Bonnie GoldenbergSenior Bonnie Goldenberg has written an article that has been accepted for publication next year by the Bulletin
of Hispanic Studies at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

To be published in a scholarly journal is an accomplishment for a faculty member or graduate student, but for an undergraduate student, it is an especially significant and unusual achievement, according to Joan Bennett, who coordinates the Undergraduate Research Program.

Goldenberg's article investigates "Imperial Culture and National Conscience: The Role of the Press in the United States and Spain during the Crisis of 1898."

Her adviser is Jesus Cruz, history, whose field is the cultural and social history of Spain in the 19th and 20th centuries. Cruz called Goldenberg an "outstanding student," and said that the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies is one of the most prestigious in the field in Great Britain. "It is very rare for an undergraduate to have an article published in the journal," Cruz said.

Goldenberg, who is in the University Honors Program, has worked on her independent study project under his guidance for four years.

"My father is a history teacher, and I wanted to discover if an academic career as an historian was for me," Goldenberg said. "When I came to the University, my two main interests were history and Spanish, which I hoped to combine in a research project. Dr. Cruz was listed at the Undergraduate Research Office as a possible research adviser, and I was fortunate to be accepted by him as an independent study student."

The Undergraduate Research Program played a role in her success as well, she said, with funding and support. She spent the summer of her sophomore year in the Arts and Humanities Summer Scholars Program, carrying out her research on reporting and opinions about the Spanish-American War in American newspapers.

During a semester in Spain in her junior year, she examined Spanish newspapers of the period in the archives in Granada and Madrid.

"The press in the United States was very influential at that time as the main source of information, with newspaper circulation rising rapidly. The consensus has been that yellow journalism, namely Hearst's Journal and Pulitzer's World, aroused public opinion so much, especially after the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana, that it caused U.S. involvement in the Spanish-American War in 1898," Goldenberg said.

"However, I discovered newspapers all over the country, from The Washington Post to The San Franciso Examiner, had the same sentiments. Although the press was a factor, the involvement in the war reflected the cultural attitudes of the late 19th century," Goldenberg said.

The American press demonized the Spanish for their treatment of the Cubans, depicting them as "culturally backward" and emphasizing Spain's internal political problems while portraying the United States as the savior of the oppressed. The war also was seen as a means of firmly uniting the North and the South in the aftermath of the Civil War, according to Goldenberg.

In Spain, thanks to the telegraph, provincial newspapers had access to national and international news, which increased their coverage of the Spanish-American War and also made them aware of the vilification of Spain in the American press.

In one Spanish newspaper, Americans were described as "villains of low ancestry, merchants without conscience and without heart," in short, "pigs!!." The pigs were contrasted to the Spanish imperial lion, the symbol of Spain's past glory.

As Goldenberg writes in her article, the "Spanish-American War reshaped the respective identities of these two nations," marking "the end of empire for Spain and the rise of empire for America." Victory, she wrote, resulted in an "explosion of nationalism in the U.S., while the defeat in Spain contributed to a national identity crisis, which intensified division and pessimism."

As a result of the war, Cuba became an American protectorate, and Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines were ceded by Spain to the United States.

With support from the Undergraduate Research Program, this past September, Goldenberg presented a paper on the role of the press at a conference on the Spanish American War at the University of Milwaukee and will present another paper at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research at the University of Rochester in April. Goldenberg plans to attend Johns Hopkins University for graduate study next fall.

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