loren (1954), Dizzy Gillespie (1956), Marlon Brando with the director Jules Dassin (1958), Jacky Kennedy (1961), Grace Kelly (1961) among many others‒ proudly posing in front of the ancient ruins. Greece figured in glossy magazines and newspapers as a safe country, with happy, hospitable people, situated in southeastern Europe, rich in picturesque landscapes, lovely weather, and famous cultural heritage. How was this new image of Greece constructed? What part of its contemporary culture and which aspects of its cultural heritage seemed so appealing? And, what connection did they have to reality?

Seen from a different point of view, the 1950s and 1960s was the period during which, by and large, the country was westernized: contemporary pop culture affected young and old alike, society and economy were modernized and, for the first time in its history as an independent state, Greece was interacting intensively with its allies (no longer “protecting powers”).  In those years, Athens emerged as the capital of a Western state, developing in Cold War conditions, geopolitically important due to its proximity to the Middle East and its abutting on the Eastern Block. Diplomats and politicians advanced their agendas in summit meetings and evaluated intelligence procured by spies, foreign agents were active in many levels, while society began to taste the consumerist euphoria of the West. Greece was distancing herself from Central and Eastern Europe, with which it had close ties until the Interwar period, and which now belonged to the communist East and followed new cultural practices which were taking shape at that time in Western Europe and the USA. New stereotypical images of the country were constructed and were diffused through tourist advertising and the new consumer culture.

In these new circumstances, which state policies addressed the international cultural field and to what degree did they affect the local art scene? How did Greek artists and art critics approach (or avoided) the new East and new West? How did they understand Greece’s new position in international politics? Which past was revisited and how was it approached?

The reconstruction of national identities was a priority in the post-war world. Every European nation-state revisited its cultural identity and promoted the elements of its cultural heritage and history that were considered suitable in the new circumstances. As for the recent events, memory and oblivion became key factors in this process. In Greece, the fierce Civil War (1946-1949) that followed World War II is considered by many scholars as the first episode of the Cold War. The Civil War traumatized Greek society, its marks being still visible until today in politics and public rhetoric. The negotiation of a post-war identity was harder in Greece than in European states that belonged to either the Eastern or the Western block and started belatedly. Greece had to be westernized quickly and totally. How was the new western identity negotiated in the country?

The Marshall Plan and the American interventions in reconstructing the country’s infrastructures and economy marked the frame in which the country should develop. But “soft diplomacy” was also employed in the cultural field, not only by the USA but by European states as well. The Cultural Cold War was an important field of confrontation and Greece did not escape the renegotiation of power within it. Athens hosted travelling art exhibitions, concerts, ballet and theatre performances, and so on, all events that aimed at acquainting the public with the cultural production beyond the country’s borders. Easier access to higher education and foreign language learning were at the epicenter of orienting people to the West. And, above all, pop culture in the 1960s affected all social strata in the country.

Under these circumstances, the fear that the rapid modernization and westernization would exterminate every Greek element in culture, was common to all, politicians and men/women of letters, regardless of their political creeds. Becoming “perfect Europeans and brilliant Greeks” was the aim set by Marinos Kalligas, Director of the National Gallery at Athens in his article “We and the Foreigners”, published in the newspaper To Vima (3.11.1951) and this was the aim of many a state efforts and of conservative Greek circles during the period. What did it mean to be “Greek” and (Western) “European” in early Cold War Greece?

State efforts to promote national culture were significant after 1949 and intensified during the 1960s. Athens acquired a new international arts festival firmly connected, both in space and content, with Classical culture. The tourist industry began to develop, showcasing the most famous archaeological sites (the Athenian Agora, Delphi, Mycenae, Olympia, Knossos). Art exhibitions organized by state institutions were addressing an international audience. In short, a new image of Greek culture developed and was disseminated.

 In this paper, I discuss the early Cold War practices of international diplomacy, and I examine their effect on the process of modernization and westernization in Greece as well as the efforts of the Greek state to promote its political and cultural interests internationally.

 

Cold War and Educational Exchanges: The Fulbright Program in Portugal

Luis Nuno Rodrigues (ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon) (CV).

This presentation is based on the premise that cultural policies and cultural relations between states are fundamental to the study of international relations. It argues for a broader analysis of international history that goes beyond the traditional focus on political and diplomatic dimensions, encompassing what is commonly known as 'cultural diplomacy.' During the Cold War, a period characterized by intense political rivalries, ideological divisions, and geopolitical tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, cultural and educational exchanges emerged as powerful tools of diplomacy and mutual understanding. Some scholars even consider the Cold War as the 'golden age' of cultural diplomacy.

One program that played a significant role in fostering academic collaboration and cultural exchange during this era was the Fulbright Program. Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program became one of the most successful educational exchange initiatives of the Cold War period. Its primary objective was to promote mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries. Through the provision of scholarships and opportunities for study and research, the program aimed to facilitate intellectual exchange and cross-cultural engagement, fostering connections and knowledge-sharing among individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Exploring the history of international relations between Portugal and the United States during the early years of the Cold War reveals a gradual integration of Portugal within the US sphere of influence in Western Europe. This integration was evident in political and military aspects, with bilateral agreements, Portugal's participation in the Marshall Plan, and its invitation to join NATO as a founding member in 1949. However, it is pertinent to question whether this political and economic integration had a corresponding impact on the cultural level. The Portuguese regime, under the leadership of Oliveira Salazar since 1932, and a predominantly rural, conservative, and Catholic society, perceived the United States, as George Kennan once wrote, as representing the 'immorality' of Hollywood and the 'materialism' of Wall Street, hindering American cultural hegemony from taking hold in Portugal during the early years of the Cold War.

