The Association of Hispanists came into being in 1955, at a meeting held in The Burn, in Angus. Some twenty university teachers met together in this small country house and resolved to form an Association designed to provide a forum for the regular interchange of ideas and information among British Hispanists. The Association grew rapidly, was instrumental in organising the foundation of the Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, established in 1962 at a meeting in Christ Church, Oxford, and provided an early model for the establishment of the Asociación Hispánica de Literatura Medieval, set up in Barcelona in 1985. Present membership has grown to around four hundred Hispanists, of whom the great majority are practising British and Irish university teachers.
The Association aims to promote scholarly research in Great Britain and Ireland into the study of the languages and cultures of the Hispanic and Lusophone world. We take an active part in continuing dialogue on these activities with the British and other Governments, and appropriate agencies such as HEFCE, and aim to promote the widest possible awareness of their cultural, educational and vocational importance. We co-operate with other organizations, such as the Spanish Embassy, the Instituto Cervantes, Canning House and the Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, in the achievement of common objectives, and provide a forum for the discussion and elaboration of these aims by members. This includes an annual academic conference most commonly held in the Easter vacation at a British University (although expeditions have been made to Huelva, Braga and Valencia. During the course of the conference the Annual General Meeting of the Association takes place.
Membership is open to all Hispanists resident in Great Britain or Ireland who have a current research interest in the languages or cultures of Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan or Galician, or in other related aspects of Hispanic, Lusophone and Latin American subjects. Overseas members who are former members of the Association or are British subjects or Irish citizens qualify for membership, as do all temporary members of academic staff in the UK and Ireland (for example lectores and leitores, graduate teaching assistants and research assistants).
Procedures for joining and the necessary forms are available on this web site in the Membership section. Any other enquiries about the Association should be addressed directly to the Secretary of the Association, Dr Victoria Ríos Castaño.
Photo: Mural in the Agronomía district of Buenos Aires (Argentina), by Fiona Mackintosh
