Carter Barnwell
Research  |  2020-21

Spain

Fulbright US Student Research Award recipient

Research Project Title: "War of Position: The Battle for the Spanish Public Sphere, 1931-1940"

Carter Barnwell is a PhD candidate at the University of New Mexico, specializing in Modern European History and twentieth century Spain.  his research interests center on European political culture during the Interwar era, and he has been researching anti-fascist discourse as a unifying signifier for disparate political groups in the 1930s. Carter employs cultural and spatial theory to explore spaces and places of visual, verbal, and physical contestation during the Second Spanish Republic and Civil War.  

"I had the great honor of traveling to Spain in the fall of 2021 on a Fulbright Research Award, where I was privileged to visit archives in Madrid, Salamanca, Valencia, Barcelona, and Alcalá de Henares. In Madrid, I was capably advised by Dr. Nigel Townson at Universidad Complutense, whose suggestions took my research in fruitful and sometimes unexpected directions. I was also fortunate to meet other international researchers in Spanish archives, which has presented new opportunities for scholarship and collaboration in the last year. Along the way I developed friendships with wonderful Fulbright colleagues with whom I keep in touch, and the entire experience was quite fulfilling from a personal and professional standpoint. 

But the Fulbright experience is 'Mas que una beca,' as the Spanish say: 'More than just a grant.' Upon arrival in Spain, Fulbright España director Alberto López San Miguel urged my cohort to "travel often, and really get to know the country...and then become life-long ambassadors for Spain!" I took this advice to heart, visiting all fifteen of Spain's mainland autonomous regions during my travels across Iberia. I saw two-thousand-year-old Roman bridges in Salamanca, Segovia, and Córdoba; traveled parts of the Camino del Santiago in Galicia and La Rioja; gave a wide berth to the ever-dangerous windmills of Cervantes' La Mancha; and marveled at the wondrous Pillars of Hercules in the Strait of Gibraltar. These experiences will stay with me forever, and I am grateful to the Fulbright Foundation for the opportunity. Mas que una beca, de hecho!"