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.
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.
-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.