Africanist anthropology during Francoism: the Bernardino de Sahagún Institute, 1939-1951

: With the creation of the “Bernardino de Sahagún” Institute, anthropology was put at the service of the national-Catholic values that the Francoist regime imposed on all levels of public life in the immediate aftermath of the war. Anthropological research focused on two main issues: scientific-medical issues – anthropo-biology – and cultural issues – ethnology. The colonial discourse and the renewed interest in Africanist studies resulted in funding being made available for researchers to visit the African colonies under Spanish jurisdiction to carry out anthropobiological and ethnological studies


INTRODUCTION: THE INSTITUTIONALISA-TION OF MODERN ANTHROPOLOGY IN SPAIN
Although ethnological and ethnographic thought had existed for centuries, beginning at least with the conquest of America, the formal constitution of anthropology as a discipline in Spain -like in the rest of Europe -can be dated to the 19 th century, with the foundation of such institutions as the Sociedad Antropológica Española, the Sociedad Antropológica de Sevilla, the Anthropological Museum in Madrid and the Anthropology Chair at Universidad Central.During this 19 th century, Spanish anthropological research initially followed the "European and French positivist approach" (Cardoso, 2012, p. 135), but without adopting the tenets of evolutionism.Over time, however, Spanish anthropologists ended up following the theories of the "German Historical-Cultural school, [and were] particularly interested in racial characterisation and ethnogenesis in the Iberian Peninsula" (Ibidem,p. 135).
The institutionalisation of Spanish anthropology began when Pedro González de Velasco (1815-1882) founded the Sociedad Antropológica Española in 1865 (Ortiz García and Sánchez Gómez, 1994, p. 645).Throughout his life, Velasco travelled to Europe compiling anthropological specimens, which constituted the original collection of the Anthropological Museum founded in Madrid on April 29, 1875(Sánchez Gómez, 2020, p. 213).Ten years later, Antón y Ferrándiz -Velasco's successor as director of the museum -created an Anthropology Chair around which the main anthropologists of the late 19 th and early 20 th century -e.g.Luis de Hoyos Sainz, Francisco de las Barras y de Aragón, and Telesforo Aranzadi -were trained (Ortiz García, 1987, pp. 278-279).
In addition, in 1871, the anthropologist Antonio Machado y Núñez (1815-1896) -alongside Francisco María Tubino -began disseminating Ernst Haeckel's works and the ideas of anthropological evolutionism in Spain with the foundation of the Sociedad Antropológica de Sevilla (Cañete, 2021, p. 218).The society was active only until 1875 (Ronzón and Bueno, 1991, p. 296), but its relevance lies in the fact that it divided anthropological research into different categories: "Physical anthropology to study man as a natural being; psychic anthropology to study it as a spiritual being; and social anthropology to study the relation of spirit and matter" (Puig-Samper and Galera, 1983, p. 58).The Sociedad Española de Historia Natural (SEHN) was also founded in 1871, with the participation of scholars such as Pedro González de Velasco and Rafael Martínez Molina; the Sección de Antropología y Etnografía was created as an internal department of SEHN in 1883 under the direction of Antón y Ferrándiz; collaborators of this section included Mariano de la Paz Graells, Lucas Tormos, and Juan Vilanova y Piera (Ronzón and Bueno, 1991, p. 296).
The last major milestone for the institutionalisation of anthropology in Spain took place in 1892, when Antón y Ferrándiz was granted the creation of the first university chair for anthropology at the School of Sciences of Universidad Central de Madrid (Ibidem,p. 305).This "consolidated the institutional position of anthropology at the university, gave it greater visibility -it was more prominent in intellectual and political circles than in the academic environment -and triggered heated debates between intellectuals from all sides of the political spectrum" (Cardoso, 2016, p. 59).
In the early 20 th century, Spanish anthropology continued the research avenues marked by the Sociedad de Antropología Española -re-founded in 1921 by Antón y Ferrándiz as Sociedad Española de Antropología, Etnografía y Prehistoria (SEAEP) (Sánchez Gómez, 1990, pp. 61-87 andSánchez Gómez, 1992, pp. 29-44) -and the Anthropological Museum, under the direction of Barras y de Aragón since Antón y Ferrándiz's death (Romero de Tejada Picatoste, 1992).On July 28, 1934, Hoyos Sainz founded the Museum of the Spanish People, the functions of which included "protecting, preserving, and studying ethnographic material culture, artworks, folklore, and spiritual culture in its national, regional, and local expressions" (Ortiz García, 1987, p. 134).Like all aspects of Spanish socioeconomic and cultural life, anthropology was profoundly shaken by the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent dictatorial regime imposed by General Francisco Franco.Thereafter, anthropological studies became shackled to the directives of the new central scientific institution, the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, which meant that anthropology was put at the service of State interests (Puig-Samper, 2007).

FRANCOIST ANTHROPOLOGY: THE "BER-NARDINO DE SAHAGÚN" INSTITUTE OF AN-THROPOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY
From the beginning of the Civil War, educational and scientific activities were put under the direction of José María Pemán and Enrique Suñer, president and vice-president of the Comisión de Cultura y Enseñanza.The Ministry for National Education was not created until 1938.The first minister, Pedro Sainz Rodríguez, 1 was replaced barely one year later by José Ibáñez Martín, who directed educative policies throughout the post-war years, until his dismissal in 1951.Ibáñez steered educative policies with an iron hand, imposing the national-Catholic creed on education and creating the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) to play the former role of the Junta de Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas and the Instituto de España.
