Call for Papers

XL International Conference on the Historical Links between Spain and the Americas
THE TRANSATLANTIC ’27: SPAIN, NEW YORK, AND THE AMERICAS, 1927–2027
New York, April 21, 22, and 23, 2027

Individual Proposal | An abstract of approximately 250–300 words and a brief biographical note.
Panel Proposal | Panel title and general description, together with abstracts and biographical notes for all participants.

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The year 2027 marks the centenary of a defining moment in contemporary Spanish culture: the consolidation of the Generation of ’27. This anniversary provides an opportunity to reconsider the work and legacies of its principal figures and to examine the Generation of ’27 from broader transatlantic, American, and international perspectives.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first flight between New York and Paris, covering more than 3,600 miles. That same year also witnessed the first transatlantic telephone call between Walter S. Gifford, president of AT&T, and Sir Evelyn P. Murray, director of the British General Post Office. In other words, 1927 should be regarded as a particularly transatlantic year for both Spain and New York; its relevance merits reassessment from a broad and multilayered perspective a century later.

The 12^th edition of the International Conference on Historical Links between Spain and the Americas, to be held at The City College of New York and the Instituto Cervantes of New York, invites researchers from various disciplines to reflect on the numerous connections that, over the past century, have linked the Generation of ’27 and the Spanish culture of its era with the United States and the Americas as a whole. 

New York holds a unique position within this cultural geography. Federico García Lorca’s experience in New York, depicted in Poet in New York (Poeta en Nueva York), is emblematic. However, it is not the only one. Travels, exile, academic institutions, journals, translations, correspondence, and intellectual and artistic networks established the Americas as a fundamental space for the circulation, transformation, and reception of the Generation of ’27.

The Spanish Civil War and the subsequent exile made a mark in these new connections. Universities and cultural centers in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Argentina, and other countries in the Americas became safe spaces for the work of numerous Spanish intellectuals. Simultaneously, American writers and artists participated in networks that crossed national borders and challenged an exclusively Iberian interpretation of the culture of ’27.

This year, the co-organizing institutions (Instituto Franklin de la Universidad de Alcalá, the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies of the City College of New York, and the Instituto Cervantes of New York) propose to approach 1927–2027 as a century of exchanges, exploring not only the significance of the Generation of ’27 for Spain, but also the impact of the Americas on ’27 and the legacy of these transatlantic encounters.

We invite proposals addressing topics including, but not limited to:

• The Generation of ’27 and the United States.
• Federico García Lorca, and New York.
• Poet in New York: the city, modernity, capitalism, race, and urban experience.
• Travels and American experiences of the writers and artists of ’27.
• ’27 and Latin America.
• Spanish Republican exile in the Americas.
• U.S. universities and the reception of Spanish intellectuals.
• Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, and North American academic networks.
• Luis Cernuda and his experience in the United States.
• María Zambrano, Rosa Chacel, Concha Méndez, and women associated with ’27.
• Journals, publishers, and transatlantic intellectual networks.
• Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Argentina, and other American contexts.
• ’27 and European and American avant-garde movements.
• Music, painting, film, photography, and visual arts in relation to ’27.
• Salvador Dalí, Luis Buñuel, and the international dimensions of the Spanish avant-garde.
• Translation, circulation, and reception of ’27 in the United States.
• American Hispanism and the critical construction of the ’27 canon.
• Civil War, memory, displacement, and exile.
• Relationships between Spanish writers and figures such as Borges, Neruda, Huidobro, Victoria Ocampo, and other American intellectuals.
• Harlem, race, and otherness in Lorca’s New York experience.
• Urban modernity: Madrid, New York, and the major cities of the Americas.
• The legacy of ’27 in contemporary literature and culture.
• New digital, comparative, postcolonial, and transatlantic approaches to ’27.
• 1927–2027: memory, canon, and the continuing relevance of the Generation of ’27 one hundred years later.

The conference will also consider proposals that, while not focusing exclusively on the Generation of ’27, examine the historical, cultural, political, intellectual, artistic, and social relations between Spain, the United States, and the Americas. This approach continues the interdisciplinary mission that has characterized Historical Links since its inception.

Individual proposals and complete panels from disciplines including history, literature, cultural studies, transatlantic studies, art history, film, music, philosophy, political science, sociology, and related fields are also welcome.

Individual Proposal | Panel Proposal