University of Girona and APPEC create the Hipòlit Nadal chair to study and disseminate magazines in Catalan

The University of Girona (UdG) and the Association of Periodical Publications in Catalan (APPEC) have created the Hipòlit Nadal i Mallol chair to study and disseminate the past and present of magazines in Catalan. The chair is named after the journalist and politician from Emporda who, after refusing to do military service in 1912, went into exile in America. In 1916, in Buenos Aires, he created and directed the magazine 'Ressorgiment', which became a reference medium for exiled Catalans and emigrants to the continent. The new chair, as explained by the UdG, wants to be "a benchmark and catalyst for research in the field of communication, paying particular attention to the sector of magazines and digital publications". It is directed by Dr. Lluís Costa.

The Hipòlit Nadal i Mallol cathedral was born with the aim of studying magazines in Catalan, both physical and digital, disseminating their past and present, and projecting their future based on the new technological realities. In addition, it also wants to contribute to spreading historical knowledge of Catalan journalism and be a tool for working on new communication strategies.

The agreement that created the new chair was signed by the rector of the UdG, Quim Salvi, and the president of the APPEC, Germà Capdevila. The agreement has been initialed at the university's rectory. According to the UdG, "the vision of the new chair is to become a benchmark and a catalyst for research in the field of communication, paying special attention to the sector of magazines and digital publications". In addition, it also wants to promote cultural and scientific revitalization activities (with the participation of society and the professionals involved).

According to the university, the new chair is based around the area of knowledge of Communication. Precisely, the UdG offers degrees in Cultural Communication - in the Faculty of Arts - and in Advertising and Public Relations in the Faculty of Tourism.

The Chair is named after Hipòlit Nadal i Mallol (El Port de la Selva, 1891-Buenos Aires, 1978), journalist and politician who as a young man collaborated in several magazines in Catalonia. In 1912 he refused to do military service and embarked for America to settle in Buenos Aires. There he created and directed the magazine 'Ressorgiment', which was published until 1972. The publication, recalls the UdG, became "a reference medium for Catalans exiled and emigrated to America and one of the most important vehicles of "expression and dissemination of Catalan culture in the world, and of the cause of its national freedom".

Annual conference on press

Directed by Dr. Lluís Costa, full professor at the UdG and historian of communication, the chair has as one of its central activities the organization of an annual Conference on the Press, where the aim is to reflect on the situation of journalism and its future in a situation of constant transformation. Also, we want to create a permanent space to publicize the exile of journalists, both from a historical and a current point of view.

APPEC, magazine and digital publishers, was born in 1983. The association currently represents more than 200 paper and digital magazines, of various periodicals and of national scope. The Hipòlit Nadal i Mallol chair also has the involvement of other patrons, such as the Valvi i Ribas-Álvarez Foundation, advisors and consultants.