Events on Humanities in 2019

The Spanish language and science, power management, reality and fiction in the novel; our submerged heritage; the Versailles Treaty; the Sephardic ballads by Máximo José Kahn; the Holocaust; the conquest of space; sustainable cities and the life of Chaim Weizmann, starred in the Humanities activities organized by the Fundación Ramón Areces in 2019.

Spain and Mexico share, with other Latin American countries, the common space of the language that is part of all cultural and knowledge structures. The meeting The Spanish language and science. Spanish-Mexican dialogues brought together specialists and intellectuals from Spain and Mexico in order to reflect and debate on the situation of research and knowledge in the contemporary cultural imaginary of both countries, and on the relationship between the scientific activity and the extra-Hispanic linguistic paradigms.

In 2019 the Foundation held three Meetings on Current Spanish Culture in collaboration with the Deliberar Foundation: “Power Management”, a dialogue between the former presidents of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Joaquín Leguina and Alberto Ruíz-Gallardón; “Education in Spain, an unsolvable problem?” a conversation between the philosopher José Antonio Marina and Ricardo Moreno, Professor at the Beatriz Galindo Institute and at the Complutense University of Madrid  and, finally, a debate between the writer Javier Cercas, and the essayist Jordi Gracia on “Reality and fiction: the life of the novelist”. Moderators: Enrique Baca and José Lázaro, president and director, respectively, of the Deliberar Foundation.

We held, in collaboration with the Royal Academy of History, the conference series Ships, Tombs and Treasures. Our submerged heritage. These series analyzed historical, legal, diplomatic, nautical and technical aspects of our submerged heritage in order to become aware that, even with respect to the remains located outside its jurisdictional waters, Spain may have internationally recognized rights and, in any case, must participate in a solution that does not threaten the rigor of a scientific excavation, and that safeguards the seriousness of the historical account, because it has solid reasons to participate, reasons that are supported by the scientific community and  the Spanish society.

In 2019, the Fundación Ramón Areces and the Ramón Menéndez Pidal Foundation published The Sephardic Ballads, by Máximo José Kahn. Jon Juaristi, Professor at the University of Alcalá de Henares spoke about Jews, Spaniards, and Spanish Jews; Mario Martín Gijón, Professor at the University of Extremadura, gave a talk titled: Máximo José Kahn, a writer with three exiles and J. Antonio Cid, President of the Ramón Menéndez Pidal Foundation, who spoke about Sephardic Ballads for the Sephardic people. The presentation included a Sephardic music concert by Alia Mvsica.

MARGARET MACMILLAN, Professor Emeritus of International History at the University of Oxford, spoke about the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and the fate of Europe. According to the lecturer, Europe has achieved, through the construction of the European Union, a long period of prosperity and success due to its common currency and defense, but at the moment it faces a period in which everything achieved is in danger. The lecture was part of the Series of Conferences of Excellence of the Fundación Ramón Areces commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Autonomous University of Madrid.

PETER HAYES, Professor Emeritus from the Northwestern University, has explored one of the most tragic events in the history of mankind, the Shoah (the Holocaust), addressing eight of the most common questions about this catastrophe: Why the Jews? Why the Germans? Why the annihilation, why so fast and total? Why more Jews did not reveal themselves? Why was there no help from abroad? What legacy? What implications? What lessons? Peter Hayes brought, with his 35 years of experience, a vision that allows to end prejudices and ill-founded opinions. Hayes answered these questions in his conference entitled The Holocaust: The reasons of evil, organized in collaboration with the Yad Vashem Association in Spain. The speaker was introduced by the association's president, Samuel Bengio.

The Foundation organized, in cooperation with the Spanish Geographical Association, a new Geographical Month that was entitled The conquest of Space: 50 years since the Moon landing. History and stories of exploration of the space. This series of lectures brought together experts to discuss about the achievements of space exploration, a few anecdotes about its conquest, the new challenges in the study of the solar system and the new projects to conquer these spaces for man to use them.

In the colloquium Trial and Error: the life of Chaim Chaim Weizmann,  Jehuda Reinharz, Chair of the International Board of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and José Manuel Sánchez Ron, member of the Royal Spanish Academy, discussed the figure of the first President of the State of Israel, and analyzed the trajectory of Weizmann and the footprint he left in his country and in the world. This round table was held in collaboration with the Sefarad-Israel Center and was chaired by Rubén Lerner.

The September's issue of the publication Revista de Occidente (No. 460), sponsored by the Fundación Ramón Areces, focused on Sustainable Cities, Smart Cities. Together with the José Ortega y Gasset-Gregorio Marañón Foundation, publisher of the publication, the Foundation organized a colloquium on the subject with Fernando R. Lafuente, editor-in-chief of the Revista de Occidente and Manuel Mostaza, political scientist.