Department of Modern Languages and Cultures

 

Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies

Image of Álvaro J Vidal Bouzon

Álvaro J Vidal Bouzon

Assistant Professor of Lusophone and Hispanic Studies, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

I have worked on the importance of language, language planning and language corpus for the constitution of modern national identities in the Iberian Peninsula, particularly in relation to Spanish Galiza (AKA Galicia), and have drawn as well on this background in sociolinguistics and glossopolitics but, specifically, on political history, political science, cultural studies, critical theory and philosophy to foreground my studies on the interfaces between writing (literary but not only), art, history and politics in contemporary Iberian societies. I am a member of one of the Academies of the Lusophone world, the Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa, where I sat in the International Relations Committee and have acted as a member of the Scientific and Editorial Boards of its journal, the Boletim da Academica Galega da Língua Portuguesa.

Expertise Summary

I have been involved for some time in a study of how different generations of authors have represented/dealt with key socio-political issues and events in the Republic of Portugal and the Kingdom of Spain after their differently originated but comparably articulated 20th-century post-dictatorship processes. I focus mainly on writing (including literature, non-fiction and song-writing) but pay attention also to other manifestations of (popular) culture (art, TV and film).

In close relation to this research interest, I am currently part of a British Academy/Leverhulme international research project on whether, in the global context provided by the current crisis of the Western democratic model, there would be any political lessons to be learned from a specific Hispanic tradition of articulating (and representing) communitarian, equitable and participatory societies, with specific attention to exploring the limits of liberalism.

Teaching Summary

At undergraduate level I teach modern and contemporary Lusophone and Hispanic literatures, contemporary politics and translation between English and Portuguese/Spanish. At Year 1 I contribute to a… read more

Research Summary

My jointly edited volume on Other '68s: Lineages and Legacies of May 68' was published in 2025, having originated as a result of the conference we organised in the Department of Modern Languages and… read more

Recent Publications

  • ADAM SHARMAN and ALVARO VIDAL BOUZON, eds., 2025. Other '68s: Lineages and Legacies of May '68 Peter Lang.
  • 2025. El yo tachado: El eclipse del padre, de Gabriel Albiac (newspaper in La Lectura, books & arts magazine of the newspaper El Mundo) 04/04/2025
  • VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J., 2025. (Long) Goodbyes to the Reality of the Mirror? Novelizing with(out) Subject and with(out) Ends in Gabriel Albiac's Mayo del 68. Una educación sentimental / Fin de fiesta. In: VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J.; SHARMAN, ADAM; SHINGLER, KATHERINE, ed., Other '68s: Lineages and Legacies of May '68 Peter Lang. 103-129
  • VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J., 2025. Introduction: (Other) Takes on a Strange Spring. In: VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J.; SHARMAN, ADAM; SHINGLER, KATHERINE, ed., Other '68s: Lineages and Legacies of May '68 1-16

At undergraduate level I teach modern and contemporary Lusophone and Hispanic literatures, contemporary politics and translation between English and Portuguese/Spanish. At Year 1 I contribute to a foundational module on Hispanic culture and imagination through the study of texts in their contexts. In Year 2 I teach on the history of anticolonial struggles in the transatlantic world, with particular attention to Portuguese-Speaking Africa and the Iberian Peninsula in the 20th century. I do a Final Year module on the ghosts of dictatorship (and of democracy) in post-Franco Spain, as reflected in contemporary (fiction and non-fiction) writing.

At postgraduate level I have supervised and am supervising MA and PhD projects on sociolinguistics, contemporary politics, literary theory and cultural studies in particular relation with the Hispanic or the Lusophone worlds.

