The Institute of Heritage and Humanities (IPH) at the University of Zaragoza, in collaboration with the Vice-Rectorate of Culture and Heritage, is set to inaugurate a new phase of its outreach cycle 'La tribuna de la cultura' on Thursday, 12 November, at 19:00 in the Aula Magna of the Paraninfo Building.
This edition will feature lectures by researchers from the Institute, interspersed with discussion panels addressing various socially relevant topics linked to current affairs. The opening lecture will be delivered by Professor Julián Casanova Ruiz, a specialist in Contemporary History, titled "The Spanish Civil War, ninety years later."
The anniversary of the conflict will provide the historian with an opportunity to evaluate the events that transpired nine decades ago on Spanish soil. Casanova aims to highlight that "within that war, there were several different conflicts: a military conflict, a class war, a religious war, a war around the idea of homeland and nation, and a war of ideas that were in contention on the international stage."
“In the Spanish Civil War, universal battles crystallised between owners and workers, Church and State, between obscurantism and modernisation, resolved in an international context unbalanced by the crisis of democracies and the rise of communism and fascism,” Casanova stated.
Julián Casanova is a researcher at the IPH of the University of Zaragoza and a professor of Contemporary History, recognised as one of Spain's leading historians of the 20th century. He has received international acclaim for his studies on the Spanish Civil War and has been a visiting professor at prestigious universities in the UK, the US, and Latin America, including Queen Mary College (London), Harvard, Notre Dame, New School for Social Research (USA), and Central European University (Budapest and Vienna).
In April 2021, the Government of Aragon awarded him the Prize for Aragonese Letters. His recent publications include: Una violencia indómita. El siglo XX europeo (Crítica, 2020), Franco (Crítica, 2025), and España partida en dos (Crítica, 2026).
Taking current issues related to Culture and Cultural Heritage as a starting point, IPH researchers aim to communicate cutting-edge research in the field of Human and Social Sciences through outreach sessions that resonate with the general public's concerns. The topics addressed are as varied as the disciplines that the Institute and the Vice-Rectorate engage with daily, including Art, Heritage, History, Archaeology, Law, Economics, Philosophy, Aesthetics, Architecture, Literature, Linguistics, and Communication.
The sessions, lasting one hour and free to attend, will include a subsequent debate with participation from all attendees. Through this initiative, the IPH and the Vice-Rectorate of Culture and Heritage are joining forces to bring culture and the latest research in Human and Social Sciences closer to the public.