The CSIC was created on November 4, 1939, and from the onset it was clear that the Consejo's policies were to closely to the new values of the Regime, merging science and faith beneath the cultural and political programme of Francoism.The foundational decree established the institution's functions, which were to "promote, steer, and coordinate scientific work in the country." 2 It was the Consejo's urgent duty to initiate a period of scientific research to meet its essential functions: to add to universal culture; to train lectures capable of leading Hispanic thought; to bring the sciences up to step with our history and elevate our techniques; and to put scientific production at the service of our Nation's spiritual and material needs. 3  The merge of education and science would contribute to the nation's greatness, and was embodied by the new relations between the intellectuals working for the Consejo and those who carried out their duties at the university (Sánchez Ron, 2021, p. 110).
The main anthropological institution of CSIC, the Institute "Bernardino de Sahagún" of Anthropology and Ethnology, was founded on September 26, 1941, within the structure of Patronato "Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo."The institute was situated in the IBS's main building, Paseo de Atocha 13, Madrid, also the location of the Anthropological Museum and the SEAEP.The institute's direction fell to José Pérez de Barradas, also chief of the Institute's ethnology section (CSIC, 1942, p. 166) and fountainhead of the institute's name: Years ago, when the Minister for National Education asked me for a glorious name for the institute of anthropology and ethnology of CSIC, I did not hesitate to put forward the name of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, whose Historia de las cosas de Nueva España earned him the universal recognition as founding father of ethnology (Pérez de Barradas, 1950, p. 10).
Therefore, the name's institute was not chosen at random.For the promoters of the project, Fray Bernardino de Sahagún was "the first to build the ethnological method and system." 4 From the very foundation of the IBS, anthropology and ethnology were regarded as "fundamentally Spanish and exclusively Catholic," 5  and it was stated that: Once this "classic and Christian unity" is re-established, it is convenient for Spain to reintegrate the human sciences that form anthropology and ethnology and resume, with a modern scientific method, our tradition and style, embodied by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, in the ethnologic, biological, and paleo-ethnologic study of man. 6  Similarly, the institute's regulations, dated October 30, 1942, established its internal organisation and the research avenues to be pursued: 1.-Institute Bernardino de Sahagún of Anthropology and Ethnography will have two functions, as a museum and as a research centre, which will be harmoniously combined.2.-As a research centre, it will meet the ends set out in section A) of article 2 of the founding decree of September 26, 1941, that is, the study of the healthy and normal Spanish man, his regional variations and relations with neighbouring countries, in order to define the limits of pathologies and undertake such important enterprises for the nation as the improvement of the race. 7  The regulations also established that the Anthropological Museum was to be integrated into the IBS, 8 including all its collections, the library, and "the ethnographic collections at the National Archaeological Museum, including those from China, Japan, and India, as well as other collections in centres attached to the Ministry for National Education, with the exception of the American and Philippine collections." 9Until the foundation of the IBS, Pérez de Barradas had acted as standing director of the Anthropological Museum because Don Francisco de la Barras de Aragón, Director and Chief of the Anthropology Section, retired on October 28, on reaching legal age, Don Luis de Hoyos y Sainz retired as Chief of the Ethnography Section for the same reason before the Glorious Liberation of Madrid, and Don Hugo Obermaier Grad resigned his position as Chief of the Prehistory Section soon after that date. 10  From that moment onwards, Pérez de Barradas assumed the direction of the museum, encouraging the Ministry's new national-Catholic-inspired policies, one of the most ambitious targets of which -from both a rhetorical and practical perspective -was to turn the former museum into "a Museum of Empire." 11In order to meet this, the museum began undergoing a deep architectural and administrative rehaul.It was relabelled as Ethnological Museum, and was repositioned to lead a "radical and profound change in the study of the peoples and cultures that at some stage were part of the Spanish Empire, especially in America, the Philippines, Morocco, and our current colonies." 12On the other hand, owing to the museum's prominent location, a series of works were initiated to renew the facilities "with the dynamism and enthusiasm that characterise the Falange and the New State." 13 The "new" museum, which had been completely rearranged, did not open its doors until 1945: Osteological collections, which are of great value, especially skulls from Spain, are outside the public gaze and at the disposal of the scientists.The collections cover from the primitive cultures to the Islamic peoples, and are organised according to ethnological criteria; stone tools from the Early Palaeolithic and modern Tasmanians; the shrunken heads of Jibaros and weapons and adornments of Amazonians, brought by the Comisión de Naturalistas españoles al Pacífico in 1887; the two splendid series from Spanish Guinea, result of Sorela and Ossorio's expeditions; the valuable Philippine collection, from the Igorrotes and other pagan peoples, as well as the Tagalogs; small samples of oriental and American cultures; and, finally, an interesting series to represent Islamic peoples, especially Morocco (CSIC, 1946, pp. 230-231).
