Universitat de València Faculty of Language Studies, Translation and Communication welcomed the conference 'El "hambre popular" de la Corona' ('The Crown's "Pupular Hunger"') by Complutense University of Madrid professor David San Narciso on 17 October.
'Ceremonias públicas en la España del siglo XIX' ('Public ceremonies of Spain in the 19th Century'), within the cycle 'El universo ceremonial del Liberalismo' ('The ceremonial universe of Liberalism') and organised in the frame of the research project FonUrMed.
David San Narciso analyses the ceremonial and ritual role in the age of Ferdinand VII, when the spanish monarchy was forced to coexist with new government and representation. The researcher showcased what use the monarch made of reinvented and modified ceremonies to project a close and popular look in a context of liberalism that demanded new political scenification.
San Narciso is an expert in the monarchy public image of the 19th Century, and dedicated his doctoral thesis 'La Monarquía en escena. Fiestas, ceremonias y representaciones monárquicas en la España del siglo XIX (1814-1874)' ('Monarchy on Stage. Parties, Ceremonies and Representations of the Monarchy in Spain during the 19th Century [1814-1874]'), delving into these symbolic practices and its adaptation to the liberal political system. His research address the Spanish court as the space of informal power, ceremonies as tols of legitimization, and the political and cultural dimension of the monarchic institution.
Taking the words off his intervention 'these rituals always had a capital importance in legitimating the power. They didn't disappear with liberal revolutions, but transformed into a dialogue with traditions. The became a symbolic transfer between monarchy and liberalism'. This reading, usual in cultural history, helps to understand official trips, festivities, inaugurations, royal weddings and more not as events but as the fundamental environments to build the symbols and politics of the society in the 19th Century.
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