Iker Itoiz Ciaurriz

Thesis title: The Political Commitment of Eric Hobsbawm: the passion for communist politics in a transformed world (1978-2012)

Biography

Background

Early-career historian with a strong interdisciplinary background in European Studies, Political Science and cultural analysis, as well as advanced English, French, Italian and Spanish language ability. I am historian of postwar Europe whose expertise lies in the history of European Left, political and intellectual history and political emotions. 

I graduated in History and Political Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid and UNED in 2014 and 2015. Currently  I obtained my PhD in history at the University of Edinburgh in the area of modern and contemporary history

Qualifications

2014-2015: Msc in Contemporary History, Complutense University of Madrid. Specialization in Cultural Studies and Political Cultures with the following research: "The representations of Homosexuality: the mass media in Spain (2004-2011)" ​

2011-2015: BA (Hons) in  Political Scientist, UNED. Specialization in the history of Fascism and Antifascism in Europe and Spain (1919-1939) with the following research: "The Popular Front and the European Antifascism"

2010-2014: BA (Hons) in History, Complutense University of Madrid. Specialization in Political Violence and Terrorism in the 20th century with the following research: "ETA and the Francoism. The origins of the politcal violence in the Basque Country"

Undergraduate teaching

2017/2018 - Introduction to Historiography, Tutor

It introduces students in the second year to some of the important frameworks through which academic historians approach (and have approached) the past. 

2018/2019 and 2019/2020 – Making of the Modern World, Tutor

It contextualises modern history by providing a framework in which major historical processes can be understood. It moves away from a Eurocentric position towards a more global history that takes in different approaches and regions.

2019/2020 – Themes in Modern European History, Tutor

This course offers a wide-ranging survey of European History from the late eighteenth century to the present. 

2020/2021 Introduction to British Politics , Tutor

It is a broad introduction to the government and politics of the United Kingdom. Going beyond the usual textbook explanations, it considers whether there is any future for a UK faced with the prospect of Scottish succession, the complexities of Brexit, and the economic pressures of globalization and inequality. 

2020/2021 Language Specific 2 – Spanish: Politics and Society - Guest Lecturer, University of Groningen

2021/2022 Introduction to Spanish Politics and Society’ - Guest Lecturer, University of Groningen

Research summary

My research interests lie broadly in twentieth-century European history. with a particular focus in political, emotional and intellecutal history.

I am a historian of twentieth century British and European politics and culture. My research interests lie broadly in the political and intellectual history of political movements, political theory and historical memory. It examines the transformation and decline of European communism from the perspective of intellectual engagement. It explores different political interventions and expressions of political commitment, not only concerning Eric Hobsbawm himself, my main case study, but also in relation to other left-wing intellectuals in Europe (France, Italy and Eastern Europe). It uses a wide range of sources – including academic books, articles, and Hobsbawm’s private papers – and draws on scholarship on emotions, intellectual history, and comparative and biographical history.

My research has been published in journals such as Fascism. Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies where I summarised my findings in Hobsbawm’s political interventions in British politics and online Open Access journals like Age of Revolution where I reflected on the interrelation between nationalism and revolution in Eric Hobsbawm’s political thought. Also, I have also published in online newspapers such as Jacobin, Brave New Europe and ElDiario on historical memory, nationalism and current politics. 

Past research interests

Prior to my PhD, I researched LGTBQ+ activists during the socialist government of José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (2004-2011) in Spain. In my bachelor, I specialised in the history of political violence and European antifascism.

Knowledge exchange

I was the co-founder of the touristic association “La Otra Historia de Madrid” (The Other History of Madrid) in 2014 which aimed to foster the history of marginalised in Madrid. https://www.facebook.com/laotrahistoriademadrid/

Affiliated research centres

Book Chapters:

▪ 'The wheel that Never Ceases: Reinventions of the Spanish Second Republic for a New National Right (2004-2017)' in Far-Right Revisionism and the End of History: Alt/histories by Louie Dean Valencia-García (Ed.) (New York: Routledge, 2020), 105-119

▪ 'Playing with the Unspeakable: Holocaust and Videogames' in Holocaust 2020 (New York: Routledge, 2022) (Forthcoming) 

Articles:

▪ 'Looking for a dream, surviving nightmare times: Eric Hobsbawm, Marxism Today and the resignification of antifascism during Thatcher´s time' in Fascism. Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies, 2020, vol. 9 (1-2), 146-166

Shorter publications (journal articles, essays, editorials, blog posts, interviews)

▪ ‘Revisinismo y Memoria’ in ElDiario.es, 19-11-2021 (https://www.eldiario.es/opinion/tribuna-abierta/revisionismo-memoria_129_8506772.html)

▪‘Spain's Indignados Movement: the first twenty-first century utopia' in Brave new Europe,15-5- 2021 (https://braveneweurope.com/iker-itoiz-ciaurriz-spains-indignados-movement- the-firsttwenty-first-century-utopia)

▪ ‘Hobsbawm on nationalism and revolution' in Age of Revolution, 21-9-2020 (https://ageofrevolutions.com/2020/09 /21/hobsbawm-on-nationalism-and-revolution/)

▪ 'The Spanish Right Wants to Create Another Venezuela' in Jacobin, 7-6-2020 (https://jacobinmag.com/2020/06 /spanish-right-vox-pp-venezuela-unidas-podemospsoe-coalition)

▪ Teach-out on indigenous movements and revolutionary politics in Latin America, 9 March 2020 (http://research.shca.ed.ac.uk/csmch/2020/03/09/teach-out-indigenousmovements-revolutionary-politics-latinamerica/)

▪ CSMCH Discussion Group on Spanish history and politics, 1st November 2019 (http://research.shca.ed.ac.uk/csmch /2019/11/01/csmch-discussion-group-on-spanishhistory-and-politics/)

▪ Olivier Estèves on the desegregation of English schools, 8th April 2019 (http://research.shca.ed.ac.uk/csmch/2019/04 /08/olivier-esteves-desegregation-englishschools/)

▪ Ben Smith on the US-Mexico borderlands and the ‘war on drugs', 8th March 2019 (http://research.shca.ed.ac.uk/csmch/2019/03/08/ben-smith-on-the-us-mexicoborderlands-and-thewar-on-drugs/)

▪ CSMCH Discussion Group screens Goodbye Lenin, 10th April 2018 (http://research.shca.ed.ac.uk/csmch/2018/04 /10/discussion-group-screens-goodbye-lenin/

Book Reviews:

▪ Guy Ortolano, ‘Thatcher's Progress. From Social Democracy to Market Liberalism through an English Town' in Journal of Contemporary History, 2020-10, vol. 55 (4), 940-941

▪Thomas Carothers and Andrew O'Donohue (eds.), ‘Democracies Divided. The Global Challenge of Political Polarization' in Nation and Nationalism, October 2020. Vol. 26 (4), 1129-1130

▪ Air Ofengenden, ‘Liberalization and culture in contemporary Israel' in Nations and Nationalism, April 2020, vol. 26 (2), 494-495

▪ Pedro Ibarra Güel and Ashild Kolas "Basque Nationhood: Towards a Democratic Scenario" in Nation and Nationalism, October 2018, vol. 24 (4), 1218-1219

▪ José Carlos Rueda Laffond, Elena Galán Fajardo and Ángel Luis Rubio Moraga "The Mass Media History" in Revista Iberoamericana, vol. 15, n. 58 (2015), 247-248

 

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