The Art of Change Movement: an anti-oppressive Social Work initiative

This article presents the Art of Change Movement (Movimiento Arte del Cambio), which has developed out of a project of the Association of Social Workers Without Boundaries (Asociación Trabajadores/as Sociales Sin Fronteras), with the collaboration of the Faculty of Social Work at Universidad de Granada and of education professionals, incorporating theatrical creativity and musical expression as pedagogical and social intervention tools. The aim is for the initiative to become another instrument in the fight against oppression. Through a laboratory for collective creativity involving students and professionals from social work and other social science disciplines, the movement seeks social transformation through artistic expression, based on political commitment and sustainable development that empowers participants.

From Pro-Franco to Anti-Government. The Evolution of the "Sur" regarding National Politics during the Spanish Transition (1975-1978)

The Spanish transition, the political process through which Spain ceased to be a dictatorship to become a democracy, was accompanied by the dissolution of the National Movement, the institutional support for the chain of the Movement Press from its beginnings, in April 1977. This fact, among others, contributed to the /Sur/, the regional reference newspaper for the chain in Andalusia, evolving both structurally and ideologically to adapt itself to the new political regime. This study applies content analysis to editorials, articles and columns published by the newspaper between 1975 and 1978, exploring the process through which the regional newspaper edited in Málaga abandoned its propaganda function with regard to the Government, considering it undemocratic, and supported the PSOE, presenting it as the best alternative to the UCD in the Spanish Executive, thus taking on its role as a political agent.

Spanish Sociology and Anti-Semitism Between passed prejudice and key to civilization

There is a significant lack of sociological research in Spain about anti-Semitism. At the same time there are alarming anti-Semitic tendencies and anti-Jewish stereotypes which are above the European average. This article aims to explain this lack of sociological research about anti-Semitism in Spain. Therefore two types of explications are offered: on the one hand side some structural problems will be shown which sociology in general had since its beginnings and which complicate the understanding of anti-Semitism. Furthermore explications regarding the specific social and historic situation in Spain and of Spanish sociology in particular will be exposed. It will be shown that for its rationalistic character and with the exception of very few authors – who are considered marginalized for practical research – sociology in general has had enormous problems in understanding anti-Semitism. The specific historic situation, Francoism, the dispute about the historic memory and the delayed institutionalisation of sociology could also explain the lack of sociological interest in the topic especially in Spain. The article shows that the study of anti-Semitism is not only relevant for struggling against this burden of society in many of its variants. Furthermore, thinking about anti-Semitism can help sociology to recognise its own epistemological problems. It can serve to criticise and improve instruments of sociological research by showing the limitations of the sociological approach and to uncover the importance of interdisciplinary research for understanding specific social phenomena. In that sense, anti-Semitism, far from being a marginal subject, can be considered a key topic in the process of civilisation and it can help us to decipher the contemporary Spanish society.