Current Research

My jointly edited volume on Other '68s: Lineages and Legacies of May 68' was published in 2025, having originated as a result of the conference we organised in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the political events that took place in France and elsewhere. I contribute to this book with the Introduction to the volume ("(Other) Takes on a Rare Spring") and a chapter on Spanish author Gabriel Albiac's take on the significance of May ("(Long) Goodbyes to the Reality of the Mirror? Novelizing with(out) Subject and (with)out Ends in Gabriel Albiac's Mayo del 68. Una educación sentimental / Fin de fiesta).

This work comes out of my long-time research project on the representation of politics and society in contemporary Hispanic and Lusophone writing, which will also inform my participation in an international collaborative project on Hispanic lessons on the limits of liberalism.

Past Research

In 2019 I published the monograph A Galiza (não) é longe daqui...? Lendo(-se) em imagens, mirando(-se) em textos, a study of ('literary' and 'artistic') representation(s) of national identity/identities in Galicia (Spain).

Sociolinguistics (especially sociology of language and glossopolitics) was my first area of research/intervention, focusing particularly on the history and situation of, and the forms it has taken, the conflictive contact between Portuguese and Spanish in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.

  • ADAM SHARMAN and ALVARO VIDAL BOUZON, eds., 2025. Other '68s: Lineages and Legacies of May '68 Peter Lang.
  • 2025. El yo tachado: El eclipse del padre, de Gabriel Albiac (newspaper in La Lectura, books & arts magazine of the newspaper El Mundo) 04/04/2025
  • VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J., 2025. (Long) Goodbyes to the Reality of the Mirror? Novelizing with(out) Subject and with(out) Ends in Gabriel Albiac's Mayo del 68. Una educación sentimental / Fin de fiesta. In: VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J.; SHARMAN, ADAM; SHINGLER, KATHERINE, ed., Other '68s: Lineages and Legacies of May '68 Peter Lang. 103-129
  • VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J., 2025. Introduction: (Other) Takes on a Strange Spring. In: VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J.; SHARMAN, ADAM; SHINGLER, KATHERINE, ed., Other '68s: Lineages and Legacies of May '68 1-16
  • 2023. De la libertad como una lucha por el conocimiento (article in La Lectura, books & arts magazine of the newspaper El Mundo, 14/07/2023
  • 2022. Diamantes rotos (article in the newspaper El Mundo, 3/11/22)
  • VIDAL BOUZON, Á.J., 2019. A Galiza (não) é longe daqui...?: Lendo(-se) em imagens, mirando(-se) em textos Santiago de Compostela: Fundação Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa.
  • 2016. E a Galiza...? Lusofonias transversais Boletim da Academica Galega da Língua Portuguesa. 63-76
  • VIDAL BOUZON, A.J., 2013. The tragedy of constitutions: map, territory, land and Spain 1978. In: ROBERTS, S.G.H. and SHARMAN, A., eds., 1812 echoes: the Cadiz Constitution in Hispanic history, culture and politics Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 366-393
  • VIDAL BOUZON, A.J., 2013. Winter Palaces in April... always?: an "Iberian" approach to the theological echoes of Revolution. In: GONÇALVES MIRANDA, R. and ZULLO, F., eds., Post-conflict reconstructions: re-mappings and reconciliations Critical, Cultural and Communications Press. 138-151
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 2013. Guerra de grafias e conflito de elites na Galiza contemporânea (textos e contextos até 2000) Boletim da Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa. 6, 219-225
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J, 2011. Português em contato Boletim da Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa: Homenagem ao Prof. Malaca Casteleiro. 4, 287-294
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 2010. Galiza: Língua e Sociedade (XIV ensaios) Boletim da Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa. 3, 279-282
