Ramón Villares Paz


Category: Professor and writer
Birth Date: 12th January 1951
Birth Place: Vilalba (Lugo)
 Curriculum

He took a degree in History at the University of Santiago in 1973 and his doctor’s degree in 1980. He has been a Professor of Contemporary History since. His research lines focus on agricultural and social history, cultural history and migratory studies.
He entered the Galician Academy on 24th November 2006.

 Work & Activities

These are some of his most important books:

Books

-“La propiedad de la tierra en Galicia, 1500-1936”, Ed. Siglo XXI, Madrid, 1982, 453 pages.
-“Donos de seu. Estudios de historia agraria de Galicia”, Ed. Sotelo Blanco, Barcelona, 1988, 427 pages.
-“Historia da emigración galega a América”, (with Marcelino Fernández Santiago), Xunta de Galicia, Santiago, 1996, 171 pages.
-“Figuras da nación”, Edicións Xerais de Galicia, Vigo, 1997, 277 pages.
-“El mundo contemporáneo. Siglos XIX y XX”, (with Ángel Bahamonde), Ed. Taurus, Madrid, 2001, 621 pages.
-“Historia de Galicia”, Ed. Galaxia, Vigo, 2004, 476 pages.
-“Fuga e retorno de Adrián Solovio. Sobre a educación sentimental dun intelectual galeguista”, Biblioteca de Estudos Oterianos, (Otero Pedrayo Foundation), Trasalba - Ourense, 2007, 202 pages.
-‘Restauración y Dictadura’ (volume 7) by Josep Fontana and Ramón Villares (directors), in “Historia de España”, Editorial Crítica / Marcial Pons, Barcelona, 2009 [ISBN 978-84-4423-921-8], 760 pages (in collaboration with Javier Moreno Luzón)

Articles in magazines and book chapters

-«A agricultura galega, 1870 / 1930: unha época de grandes transformacións», in Actes du Colloque Les campagnes portugaises de 1870 à 1930: image et realité, Gulbenkian Foundation / Centre Culturel Portugais, París, 1985, pages 95-117.
-«Agricultura», in A. Fernández (coord.): "Los fundamentos de la España liberal (1834-1900). La sociedad, la economía y las formas de vida", volume XXXIII of “Historia de España” by Menéndez Pidal, Editorial Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1997, pages 237-308.
-«La emigración americana como un factor de transformación de Galicia», Yearbook of the Centre of Galician Studies, University of the Republic, Montevideo, 1998, pages 85-98.
-«A História agraria da Espanha contemporánea. Interpretações e tendências» in Ler Histtoria (Lisbon), nº 28 (1998), pages 153-178.
-«La construcción de la España liberal: sobre las “virtudes de la vida ascendente”», in IV Congrés Internacional d’Historia Local de Catalunya, L’Avenç, Barcelona, 1999, pages 73-91.
-«Política y mundo rural en la España contemporánea. Algunas consideraciones historiográficas», in La politisation des campagnes au xixe siècle. France, Italie, Espagne, Portugal, École Française de Rome, Rome, 2000, pages 29-46.
-«Naissance et déclin du celtisme dans l’histoire de la Galice», in C. Serrano (dir.), Nations en quête de passé. La peninsule ibérique (xixe-xxe siècles), Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, 2001, pages 157-181.
-«El pasado que cambia. Reflexiones sobre la revolución liberal española», in “Historia y Proyecto social. Homenaje a Josep Fontana”, Universitat Pompeu Fabra / Editorial Crítica, Barcelona, 2003.
-«La renovación de la historia agraria española», in J. Canal, G. Pecout and M. Ridolfi (dirs.): “Sociétés rurales du xxe siècle. France, Italie, Espagne”, Collection de L’École Française de Rome, Rome, 2004, pages 53-73.
-«Nacionalismo e Historia en la España del siglo xix», in "Nacionalismo e Historia" (several authors), University of Valladolid, 2005, pages 87-110.
-«L’agriculture espagnole au temps d’Isabelle II: réformes institutionelles et expansion agricole», in J. C. Caron and F. Chauvaud (dirs.): “Les campagnes dans les sociétés européennes. France, Allemagne, Espagne, Italie (1830-1930)”, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2005, pages 141-158.
-«Producir símbolos nacionais», in X. R. Barreiro and R. Villares (coords.): “Os símbolos de Galicia”, Consello da Cultura Galega / Galician Academy, Santiago de Compostela, 2008, pages 11-32.
-«La contribución de Ramón Otero Pedrayo a la historia agraria» in Historia Agraria, 44 (2008), pages 157-178.
-«Organización de intereses y politización campesina: algunas notas historiográficas», in A. Rivera, J. M. Ortiz de Orruño and J. Ugarte (eds.): "Movimientos sociales en la España contemporánea", Abada Editores, Madrid, 2008, pages 83-95.
-«A reforma agrària liberal na Espanha. Algumas comparações com Portugal», in J. V. Serrâo, Magda Pinheiro, Fatima Sá and Melo Ferreira (eds.): “Homenagem a Miriam Halpern Pereira”, Imprensa de Ciências Sociais, Lisbon, 2009, pages 155-171.
-«Castillos frente a castros. La Edad Media en la identidad nacional gallega» in Historia Social, núm. 69 (2011), pages 3-24.
Regarding academic research, Ramón Villares has directed twenty doctorate thesis and was the main Professor of seven research projects and several agreements of technical assistance. He has participated in a lot of assessment committees of research projects since 1988 (DGICYT, Xunta de Galicia, AGAUR Catalonia and FYCIT Asturias) and was a consultant of the Instituto de Ciências Sociais (University of Lisbon) from 1999 to 2010. He also carried out a stay at the Universitá di Bologna (1989) and the EHESS in Paris (2001). In 2007-2008 he was chairman of the assessmen panel of the research units of History, nominated by the Fundação da Ciência e da Tecnologia (FCT) in Portugal. From 2009 to 2011, he was coordinator of the assessment panel of research projects of the History area, nominated by the FCT too.

 Other Interesting Aspects

-Director of the Contemporary History Department (1983-1986)
-Dean of the Faculty of Geography and History - USC (1986-1990)
-Rector of the University of Santiago de Compostela (1990-1994)
-Director in Galicia of Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP) (1997-2005)
-President of the Spanish Association of Contemporary History (1996-2002)
-Director of the Galician Emigration Archive (desde 2003)
-President of Consello da Cultura Galega since 2006.
-Member of the Galician Academy since 2006.
-Honorary researcher of the Instituto de Ciências Sociais (University of Lisbon)
-Member of the advisory board of magazines like ‘Historia Social’ (Valencia), ‘Ler História’, ‘Análise Social’ (Lisbon) and ‘Ayer, revista de Historia contemporánea’ (Madrid)
-Member of the editorial council of Marcial Pons (Madrid)
-Member of the patronages of Museo do Pobo Galego, Luís Seoane Foundation, Otero Pedrayo Foundation and Juana de Vega Foundation.