Paper short abstract:

This paper is a preliminary account of the contributions of Spanish folklorists to the history of anthropological thought and practice which aims to be situated in the broader context of the history of science and scholarship.

Paper long abstract:

The study of folklore and "popular customs and traditions", markedly influenced by the ideals and concerns of Romanticism, experimented an exponential growth in Spain during the last decades of the 19th century. People like Luis de Hoyos Sáinz (1868-1951) should be mentioned here. Outstanding contributions were made from particular regions like Catalonia, Andalusia, the Basque Country, Castile, Galicia, and the Balearic Islands.

Inspired by the ideals of a native renaissance (Renaixenca Catalana), a large group of Catalan intellectuals and writers undertook to revive and study traditions rooted in popular culture, while turning their gaze to local literary traditions. It was a Herderian task of great scope which aimed at the revival of the Catalan language, culture and sense of nationhood or volksgeist.

In the Basque Country there is José Miguel de Barandiarán (1889-1991), founder of a Society of Eusko-Folklore. In Andalusia the Machado family saga, which began with committed Darwinian Antonio Machado y Núñez, founder of the Sociedad Antropológica de Sevilla in 1871, and run through to his son the renowned folklorist Antonio Machado y Álvarez (1846-1893).

Outside the academy proper, it is of interest to consider the contributions of foreign authors like George H. Borrow (1803-1881), who published important essays on the gypsies of Spain. There is also the canonical travel narrative produced by Richard Ford (1796-1858). The outstanding personality of Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria (1847-1915) and his works during a sojourn of many years in the Balearic Islands also merits consideration.