The IBS had branches (called sections) in three cities, Madrid, Barcelona and Valladolid.The importance of CSIC in Catalonia was grounded in the fact that "parlar del cas catalá, els impulsors del Consell a Cata-lunya, molts d'ells provinents de la burgesia i del catolicisme, van fer que el Consell a Catalunya, ben aviat, adquirís un paper significatiu en el desenvolupament de la vida cientifica, universitaria i cultural Catalana" (Calvo Calvo, 2012, p. 21).The main section was the one in Madrid, created by the institute's foundational decree and directed by Pérez de Barradas.The section followed two main research avenues -also known as sections: Anthropobiology, directed by María de las Mercedes González Gimeno, which dealt with multiple research topics, including race studies; osteology; human inheritance; constitutional typology; diet; psychotypology; endocrine typology; infant growth; hemato-anthropobiology; and female anthropology; 14  and Ethnology, directed by Pérez de Barradas.The IBS section in Barcelona was founded in 1943, under the direction of Santiago Alcobé Noguer; like the Madrid section, this was divided into two sections, Anthropobiology, directed by Santiago Alcobé, and Ethnography, directed by Tomás Carreras Artau until 1950, when he assumed the direction of the newly-founded Archive of Ethnography and Folklore of Catalonia, an institute attached to the IBS of Barcelona.The IBS section in Valladolid was founded in 1945 as a single research unit in Medical Anthropology, under the direction of Misael Bañuelos.
In 1946, the institute was assigned to the Patronato "Santiago Ramón y Cajal," which was tasked with supporting centres engaged in biomedical sciences and had direct links with the Institute of Clinical and Medical Research, Faculty of Medicine, Madrid, as well as the institutes and centres that depended on the General Directorate of Healthcare (Sánchez Ron, 2021, p. 142;Huertas, 2007, p. 293).As such, the Patronato "Santiago Ramón y Cajal" supported institutes "engaged in the field of human and animal biology." 15The avenues of research pursued by the IBS were, therefore, closer to those within the remit of Patronato "Santiago Ramón y Cajal" than those supported by Patronato "Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo."The change from one Patronato to the other, however, did not trigger major changes in the operation of the Institute, which continued focusing its research on "osteology and morphology, anthropological physiology, infant growth, statistics, and ethnology." 16 There were, however, attempts to push forward "exotic" projects, but these lasted little because of communication and financial problems.According to Pérez de Barradas, in 1938 I sat with Father Marcelino de Castellví, first in Sibundoy and, months later, in Bogotá, to try to compile the enormous linguistic and ethnological material collected by Spanish missionaries into a vast work to be entitled Pueblos indígenas de la Gran Colombia.The project, however, was interrupted by the difficulties that beset the world during the last war, especially concerning communication (Pérez de Barradas, 1950, p. 18).
This led to the incorporation of the centre for linguistic and ethnological research in Sibundoy (Alto Putumayo, Columbian Amazonia) to the IBS in 1947, under the direction of Marcelino de Castelleví.The initiative, however, did not meet the expected response, and was cancelled the following year (CSIC, 1948, p. 157).
A year later, in 1948, a new section of the IBS was founded in Palma de Mallorca, but this lasted barely a year because of the sudden death of the section chief, Miguel Ferrá y Joan. 17This same year negotiations began to create the Centre for Peninsular Ethnography; in this regard, José María Albareda stated that "if it is believed that the organisation of ethnographic studies is mature enough to fly on its own, it would be a good idea to give it its own profile." 18The Centre was finally created in 1948 as an independent institution, although it always kept close links with the IBS, as their fields of research overlapped significantly.The Centre for Peninsular Ethnography focused on disseminating ethnographic studies through public talks, exhibits, excursions, and radio broadcasts. 19The institution had two branches: the main one was in Barcelona and the subsidiary one was in Madrid.Although Agustín Durán Sanpere always thought that the direction of the new centre should be entrusted to Julio Caro Baroja -"I think that Caro Baroja is an outstanding scientific figure, and it is my belief that he should direct the new Centre" 20 -in the end, it was he who was appointed to preside the Barcelona branch, while Caro Baroja was appointed secretary general in Madrid.
The institutional construction of Spanish anthropology during early Francoism ended with one of the organisations that survived from the pre-war years.Until the foundation of the IBS, the Sociedad Española de Antropología, Etnografía y Prehistoria had continued operating as the main anthropological institution, under the direction of Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla.When its activity resumed after the Civil War, the Sociedad had to take an oath of loyalty to the principles of the new regime, as recorded in the Sociedad's Regulations, in Santa Olalla's words: This resurgence is to continue a work that never turned its back on the reality of Hispanic imperatives, which are subsumed in our name: Anthropology, of the Hispanic race and spirit; Ethnography, of the presence of Spain in the Continents; and Prehistory, the root of Hispanity.(…) After the Victory and in the revolutionary duty before us, the sciences which this Society deals must develop fully.Because it is essential to know the people to their full extent and what there is in it that is truly traditional, discovering the components of our race, as Anthropology does (...).Finally, Ethnography will reveal the greatness of a peerless Empire, one with no equal in History, and the possibilities for another (Sánchez Gómez, 1990, p. 74).
The SEAEP, however, was also based in the Anthropological Museum, so both institutions shared the same space, causing many conflicts and unfortunate clashes between directors, a problem that could not be solved until much later.

Administration and economic life of the Instituto
The basic structure of the Institute was based on the legislation passed in 1940 -with the creation of the Consejo -and 1941, with the foundation of the IBS.Each institute was led by a director, a vice-director, and a secretary appointed by the education ministry at the proposal of CSIC's executive committee. 21The Institute could also employ "directors, section chiefs, assistants, scholarship holders, and students.It may also appoint associate and extraordinary lecturers." 22The staff also included administrative assistants, a position held by Paula Pérez de Barradas and Elena Malaguilla Sánchez.As illustrated in Graph 1, the institute's payroll increased gradually throughout the period.
