On Tuesday, 18 June at 7pm, the presentation of the book Joan Fuster i les Ciències Socials al País Valencià will take place at the La Nau Cultural Centre. The event will be attended by Margarida Castellano, UV Professor of the Faculty of Teacher Training, Rafael Castelló, UV Professor of the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Albert Moncusí, former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and UV Professor of the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Isabel Robles, Professor, essayist, translator and poet, and Joan Torres-Palomares, co-author of the book and UV Professor of the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology.

Joan Fuster is the most prolific, lucid, relevant and influential Valencian intellectual of the 20^th century, especially in Catalan culture. He was interested in getting a generation of young university students in the 60s and 70s to study their own reality from a new perspective, far from the Valencian bourgeoisie topics and the retrograde Francoism. This was received with enthusiasm and led to a large number of researches, theses, books, articles and journals, which gave a great impulse to the social sciences in the Valencian Country. Fields such as sociology, anthropology, economics and history experienced a great development in what we could be called the first Valencian generation of social scientists. His work caused important debates among young academics, but it was also attacked and persecuted by the late Francoism and its leaders, without any argument or debate except the crude and simple personal disqualification. He also had a great influence on the new political leaders at the end of the Francoism. In any case, Fuster and the reflections he caused in the Valencian Country were fundamental and could not be excluded from any analysis. It can be debated, but not ignored. His contributions to the social, cultural, political and economic analysis opened up a path of proposals that have benefited many researches. On the centenary of his birth, the Faculty of Social Sciences considered it fundamental to disseminate Joan Fuster’s contributions to the social sciences, as well as showing them to the students and opening up the necessary debate on the validity of these ideas. The book includes texts by Toni Mollà, Vicent Pitarch, Isabel Robles and Gustau Muñoz, as well as the contributions to the debate from many of the faculty's professors and the collaboration of famous figures from contemporary culture of the Valencian Country. A necessary book to continue reflecting and debating on our social, cultural, economic and political reality.