Introduction: cultural policies in Ibero-America at the beginning of the XXI century

ABSTRACT

This editorial introduction presents the aims and contents of a special issue devoted to cultural policies in Ibero-America. The issue provides a wide-ranging overview about the subject. In addition to papers focused on the development of cultural policy in specific countries, it also includes articles analyzing particular cultural policies in a transnational perspective, paying attention to their multiple programmatic transferences. It also includes articles centred on the development of cultural diplomacy and institutional networks within this area. In this way, it intends to highlight the commonalities among countries and the relations between them, so offering a new and deeper vision of the development of cultural policies in the Ibero American region. In this introduction we offer some theoretical keys for analyzing this development, in particular the notion of family of nations proposed by Castle (1993) and we evaluate its applicability to the case and beyond.     

Science in space vs space science: The European utilisation of spacelab∗

Abstract

Spacelab is the conventional name given to a manned laboratory to be carried onboard NASA's Space Shuttle, which was built in Europe under the aegis of the European Space Agency (ESA). This paper deals with the initiatives undertaken in Europe to establish a utilisation programme for Spacelab, in particular for its first flight, planned as a joint ESA/NASA demonstration mission. Two main factors will be discussed, which prevented ESA from establishing a sizeable Spacelab utilisation effort. Firstly, owing to the cost escalation of the Spacelab development programme and to NASA's charging policy for access to the Shuttle system, which did not foressee any preferential treatment to European users, most ESA member states were reluctant to commit funds in support of a long term experimental programme with the new space facility. Secondly, in a situation characterized by strict budgetary constraints, the established European space science community strongly opposed the inclusion of the new research fields opened up by Spacelab (e.g. life and material sciences in micro‐gravity condition) within the framework of ESA's scientific programme.     

The cultural paradiplomacy of Barcelona since the 1980s: understanding transformations in local cultural paradiplomacy

This article seeks to explain the conditions for the emergence and institutionalization of the cultural paradiplomacy of the city of Barcelona and its local effects. The recognition of the city as an active participant on the international stage is based on its evolution from an industrial to a service economy. Against this backdrop, Barcelona’s city council, in common with many other city authorities operating in the world’s metropolises during the 1980s, initiated its own cultural paradiplomacy as a strategy for attracting capital and promoting local development. This policy became established as part of a new multilevel system of governance. This article analyzes the causes of the institutionalization of this activity from an intergovernmental perspective. It concludes that in the context of economic globalization, the emergence of cities’ cultural paradiplomacy is strongly related to the restructuring of the State and its external administration and to the intensification of the ‘cultural branding’ of cities as a tool for global competition.     

Application of Non-Destructive Techniques in the Inspection of Wooden Structures of Protected Buildings: The Case of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores Church (Isla Cristina,Huelva)

This study describes a thorough inspection of a 20th century church in the town of Isla Cristina (in the province of Huelva, southwestern Spain), which is currently awaiting restoration. The study indicates the damage processes at work in the building structure materials (brick, concrete, steel, and wood), which are closely related to its geographical location, and analyses the deterioration of the wooden roof structure. The analysis of the wooden roof includes the results of an inspection methodology on a protected building based on traditional techniques such as visual inspection and innovative non-destructive inspection techniques (visual classification, ultrasounds and thermography). Fieldwork consisted of the visual classification of the wooden pieces according to Spanish standard UNE 56544:2007 specifications after which ultrasound and thermography techniques were applied on-site. A second stage involved laboratory tests (anatomic identification, density and bending strength) using wood samples extracted from the structure in order to check the values for the physical and mechanical properties previously recorded by non-destructive techniques (NDT). These non-destructive techniques are used in inspections of the wooden roofs of buildings to identify dampness, deterioration, density loss and defects as a means of assessing their conservation status. This work concludes that the use of ultrasound and thermography techniques constitute an accurate diagnostic tool for the on-site inspection of wooden structures and the evaluation of their condition. Thermography identifies different materials and moisture content while ultrasound detects the various degrees of deterioration and density-loss in areas of the wood with high moisture content.     

Of mice and sparrows: Commensal faunas from the Iberian iron age in the duero valley (central spain)

This paper aims to emphasize the importance of imported commensal faunas in archaeological contexts by reporting on the earliest known house sparrows and house mice from the Iberian peninsula. The finds, which date to the Iron Age of a hinterland area of the peninsula, have been identified on the basis of osteomorphological and osteometrical criteria, which are specified in the text in order to demonstrate the reliability of the identification. The temporal and geographical coincidence of these remains in the two sites analysed with those of donkey and, secondarily, chicken remains and faunal remains of littoral origin, lends support to the hypothesis that these animals arrived with the earliest trans-Mediterranean colonizers to the southern shores of the Iberian peninsula and spread involuntarily thereafter as ‘side-products’ of the Phoenician commercial routes throughout the Iberian hinterland.