The functions of the executive officials were perfectly outlined by the institute's regulations.The director must ensure that the institution met its targets, both as a museum and a research centre, as well as suggest research plans, supervise publications, sign off expenses, draft the annual report, and propose courses and public talks.The vice-director was to step in in the absence of the director and direct one of the Anthropobiology sections.The secretary executed the director's and vice-director's orders, kept inventory of the archive and processed official documents, acting as liaison official with the Consejo's general secretary.He also had to oversee invoices and expenses and keep the register of the institute's meetings.The vice-secretary acted as standing secretary in the absence of the former. 23 As shown in Table 1, the leading figures generally had a direct relationship with the university, as mandated by the CSIC's foundational decree.The leadership of the institution changed little over the years: José Pérez de Barradas -Anthropology professor at Universidad Central de Madrid -and Santiago Alcobé Noguer -Anthropology professor at Universidad de Barcelona -were the institute's Director and Vice-director from the foundation of their respective sections.
During the early years of the existence of the Consejo, the figure of the "collaborator" remained ill-defined.At first, most researchers working for institutes combined teaching with research.The figure of "collaborator" was created by order of the executive committee on June 28, 1945, and it was established that "their scientific careers will be carried out exclusively in the Consejo, and will be incompatible with other activities elsewhere" (López Sánchez and Fernández Gallego, 2021, p. 23): 1.-The direction of each institute will propose a number of permanent collaborators, according to its internal activity (journal, archives, etc.) and research work.The number of permanent collaborators will remain unaltered and will be established according to the institute's ongoing work […]; 2.-The direction of the Institute will similarly suggest a number of temporary collaborators, according to the work programmes set out by the Institute.This proposal will involve the commitment to stick to the approved research plan, and the proposal will explicitly state so.This collaboration will last as long as necessary for the tasks at hand, never under three months or over three years.All permanent and temporary collaborators will be assigned the tasks for which they are hired.There will be no collaborators without a clear assignment in the internal life of institutes or who do not pursue the research plan.Researchers who cannot commit permanently may be appointed as honorary collaborators.4.-All current collaborators will be laid down at the end of the present financial course, on December 31, 1945, and those assigned to the following financial course will be appointed at the proposal of the direction of each institute, according to these regulations. 24  A competitive selection process to hire collaborators was created by decree on July 5, 1945: 1-Applicants to a position of scientific collaborator at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas will have a prior research career, as shown by a doctorate in sciences, pharmacy, medicine, or veterinary medicine, and by ongoing full-time work at one of the Consejo's research institutes for a minimum period of three years, at least two of them in the position of scholarship-holder or assistant, following their BA degrees (…).2-Consejo-granted research visits abroad will count for these merits, whenever the visit was organised by the Institute at hand and provided that the director of said Institute has issued a favourable report.3-The position of scientific collaborator at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, which is assigned a salary and is created to encourage the research of scholarship-holders and assistants, is incompatible with lectureships at universities and secondary schools, and with any other position in public institutes and laboratories.4-Scientific collaborators at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas commit to working six-hour daily shifts at their institute and will be liable to dismissal if they fail to meet this commitment.5-Applications will be assessed by a five-member tribunal appointed by the Executive Committee.6-In the first step of the examination, applicants will present their research work orally, and will submit all the documentation deemed necessary to demonstrate their previous work in research laboratories (…).In a second step, the applicants will sit out a written exam with two questions chosen at random from a questionnaire designed by the tribunal.The questionnaire may be single or be divided into two or more parallel lists of topics, leaving the applicant the choice of questions sharing the same number (…).The third exercise will be practical in nature, covering the different techniques known by the applicants.The fourth test will be freely decided upon by the tribunal.7-The Tribu-nal will send the Executive Committee their verdict with a list of candidates, which in no case will outnumber the positions to be covered. 25  Most collaborators hired by IBS had previously held scholarships at the Instituto.The number of collaborators gradually increased, barring a sharp surge with the change of Patronato and a gradual decrease after the creation of the Centro de Estudios de Etnología Peninsular (see Graph 2); the number of collaborators at the latter remained stable throughout this period.Although definite data is difficult to come by, it can be said that of the 33 collaborators hired by the IBS, eleven had some connection with the university, upholding that privileged relationship between university circles and the CSIC.Meanwhile, the position of scholarship-holders fluctuated more, as it was directly related to the specific needs of research projects.The position was regulated from the Consejo's foundation.From the start, applicants had to pass a test of theoretical knowledge, and from 1945 also demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language, a requisite that was to become more demanding over time.As such, in order to apply for one of the scholarships offered by the Patronato "Santiago Ramón y Cajal" in 1951, applicants must a) Have finished their study at the University, Special School, and Higher Culture Centres; b) Have finished or are in the process of finishing some research work that demonstrates the applicant's aptitudes; c) Have presented a solid research plan endorsed by the supervising lecturer; d) Know at least two modern languages: one Romance language and a Germanic language. 26  Scholarships holders were hired for one academic year, with the possibility of an extra year if their work was required (examples of students who had their scholarship extended included Aurelio Capmany Ferrés and Adelaida González Almejún).Their salaries were substantially lower than those of fully qualified researchers, and were not paid during the summer: This is to inform the Director of Instituto "Bernardino de Sahagún" that: The meeting held by the Executive Committee of this Council on the 3 rd day of this month, agreed to appoint the following scholarship holders, with a salary of 250 pesetas per year, to be paid from the first of October to June 30, 1946: Renewed scholarships: Srta.Adelaida González Almejún Don Luciano Moreno Herrero and, Don Carlos Crespo Gil-Delgado.On orders from the President, I inform you for all practical effects.May God keep you healthy for many years.Madrid, October 20, 1945.Signed: José María Albareda.Secretary General. 27  The figure of scholarship-holders was especially sensitive to changes, as illustrated by Graph 3. It was especially important until the change of Patronato, but afterwards it became virtually invisible.in itself exceptional, subsidiary posts -clerks, librarians, and assistants -fell to women without exception, like in other institutes of the CSIC (e.g.Mª Luisa Fernández Cabeza and Elena Malaguilla Sánchez).In Instituto "Jerónimo Zurita," for example, most scholarship-holders, administrative assistants, and librarians were women who had their access to leadership posts barred (Fernández Gallego, 2014, p. 62).