  • VIDAL BOUZON, Á.J., 2010. Da literatura abscondita? ou apontamento liminar sobre Baralha de Sonhos: António Gil Hernández leitor de Amado L. Caeiro Boletim da Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa. 3, 139-150
  • VIDAL BOUZON, A.J., 2008. Dum (assombrado) complexo de Bartleby: Isto [não] é um livro e eu [não] sou daqui (ou da [im]possibilidade lusófona da Galiza) Boletim da Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa. 1, 165-178
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 2008. Da Lusofonia Ameaçada: Temas de Linguística Política, de António Gil Hernández Boletim da Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa. 1, 259-263
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 2007. 'La canción más hermosa del mundo': Joan Manuel Serrat, the 'Reactionary' in his Fortress of Solitude. In: GOH, C. AND MCGUIRK, B., ed., Happiness and Post-Conflict 1st ed. Nottingham: Critical, Cultural and Communications Press. 218-228
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 2006. De enclaves e Império: excesso de estado e defeito de nação Revista do Centro de Estudos Portugueses. 26(36), 159-179
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ALVARO J., 2002. The monolingualism of identity, or aporias from the end of the world (Indicial notes on Fogo cruzado) Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies. VOL 3(NUMB 2), 203-226
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ALVARO J., 1994. Posições Hífen: Boletim do IEL-G da Associação de Amizade Galiza-Portugal. 4-8
  • VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J., 1994. Duas anotações:: (1) Escrita em theoria: língua nacional e língua menor; e (2) Do "reintegracionismo" (Incitação e prolegómeno em favor dum Manifesto) Temas de O Ensino de Linguística, Sociolinguística e Literatura. 27-38, 214-225
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1993. A falácia da língua do escravo: (a forma-língua em relação-capital) Actas do III Congresso Internacional da Língua Galego-Portuguesa na Galiza [Vigo-Ourense, Setembro-Outubro 1990]. 359-368
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1993. Em palimpsesto: Thelma & Louise: mapa de espelhos Simpósio Internacional Muller e Cultura [Compostela, Fevereiro 1992]. 647-652
  • CRISTÓVÃO ANGUEIRA, Â., CUPEIRO FRADE, M., GIL HERNÁNDEZ, A., HERRERO VALEIRO, M., LOZANO GARCIA, J. A., OURO VILHARAVIZ, R., SÁNCHEZ SOBRADO, J. and VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J., 1993. Questionário na Europa Contemporânea. In: ASSOCIAÇOM GALEGA DA LÍNGUA, ed., O uso das línguas na perspectiva da Europa Comunitária. Hitzkuntzen erabilera Europar batasunari begira. L'ús de les llengües en la perspectiva de l'Europa Comunitària 1st ed. Associaçom Galega da Língua. 49-60
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1993. Wonderful World: (1968. Maio. Assim é como acaba o mundo) Gaveta: (De profundis). 4, 15-17
  • CRISTÓVÃO ANGUEIRA, Â., CUPEIRO FRADE, M., GIL HERNÁNDEZ, A., HERRERO VELEIRO, M. J., LOZANO GARCIA, J. A., OURO VILHARAVIZ, R., SÁNCHEZ SOBRADO, J. and VIDAL BOUZON, Á. J., 1993. Perspetivas do relacionamento cultural entre Portugal e a Galiza no quadro europeu. In: ASSOCIAÇOM GALEGA DA LÍNGUA, ed., O uso das línguas na perspectiva da Europa Comunitária. Hizkuntzen erabilera Europar batasunari begira. L'ús de les llengües en la perspectiva de l'Europa Comunitària 1st. Associaçom Galega da Língua. 61-74
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1992. In eremo Gaveta: (Ab eremo). 3, 3-5
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1991. "Literatura nacional". Uma crise sem crítica: (Boulevard do crepúsculo III - Anaquel segundo) Nós: Revista Internacional da Lusofonia. 19-28, 200-204
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1990. Ao Leste do Éden: (barbárie ou barbárie) Povo Unido. 2, 26-27
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1989. De que concórdia falais? Iskreiro. 4, 8-9
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1988. Novo panorama galego Iskreiro. 2, 8-11
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1988. Independência e... Iskreiro. 6-8
  • VIDAL BOUZON, ÁLVARO J., 1988. Para a independizaçom do galego Iskreiro. 3, 8-11

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