Places making: participatory construction of scientifi c culture cities

In the framework of the European project Platform of Local Authorities and Communicators Engaged in Science (PLACES), we analyse the articulations between scientifi c communication, public perception of science, processes of citizen participation and apropiation of space, based on a case study of the inhabitants of Teruel city, Autonomous Community of Aragon, Spain. On the interrelationships between these issues, there are a number of contradictions, such as the difference between a high interest for information about science and technology and a low level of recognition and interaction with local institutions involved in those activities, the complex conceptualization of scientifi c space in relation to the “public-private” pair, or an articulation of a claiming civic rethoric and an insuffi cient co-responsibility. We conclude that, in a local context, the dimension of territoriality and, in particular, the identifi cation with the town, is a central mediation for activating citizen participation as part of processes of appropriation of space for setting up cities of scientifi c culture.

Crossing borders: Space and identity in the essay by Angelina Muñiz

In this study, we establish a relation between the representation of space in Muñiz’s essays and the construction of the essayist’s complex identity which combines Spanish, Jewish and Mexican traits. We concentrate on Angelina Muñiz’s essays Las raíces y las ramas (1993) and El canto del peregrino (1999). Methodologically, we rely on Maingueneau’s concept of ‘scenography’, according to which the text stages its own situation of enunciation. Our starting point is the triple Spanish-Jewish-Mexican identity of the essayist. Our research question is about how the essayist deals with the space corresponding to respectively the Spanish and Mexican part of her identity. Secondly, we analyse the representation in the essays of a space corresponding to her Jewish roots. We find that Muñiz’s vision of space is not static; the essayist’s vision on space is dynamic, open, free and characterized by a constant free movement across national borders. Similar to the concept of space of the ‘diaspora’, her vision is constructed without the limitations imposed by national borderlines or geographical distances.

La perpetua reinvención de la identidad de los géneros en el baile flamenco

In the case of this study about flamenco dance, it is spotlighted how the matter of genders is a recurrent topic and a challenge in terms of creativity. Flamenco is in a perpetual search of a balance between tradition and contemporarily. Circumstance in which it was born, make this search and this constant mutation as part of its essence. When in a performance the representation of man and woman parts are modified according to the “traditional idea”, it brings up existential questions. Flamenco dance, like all the other contemporary forms of dance, reflects its context, contributes to its innovation and interacts with it. It is a social act.

Rethinking the identity artist-researcher, from the project “Dialogues with women art teachers”

The questioning of identity and the various roles that artists have begun to explore, from the last century, are fundamental aspects in this article. Today it is difficult to speak of the artist as individual isolated innate talent working in his studio, but the various social, political and cultural effects, have moved the artists to become part of the social world and to generate artistic practices that visualize and manifest critically these concerns. To explain these transits deeper, we will share part of the personal artistic practice and reflections, and how it has begun to intertwine with the doctoral research, through the art project “Dialogues with women art teachers”. From the experience as an artist and researcher in training, we will share what this project of artistic inquiry is about and reflect their points with the notion of `artistic practice as research´ developed by Graeme Sullivan (2010, 2011). On the other hand, we will seek to reflect how the identities of `artist´ and `academic´ are in constant dialogue. This art project seeks to show that these identities are not in a fixed position, but rather reflect, from the place of an artist, how through the various shifts in different disciplines, can conceive an identity ‘in-between’. The latter refers to the ability to understand the processes of being a woman, artist and researcher who travels and forms its identity among both disciplines.