Professor Mary Vincent, B.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.) FRHistS
Professor of Modern European History [20th Century Spain; Spanish Republic & Civil War; history of gender], Head of Department.
Email: m.t.vincent@sheffield.ac.uk
Room: Jessop West: 1.04 | Telephone: (0114) 22 22566
Office Hours, Spring 2011-12: Tuesdays 10:00-12:00
| Biography |
Mary Vincent has been teaching at Sheffield since 1988. Her main research interests lie in the history of modern Spain, particularly in the period of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship (1931-75). An interest in the social basis of Franco's support, particularly that provided by the Catholic Church, led her to write Catholicism in the Second Spanish Republic, (1996). An increasing interest in the history of gender led to various publications, including edited collections on Gender and History, (with Robert Shoemaker, 1998) and Gender and War c.1918-1949, (2001). She published Modern Spain 1833-2002: People and State (2007), a general history of the Spanish state that focuses on the persistence of political violence and the historical problem of state legitimacy in Spain. Mary is writing a book on religious violence in the Spanish Civil War. She is also currently Head of Department
| Membership of Professional Bodies |
- Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
- Member of the editorial board, Contemporary European History
- Member of the editorial collective, Gender and History
- Associate member, Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, LSE
| Research |
Current Research
A continuing interest is the history both of religion and of political violence has defined her current project, which is a study of the nature of Franco's 'crusade'. She is also working on shorter pieces on position of Spanish protestants under a 'National-Catholic' regime.
Teaching and Research Interests
Professor Vincent's undergraduate teaching includes a level 3 document-based Special Subject on the 'Spanish Civil War' (HST 384/5). At MA level she offers an optional module entitled 'Life Stories: Men and Women in War and Revolution, 1914-49'. She regularly supervises dissertations on modern Spanish history and on British involvement in the Spanish Civil War.
Research Supervison
She welcomes applications from postgraduate students with an interest in the history of Spain as well as those working on civil wars, political violence, modern Catholicism, and the history of gender. Current and recent PhD students include:
- Sid Lowe, 'The Juventudes de Acción Popular in the Spanish Civil War'
- Amanda Spencer, 'The Spanish Communist Party in the Defence of Madrid, 1936-9'
- David Lyon, 'Repression in Franco’s Spain 1936-1951: the penitenciary of El Puerto de Santa María'
- Matthew Kerry, 'Radical Political Identities in Asturias, 1931-7'
- James Yeoman, 'Anarchist Pedagogical Practice in Rural Spain, 1868-1937'
| Administrative Roles and Responsibilities |
- Head of Department
- Director of Postgraduate Affairs (Semester 1)
| Selected Publications |
- 'Breaking the Silence? Memory and Oblivion since the Spanish Civil War' in Efrat Ben-Ze’ev, Ruth Ginio, Jay Winter (eds), Shadows of War: A Social History of Silence in the Twentieth Century (2010)
- 'Spain' in R. J. B. Bosworth (ed), The Oxford Handbook of Fascism (2009)
- 'Expiation as Performative Rhetoric: The Politics of Gesture in Post-Civil War Spain' in M. J. Braddick (ed), Past and Present supplement 4 (2009)
- Modern Spain: the Problem of the State, 1833-2000 (2007)
- 'The Keys to the Kingdom: Religious Violence in the Spanish Civil War', in Chris Ealham and Michael Richards (eds), The Splintering of Spain: New Approaches to the Spanish Civil War (2005)
- 'Camisas Nuevas: Style and Uniformity in the Falange Española, 1933-43', in Wendy Parkins (ed), Fashioning the Body Politic: Dress, Gender, Citizenship (2002)
- 'The Martyrs and the Saints: Masculinity and the Construction of the Francoist Crusade', History Workshop Journal 47 (1999) pp. 68-98.
- Catholicism in the Second Spanish Republic: Religion and Politics in Salamanca, 1930-36 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996)