However, even if in the early years some women climbed to positions of responsibility at the IBS, in 1949 they began having problems in the workplace and with the director.In his personal diary, Pérez de Barradas writes the following for August 1, 1949: "the palaver with the assistant has begun terribly, and I have Doña Mercedes and the idiotic Caridad jumping about me.Scientist women are somewhat worse than mute ones.I am concerned about this." 29 In that same year, Mercedes González Gimeno and Caridad Robles Mendo were demoted to the position of collaborators.According to José Pérez de Barradas, this was because, after eight years in leadership positions they had shown "their inefficiency, lack of discipline, and incompetence."He also claimed that Mercedes González Gimeno had "not come to work for months at a time, without justification or one that suits her marital status."Concerning Caridad Robles Mendo, he added that "from 1945, Miss Roble's performance, despite my warnings and those of secretary Fernández Cabeza, has not been up to scratch." 30 He concluded that Once I was persuaded that the warnings made to these ladies were not working, and that their lack of discipline and interest for the tasks that were ordered them was to continue, I asked the Patronato to cut down their salary to cover their positions with more capable candidates that for a while have been wishing to work at the Institute, although it was not possible to hire them for budgetary reasons. 31  These demotions only prove that their original appointments had been an anomaly, which the director of the IBS corrected at the first opportunity, keeping women in subsidiary positions as secretaries and administrative assistants.
The CSIC's foundational decree -title third, article 10 -established that the Consejo was to administer its budgetary resources autonomously, allocating funds to each institute according to need.The funds allocated Instituto "Bernardino de Sahagún" and the Centro de Estudios de Etnología Peninsular never went over 2% of the CSIC's total annual budget.
As illustrated by Graph 4, the budget fluctuated widely during this period.The central years were particularly stable, probably because of the need to set up the new sections in Barcelona and Valladolid.The drop in funding in 1948-1949 may be the direct outcome of the creation of a large number of institutes and Patronatos in these years, without the total budget being increased significantly.On the other hand, the funds allo-Graph 3. Scholarship-holders Instituto "Bernardino de Sahagún".Author's own.Source: payroll records in Instituto "Bernardino de Sahagún" (AGA.Fondo Educación.Libros 289-538 TOP.32/00.201-00.406).
On the other hand, despite the enormous sway of the new Catholic and conservative ideological values of the regime, several women gained positions of relevance in the IBS.The meeting held by the Executive Committee on September 9, 1942 included several appointments to women, including a section chief: Appointing Caridad Robles Mendo as Chief of Section Female Anthropology, with an annual salary of 4000 pesetas; Julio Cola Alberich as collaborator, with a salary of 4000 pesetas; and Julio Caro Baroja as collaborator, with a salary of 4000 pesetas.The salary will become effective on the 1 st day of the current month. 28  The number of female collaborators was also significant, including Adelaida González Almejún, Marina Bocanegra, Mercedes González Giménez, and María Caridad Robles Mendo.However, despite the appointment of some women to positions of responsibility, something cated to the Centro de Etnología Peninsular remained stable throughout the period.
These staff and budgetary matters had a direct bearing on anthropological work and are an indication of the relevance of anthropology for CSIC, for IBS was able to constantly hire collaborators and scholarship-holders in the context of international isolation and a deep economic crisis.The creation of new sections and their geographical outreach were features shared by other institutes of CSIC.

Publications and research avenues
Since the IBS did not have its own journal, until 1945 their research was published by the journal Atlantis.Actas y Memorias de la Sociedad Española de Antropología, Etnología y Prehistoria, a quarterly pub-lication managed by the SEAEP.This led to disputes between both bodies -in addition to those caused by them sharing the same space -throughout the period.The foundation of the journal Trabajos del Instituto Bernardino de Sahagún (1945) finally gave the IBS its own publication outlet and reduced the number of clashes with the SEAEP.The six-monthly journal Antropología y Etnología, also managed by the IBS, was founded in 1949 to publish the institute's anthropobiological and ethnological works.