Against this political backdrop, this paper delves into the educational exchanges between Portugal and the United States in the early Cold War years, drawing insights from original sources found in Portuguese archives. It examines the evolution of these exchanges, starting from the initial hesitant contacts in the late 1940s, through various stages of development, culminating in the signing of a Fulbright agreement and the establishment of the Portuguese-American Cultural Commission in 1960. By analyzing the significance of these educational exchanges, the presentation seeks to shed light on their broader implications for the history of US-Portugal relations during the Cold War period and, at the same time,  to share valuable insights into the power of cultural interactions and its impact on international relations.

 

Medicine in early Franco’s international diplomacy

Josep L. Barona (Instituto Interuniversitario López Piñero, Universitat de València; Departament d'Història de la Ciència i Documentació, Universitat de València) (CV).

 

The Spanish Civil War and the later Franco’s regime took place under a context of great international tension. Both events represent a turning point for Spanish foreign policy and specifically for that in relation to science, medicine and technology. In previous years, the international diplomacy of the Second Republic was used as a powerful instrument in the hands of a liberal-regenerationist movement. Scientific policies consisted of creating international networks of young researchers, who received government funds and fellowships to visit European and North American laboratories, a strategy driven mainly by the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas (JAE) [Board for the Extension of Scientific Studies and Research] since 1907 thanks to the tenacity of its secretary, José Castillejo, among others. There were also international agreements on science, education and public health during the years of Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship (1923-1930), which promoted a series of scientific initiatives, which achieved financial support and technical guidance by the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), since 1924. Medical diplomacy got also expanded with the participation of Spanish leaders (mainly Gustavo Pittaluga and Marcelino Pascua) in the League of Nations Health Organization. In this context, at the beginning of the 1930s, the initiatives of the Second Spanish Republic aimed at seeking international advice and transnational agreements regarding rural health and health organization, the fight against malaria and other infections, and the development of immunological research, especially focused on production of vaccines.

Spanish cultural diplomacy also played an important role in Latin America from the 1920s, not only in the field of art and the humanities, but also through scientific forums and athenaeums, lectures and conferences. The same can be said of the internationalization policies promoted by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diputaciones Provinciales and international congresses on hygiene and demography, charity, tuberculosis or venereal diseases. Spain actively participated in most of these forums, which inspired health policies.

In brief, between 1907 and 1939 the progressist and liberal groups of the Spanish society managed the genesis of a scientific community, which gave rise to the creation of institutions such as the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias, the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, the Instituto Cajal, the Misión de Biología Marina (Marín, Galicia), as well as a series of small laboratories and research institutes at the JAE, Residencia de Estudiantes as well as societies and laboratories linked to the Institut d'Estudis Catalans.

All this institutional development fostered international networks and science diplomacy. During barely three decades, a total of 446 young scientists and doctors obtained pensions from the JAE, mainly for stays in prominent research centers and research groups. According to archival records, 230 were medical doctors, 13 mathematicians, 7 pharmacists, 36 engineers, 72 physicists and chemists, and 78 biologists and naturalists.

The civil war interrupted this extensive network of international relations around medicine, scientific research, technologies and public health. The country scientific and medical elites committed with this process of internationalization was republican and, consequently, the main actors playing meaningful roles were repressed by the Franco regime or went into exile. Others saw their lives cut short, submerged in an internal exile much more difficult to measure, which affected people who were imprisoned, removed from service or banished.

Subsequently, the early period of Franco regime (1939-1950) was subjected to international isolation and autarky, not only during the years of World War II, but also in the following years, after the defeat of its Nazi and fascist allies, closely observed by the victorious allies of World War II. First under a Falangist leadership and later under National-Catholicism, the Franco regime tried to recover step by step the old international alliances in the field of health sciences.

The main protagonist of international diplomacy around public health and medicine during the first period of Franco’s regime was the military doctor José Alberto Palanca, who had been a RF fellow in Baltimore during the 1920s -when he already was a middle age military doctor-, and an active participant in public health programs promoted by the RF. The vacuum left by the defeat of the republican health elite placed Palanca in a leadership position to recover communication with international organizations. The dissolution of the League of Nations opened a stage in the construction of the new international order, from which the Spanish dictatorship was initially excluded. As a matter of fact, Spain did not join the World Health Organization until 1952. Palanca held the General Directorate of Health of the nationalist government in Burgos during the war and exercised the position until 1957, being the architect of Franco's battered health diplomacy during those years. Undoubtedly, joining the WHO was an essential goal to integrate Spain into international networks.

The other international benchmark for Francoist health diplomacy was the Rockefeller Foundation. Palanca was considered by the RF as an influential person and with the prospect of becoming general director of health already during the years of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, being considered by the RF leaders as the probable successor of Francisco Murillo. Palanca enjoyed a scholarship at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1926-1927. In the final stage of the war, he recovered diplomatic relations with the RF in the name of the Franco government; he wrote a report on the health situation in Spain at the end of the war and he enjoyed a scholarship from the North American philanthropic entity in 1940 to visit the nursing schools in Budapest and Zagreb. Thus, he became the spokesperson for the Spanish health authorities in front of the World Health Organization and the Rockefeller Foundation. The RF funded the smallpox vaccine laboratory at the Instituto Nacional de Higiene (Madrid) led by Eduardo Gallardo, a researcher who remained in his laboratory after the Spanish war receiving support from the Rockefeller Institute. Gallardo was a former RF fellow at Johns Hopkins (1933-1934).

Under the mediation of José Alberto Palanca, relations with Rockefeller were resumed and contacts with the World Health Organization started, in a period characterized by the international isolation of the Franco regime.