Whew... finally starting to feel grounded again after those two quick trips to Catalonia in June. The second, which was generously paid for by the Generalitat, had me giving the keynote at the launch of the latest issue of Cultura. I was particulary pleased with the layout of the magazine and the funky graphics that they chose to go along with my article. You can check it out here:
http://cultura2.gencat.cat/revistacultura/_pdf/51709507%20Robert%20A.%20Davidson.pdf
This phase of work for the Generalitat, while intense, has been really good in terms of concretising what I hope will be my wider contribution to studies on contemporary Barcelona. That is, the notion of "siege modernity" as a master metaphor for understanding the modern experience in the Catalan capital as it moves further into a post-modern phase that has seen it evacuated of specificity in the search for ever-greater brand status.
Am now officially back from sabbatical and today performed a very satisfying purge of assorted crap that had accumulated in my office over my Asst. Prof years...
Various projects on the go... the hotel book, which I've re-titled The Hotel: Space Over Time is hopefully going to be my priority this year after I finish up a couple of pending essays and chapter contributions. Am still waiting on UTP re: an advance contract but their interest seems firm, so that's great.