These journals, and the books published by CSIC, were the Institute's, and later also the Centro de Estudios de Etnología Peninsular's, main publication outlets.One major research avenue was anthropobiology, and in this the IBS largely followed biological and physical doctrines with some racist and eugenicist undertones.Works concerned with biological and physical anthropology, strongly connected with issues of hygiene and social medicine, covered many pages of the Institute's publications.The institute's very regulations determined that anthropobiological studies (which were divided into different branches: race studies; osteology; human inheritance; constitutional typology; diet; psychotypology; endocrine typology; infant growth; hemato-anthropobiology; and female anthropology) 32 must be based on the study of "healthy and normal children, men, and women." 33Attention to anthropobiology and racial improvement at the IBS, however, went beyond this legal directive, also including anthropobiology courses, targeted at women, to help recognise "possible pathological and constitutional endocrinal alterations, inheritance-related accidents, etc. of Spanish women and children." 34 The IBS's regulations also singled out the study of "customs, art, and popular beliefs in Spain, Morocco, Graph 4. Percentage of budget allocated to Instituto "Bernardino de Sahagún" and Centro de Estudios de Etnología Peninsular.Author's own.Source: CSIC's annual reports and payroll records from both institutions (AGA, Fondo Educación.Libros 289-538 TOP.32/00.201-00.406).and the Colonies." 35This ethnological approach, which focused on native peoples from Iberia, Latin America, and North Africa, was particularly important for anthropological practice during early Francoism, and helped consolidate a research avenue that was to retain its importance throughout the dictatorship.This renewed interest for Africanist studies not only resulted in the foundation of the Instituto de Estudios Africanos (IDEA), attached to the CSIC's Patronato Diego de Saavedra Fajardo, but also to the creation of other Africanist institutes.
As anthropology was made to serve national-Catholic values -based on a full identification of national and religious features, forged by 19 th -century Catholic traditions that went back to Jaime Balmes and had its most prominent champion in Menéndez Pelayo -the State understood that "recovering our former splendour and prestige means reconquering Catholicism for society and the State, creating an organic society built corporately, and resuming stable relations with our American ex-colonies, under the banner of Hispanity" (Botti, 1992, p. 25).With this, Franco tried to appeal to the collective imaginary by means of rhetoric and symbols -including the colonial discourse -working to integrate and nationalise the people to legitimise his regime (Ibidem,p. 196).
The colonial discourse used Romantic images and stereotypes that had been circulating from the late 18 th and early 19 th century (Santos Moro, 2014, p. 236), and linked them with the idea of modernity and progress; evolutionist notions were wielded to define Spain as a civilised society, and Africa as a "primitive" one that needed modernising (Van der Berghe, 1967, pp. 53-54).As such, the colonial discourse was grounded on scientific racialism; while "racism" was seen as a "belief in an essential difference inscribed in the very nature of human groups, that is, in their physical features" (Ibidem, p. 24), racialism was seen as the incorporation of racism to scientific studies ( Van der Berghe, 1967;Taguieff, 1995).Scientific racialism, therefore, tries, in different ways, to demonstrate the existence of "races," whose biological and physical characteristics correlated with psychological and intellectual ones, both in individuals and in groups.This form of racism is strongly deterministic, which in some instances intends to explain not only the features of each member of an alleged race, but also the operation of the societies and communities formed by this race or that (Van der Berghe, 1967, p. 29).
This idea was not new.Anthropological-cultural evolutionism emerged in Great Britain and America in the 19 th century, and authors such as Burnett Tylor and Morgan believed that all societies evolved from inferior and simple systems, such as savagery and barbarism, to the fully developed form of civilisation that characterises complex societies (Restrepo, 2016, p. 11).Evolutionist theories in anthropology were brought to Spain by Antonio Machado y Núñez and Francisco María Tubino, who introduced Ernst Haeckel's work and created the Sociedad Antropológica de Sevilla (1871).Although this theory was not predominant among Spanish anthropologists, it was particularly important for the creation of the colonial discourse.
The colonial discourse developed by the IBS rested on a specific conception of cultural evolution and the staunch defence of the idea of Hispanity, but mostly aspired to "bring the aborigine to the truth, cooperating for this in the work of Catholic Missions," while creating "a patriotic conscience; disseminating the language and virtues of the Spanish race with its Humanistic character; avoiding the rootlessness of natives through the improvement of their living conditions; and thus ensuring their total adherence to Spain and the ideals of Hispanity" (Ndongo Bidyogo, 1998, p. 171).According to Gonzalo Sanz Casas, Francoist Africanism was marked by a "propaganda-ridden, essentialist and activist ideology" (Suarez Blanco, 1997, p. 320).In this way, the regime created Hispanotropicalism, grounded on three main ideological pillars: "Hispanity; Lusotropicalism, and the 'regenerationism' of Joaquín Costa and 19 th -century Spanish Africanists" (Nerín i Abad, 1997, p. 10-11).
