UROP in History: “In the Footsteps of Bandits: An Alternative History of Spain”

Dr. Ben Dodds, associate professor of History, directed a UROP project on the history of Spain told through the lives of bandits. The project uses the stories about real and imagined bandits from the Roman period until the present to explain the history of Spain. For example, the Roman conquest of Spain is explored through the story of non-Roman bandits who resisted the conquest. Likewise, the consolidation of General Franco's dictatorship is explored using popular and politicized versions of stories about bandits. These bandit stories will thus be windows on particular political developments.

The project supports Dr. Dodds’ current work on an academic monograph on the history of Spain through the lens of bandits. It will also provide material for a website dedicated to Spanish bandits which Dr. Dodds is planning on setting up. He is hoping to continue offering this UROP project over the next few years.

Dr. Dodds mentored two undergraduate students: Marcel and Dara. Marcel is a freshman and part of the presidential scholars’ cohort. Dara, a sophomore, is on the physician assistant track as a Humanities major.

Marcel: As a presidential scholar, I had to do a UROP project. And I am grateful that there was this requirement, because I would not have known about the program otherwise.  I was drawn to this specific project because the research promised to be in Spanish. I grew up speaking Spanish, it is my first language. That, combined with the idea of working on the history of bandits, really appealed to me.

Dara: I found out about UROP on Instagram. I liked the idea of doing research, so I applied. I had initially thought about doing medicine-related research, but when I saw this project, I decided to explore a humanities-based topic instead. I might not have time for a project outside my major later in my studies. I went to a Spanish magnet school from 6th to 10th grade, but I haven’t really used it since. The project taught me a bit more Spanish, especially 18th-century written Spanish, which was very cool.

What is your part of the project about?

Dara: I worked on one of the most famous bandits of Spanish history, Diego Corrientes Mateos. I focused on finding the discrepancies between the myth and reality of his life. He was only active for three or four years, but his deeds were mythologized, and his life story told many times in print and in film. Dr. Dodds recommended him, and it proved a nice challenge to assemble information on him.

Marcel: I studied Spain’s last bandit, Juan Mingolla Gallardo, also known as ‘Pasos Largos’ (Long Steps), who was active in the 1910s and 1930s, from World War I, when Spain was neutral, to just before the Spanish Civil War. Gallardo represented Spain’s transition from a traditional society towards a modern one. After 1898 when Spain lost all of its colonies, the country was in a crisis, and Gallardo who was a veteran of the Spanish-American war suffered personally during that time. His life embodied the transition from empire to nation. Dr. Dodds gave me the choice between working on several bandits or focusing just on one. I chose to work on Gallardo. He was the last of an ancient line of bandits and that was really fascinating to study.

How did you get started with your research?

Dara: I found three biographies of Mateos, and I went through them and identified the things that were stated in all three. Information on when or where he was born, what and where he was stealing, and who was looking for him. Then I looked into shorter stories that centered on him as well as other forms of media like novels and film. I wanted to see how his life was described differently in the three biographies from the later media.

Marcel: I had the advantage that my bandit lived at a time of mass-produced newspapers. I went through a database of all Spanish newspapers to find every report on Gallardo. Then I created a timeline of what he did during his two periods of activity, 1916 and 1934. Then I compared the newspaper stories to each other and then to the two biographies that were written about him. There were a lot of inconsistencies, a lot was just made up. Whenever the authors did not have sufficient information, they filled in the gaps with their imagination.

What makes a bandit a bandit?

Dara: A bandit steals for a reason; he is a more romantic version of thief or a gangster. He is more elusive. He is put on more of a pedestal.

Marcel: Yes, the bandit has social status. When Gallardo turned himself in to the police for the first time, people came together to chant his name and protest, wanting him to go free. A bandit inspires a Robin Hood dynamic.  A bandit stands up against the rich. In Spain, it is also a regional thing. Most major bandits were active in the southern parts of Spain, especially Andalucia. Its empty and rugged landscape combined with its location on the smuggling route from Gibraltar to make it a preferred place for highway robberies.

What did you like best about the UROP program?

Dara: For me, it was reading the Spanish texts about Corrientes. I had not read 18th-century Spanish literature before, so being able to do a deep dive into that was really fun. It helped me strengthen my Spanish reading abilities, and I got to know a lot more about a period in history I did not know much before.

Marcel: What I found very interesting was seeing how newspapers developed over time. Looking at the issues from 1916 – they were very different from those of 1934. And these changes also reflect changes in Spanish society more broadly during this period. Gallardo, too, reflects this change; he is part of an ancient traditions but he is being persecuted by the new police force, and publicized by the new media.

What was a challenging aspect of UROP?

Dara and Marcel: Balancing the research with all of your schoolwork. The amount of research required is not excessive, but you do need to stay on top of things and not procrastinate. The main challenge was dedicating enough time to the project and to my other classes.

Dara: I set aside time every day to focus on the project and to do my regular course work.

Marcel: Sometimes finding the direction in which to take the research next was a bit of a challenge. There were moments when I felt that I had reached a dead end in my project, that I had found everything there was to learn, that I had drawn all the conclusions I could. It was at these times, that I took a step back to review my findings as a whole, and then I tended to find more stuff to analyze.

What’s your advice to students thinking about participating in UROP?

Marcel: Go for it! When I was looking through the UROP projects, I was surprised that there was such a wide variety. It was really hard to choose one because there were so many that I found extremely interesting.

The other advice is: use the leaders of your UROP colloquium as a resource. I am thinking of doing more research, and my UROP leader has been very helpful with that.

Dara: With UROP you are not tied to your major. Use UROP as a chance to explore something that is outside of your major field. Use it to pursue things you are passionate about. Let it help you grow professionally, to get better at communicating, at reading, and at researching