Professors Ignacio Arellano and Nadia Gamal, director of department of Spanish (Ain Shams University), organizers of congress, with some of the participants. PHOTO: on loan

The group of research Siglo de Oro (GRISO) of the University of Navarra organized in Egypt the congress International of Hispanic Culture, in partnership with the University of Ain Shams (Egypt), the University of Oporto (Portugal) and the high school Cervantes of Cairo.

Twenty-seven speakers from five different countries took part in meeting, the fourth in a series dedicated to analyzing the relationship between literature and society: Spain, Egypt, Portugal, Portugal, Italy and India. The University of Navarra was represented by professors from the School of Philosophy and Letters Ignacio Arellano, who at the inaugural lecture spoke on the poetry of Lope de Vega; Víctor García Ruiz, who placed Ruiz Iriarte's career in the context of post-war Spanish drama; and Carlos Mata, who spoke about the Spanish society of the Aurisecular period as reflected in the theater of Antonio de Solís.

Support for development of emerging hispanisms

At the opening ceremony, the director of the high school Cervantes in Cairo, Luis Javier Sierra, highlighted the important work of the GRISO in establishing relations between universities and international teams: "It is one of the most excellent institutions in the world in the field of Hispanic language and literature," he said.

The celebration of this meeting in Egypt is framed within the plan of support of the GRISO to the development of emerging hispanisms, in countries like Romania, India or Senegal, where similar congresses have been celebrated. In the case of the University of Ain Shams, its department of Spanish, integrated in the School of Al-Alsun, has numerous professors and researchers, and more than five hundred students enrolled, which makes it the most important focus for the diffusion of language and Spanish culture in Egypt.