Following the notion of colonialism used by Van der Berghe, colonisers intended to bring progress to colonised peoples, "that is, authorise them to identify with the conquering or dominant nation" (Van der Berghe, 1967, p. 54).Responding to this sense of moral, economic, and social superiority and to a paternalist view of the State, Spain had a civilizational duty towards African peoples; evangelising, "civilising," "educating" and bringing progress to its African colonies (Calvo Calvo, 1997, p. 173).This would enable African colonies to "progress" into civilised societies -as Spanish society defined itself -and reach their full potential.As noted by Pérez de Barradas referring to America, "the work of missionaries should be encouraged, because their zeal to know the Indians is valuable not just for them or for the small groups within which they act, but for science more broadly and other missions" (Pérez de Barradas, 1946, pp. 21-22).In order to bring progress, therefore, Africans, their customs and experiences, must be understood because "knowing an object in this way is dominating it" (Said, 2013, p. 59).Naturally, this idea of domination rested on resources that Europeans had been using for a long time.Among these, the most efficient was the deployment of science and knowledge as ways to measure, assess, describe, represent, classify, and categorise peoples taxonomically, establishing their differences and, obviously, their shortcomings, especially vis-à-vis civilisation.This is the reason behind the proliferation of anthropobiological works, which simply described and measured physical features, but also the eminently descriptive nature of ethnological works, which made few contributions to cultural anthropology.This discipline, by its very nature, had little to add to the targets assumed by the leading Spanish anthropologists of the 1940s.This mission of extending progress was formalised with the creation of the Patronato de Indígenas and the Tribunal of the Race, which aimed to "improve the customs of aborigines" (Bosch de la Barrera, 1947, p. 30).Even the Head of State, Franco, assumed the main arguments of this colonial discourse: Saharauis, may God's blessings fall upon you and those fields of endless horizons (…).Lieutenant Colonel Del Oro travelled your land to bring you peace and progress (…).Your Spanish brothers are not hear to upset your peace, your freedom, your dignity, but to help you and bring the progress of civilisation. 36  The arrival of colonial discourses to the growing field of Africanism triggered "the need to study the common origin of Iberian and North African communities from a variety of perspectives" (Cañete, 2021, p. 18).For this reason, the IBS managed to fund numerous research visits to the African colonies to pursue the Institute's two main research avenues: anthropobiology and ethnology.The results were published not only in Atlantis.Actas y Memorias de la Sociedad Española de Antropología, Etnología y Prehistoria and Trabajos del Instituto Bernardino de Sahagún, both directly related to the IBS, but also in the journal África: revista de tropas colonials, which depended on the Instituto de Estudios Africanos.
Anthropobiological studies responded to the need to "characterise the population medically in the context of colonisation.A practice rooted in hygienist principles that intended to identify shortcomings as a tool of colonisation and reform" (Cañete, 2021, p. 249).The IBS's two main anthropobiologists in Africa were Santiago Alcobé Noguer and Julio Cola Alberich, whose racial mosaic -a term coined by Santiago Alcobé -allegedly enabled "a better understanding of the peoples that contribute to the formation of a culture" (Calvo Calvo, 1997, p. 175).Based on these principles, in 1944 Santiago Alcobé visited the Sahara for a year, "under the auspices of the Instituto de Estudios Políticos."This resulted in an anthropobiological report on the nomads of the Spanish Sahara (CSIC, 1946, p. 232).Two years later, he was invited by the Royal Anthropological Institute (London) to give a talk about these groups, which was eventually published in the November 1947 issue of Man (CSIC, 1948, p. 287).In 1948, the Dirección General de Marruecos organised an expedition to Spanish Guinea, under the direction of José María Díaz de Villegas y Bustamante, and the IDEA and Colonias another one to the Gulf of Guinea (Suarez Blanco, 1997, p. 319). 37 The latter expedition was directed by Alcobé Noguer, whose specialist team included Jean Rouch, 38 Fernández Cabeza, and José Pons Rosell.The project aimed to undertake the anthropobiological study of the Guinean population; in the course of three months, they examined 1398 locals, divided into male and female members of the Pamú, Combe, and Bubi groups.They also carried out a study on depigmentation, "based on established inherited lines" (CSIC, 1950a, p. 159).On his return, Alcobé Noguer gave a talk in Madrid, within the IDEA's conference programme, entitled Los pamues en el complejo racial del África negra y Una expedición científica a los territorios españoles del Golfo de Guinea (CSIC, 1950b, p. 197).Using these same results, Alcobé Noguer and Augusto Panyella presented another talk, Estudio cuantitativo de la exogamia en los pomues (fang) de la Guinea Continental Española, at the 14 th International Sociology Conference, held at Rome, (CSIC, 1951, pp. 154-155).Finally, in 1951 they presented another talk entitled Biodinámica de las poblaciones actuales de la Guinea Continental española to the IV Conferencia Internacional de Africanistas Occidentales (CSIC, 1952, p. 178).
For his part, Julio Cola Alberich lived in the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco for five years, studying the locals and trying to establish their cephalic somatoscopy and analysing their tattoos.In order to gain a better understanding of North African kebias, he paid special attention to individuals from the region of Mejala. 39 This study led to his doctoral thesis, entitled Estudio antropológico de la región del Lucus (Marruecos español), where he presented 35 metric variables taken on a total sample of 915 Moroccans. 40 Numerous researchers associated with the IBS contributed to these anthropobiological studies in North Africa, including María de las Mercedes González Gimeno, who in 1942 analysed the first anthropological series of women in the Protectorate of Morocco, which was published under the title "Contribución al estudio de la mujer bereber en Marruecos" (CSIC, 1942, p. 163).Alongside Alcobé Noguer, Carlos Crespo visited Spanish Guinea, where he studied a "hitherto unknown group of Pygmies, whose presence had never been attested so close to the coast" (CSIC, 1948, p. 285).During the same visit, he collected various Bubi and Pamu items in Guinea, which came to expand the Anthropological Museum collection.Also, during the same visit, Fernández Cabeza undertook a constitutional study of Guineans, leading to a talk sponsored by the Dirección General de Marruecos y Colonias (CSIC, 1950b. p. 195).In 1951, he published his results in the monograph entitled La persona pamúe desde el punto de vista biotipológico (CSIC, 1952, p. 175).Finally, in 1950, José Pons Rosell published a monograph with the results of the Guinean expedition under the title Impresiones dermopapilares de indígenas de la Guinea española, en relación con otras poblaciones (CSIC, 1951, p. 155), in which he examined finger patterns, sexual and bimanual differences, and empirical frequency of genes using quantitative methods, which allowed him to compare these results with those published for other populations (Pons Rosell, 1951).This research also led to the publication of an article in the IDEA's Archivos: "Huellas dactilares en negros de la Guinea española" (CSIC, 1952, p. 177).
