"CULTURE "
Some
twenty university teachers met together in this small country house and
resolved to form an Association designed to provide a forum for the regular
interchange of
ideas and
information among British
Hispanists. The Association
grew rapidly, was instrumental in organising the foundation
of the Asociación
Internacional de Hispanistas, established in 1962 at a
meeting
in Christ Church, Oxford, and provided an early model for the establishment
of the Asociación Hispánica
de Literatura Medieval, set up in Barcelona in
1985. Present membership has grown to around
three hundred Hispanists,
of whom the great majority are practising
British and Irish university teachers.
The Association aims to promote scholarly research
in Great Britain and
Ireland into the study of the languages
and cultures of the Iberian Peninsula
(in particular Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan
and Galician), and also of those
countries to which these languages and
cultures have spread. We take an
active part in continuing dialogue on these
activities with the British and other
Governments, and appropriate agencies such
as HEFCE, and aim to
promote the widest possible awareness of
their cultural, educational and
vocational importance. We co-operate with
other organizations, such as the
Spanish Embassy, the Instituto Cervantes,
Canning House and the Asociación
Internacional de Hispanistas, in the achievement
of common objectives, and
provide a forum for the discussion and elaboration
of these aims by members.
This includes an annual academic conference
most commonly held in the
Easter vacation at a British University
(although expeditions have recently
been made to Huelva and Braga, and a Spanish
venue is planned to celebrate
the Association’s fiftieth birthday
in 2005).
