The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.
This award will support an eight-month research fellowship by Dr. David L. Prytherch to work with Dr. Josep V. Boira at the University of Valencia in Spain.
Despite predictions, regional nationalism in Europe has not only survived but flourished in the face of globalization. To grasp the consequences for European integration, this research explores how cultural politics of region may be adapted to global, economic competitiveness. Collaborative research with geographers at the Universitat de Valencia investigates the merging of Catalan nationalism and regional entrepreneurialism in the construction of a new, transnational European economic region: The Euro-Mediterranean Arch. Qualitative archival research, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and participant observation of political and economic elites in Catalan-speaking regions of Catalunya, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands is expected to reveal how regional nationalist discourse may be re-articulated to facilitate inter-regional competition, offer insights into the intersection of cultural politics and economic development amidst European restructuring, and foster international research collaboration in the process.