Both the institute's regulations and everyday scientific practice promoted ethnological research with which to establish an ethnic connection between Spain and Africa: "An assimilationist approach that emphasised similarities between Iberian and African communities" (Cañete, 2021, p. 249).More specifically, the aim was to distinguish between Arab and Berber elements, as the latter were regarded as an "autochthonous population substratum, related to the Iberian" (Ibidem, p. 249).The two main contributors to this ethnological approach were Julio Cola Alberich and Jean Rouch.Cola Alberich tried to complement the physical description of Moroccans with culturalist-inspired works, leading to an important publication entitled Escenas y Costumbres marroquíes (1950), in which he tried to "evoke the essence of Moroccan life (…).Reflecting the folklore, religious traditions, and customs that permeate life" (Cola Alberich, 1950, p. 7).In a similar vein, Jean Rouch -a member of Alcobé Noguer's team in Spanish Guinea -began cooperating with the IBS in 1949, making important contributions to the institute's studies in North Africa and equatorial Africa, including "Notas para un estudio antropológico del bubi de Fernando Poo," in which he carried out "an anthropological, ethnological, and linguistic study following Sullivan" (CSIC, 1950a, p. 157).He also analysed magic and totemism in primitive societies, leading to the publication of "Estudio etnológico sobre las máscaras" in 1950.Jean Rouch's main contribution to Africanist ethnology, however, was the ethnological documentary "Útiles para la enseñanza y la divulgación" (Ibidem, p. 159). 41 This ethnological research was supported by other activities undertaken by both the IBS and the Anthropological Museum.The IBS increased its library's ethnological catalogue, and the museum expanded its collections throughout the period, especially objects from Spanish Guinea and Moroccan textiles and ceramics.Similarly, the foundation of the Ethnological and Colonial Museum in Barcelona on February 5, 1949 added new collections from Africa, America, Japan, and the Philippines (CSIC, 1951, pp. 196-197).Anthropological research in the Spanish African colonies was also boosted by the creation of the Instituto de Estudios Africanos and the publication of results in África: revista de tropas coloniales.This journal was totally in line with the IBS's research approach, publishing articles on anthropobiology and ethnology.Several collaborators of the IBS contributed to the journal, increasing the number of publications on Africanist anthropology.
África printed several anthropobiological works, such as Antonio Linares Maza's -collaborator of the IBS, Medical Captain and director of Malaga's psychiatric clinic -"El tipo humano en nuestro territorio del Ifni" (1943) (Fig. 1).The work included anthropometric studies on Boamaranis and Teknas, and reached the conclusion that they were nomadic groups in a stage of "primitive barbarism" (Linares Maza, 1943, p. 36).The study had a double aim: A scientific-racial one, whose interest has been recently underlined by German scientific works (…) and a prac-tical-constitutional one, which is always of interest for military doctors and currently recognised everywhere for its public, and not only medical, interest (Italian school of Viola and Pende, German school of Brugsch and Kretsc Hmer, etc., French school of Sigaud and Mac-Auliffe" (Ibidem, p. 36).
Similarly, before his visit to the Sahara, in 1944, Alcobé Noguer published the article "Perspectivas para el estudio antropológico del Sáhara español" (Alcobé Noguer, 1944a, p. 16), in which he presented the research approaches to be adopted by the expedition, namely the combination of anthropobiology and ethnology.Martín Almagro, a prehistorian, rather than an anthropologist, led in cultural issues, and Alcobé Noguer in biological ones.In that same year, Alcobé Noguer also published "Noticia de la expedición antropológica al Sáhara español" (Fig. 2), where he explicitly stated that his work was based on the "anthropobiological study of modern Saharan populations" (Alcobé Noguer, 1944b, p. 63).In the article, however, he left himself room for some culturalist ethnology, making an analysis of everyday life in the Sahara, explaining the nature of the territory, and giving a brief ethnological description of Sahrawi people, including their houses, clothing, and customs.anthropometric data and their comparison with those collected in Spain.
África also published anthropological works on the Spanish colonies by authors with no links with the IBS.For instance, Juan Fontán y Lobe, Abelardo de Unzueta y Yuste, and Ángel Flores Morales published ethnological and culturalist works that followed the same doctrinal tenets as those sponsored by the IBS.In 1942, Juan Fontán y Lobé published an article entitled "Poblaciones negras del África Ecuatorial" in which he analysed the houses, tattoos, and customs of the Bubi.Cola Alberich was the last of the IBS's collaborators to publish in the journal.Following a visit to Morocco in 1947, he published "Etnología de la vivienda rural marroquí" (Cola Alberich, 1947, p. 30), in which he makes a purely ethnological study of Moroccan houses, including materials and morphology  In 1943, Abelardo de Unzueta y Yuste published "Pueblos playeros de la Guinea Continental Española," in which he carried out an ethnological analysis of the region's groups; finally, in 1948 Ángel Flores Morales published an anthropobiological work entitled "Razas del Sáhara Español," in which he examined the origin of Sahrawi races.

CONCLUSIONS
Beginning in the 19 th century, Spanish anthropology had followed international trends, especially the French positivist school, the German historical-cultural A year later he published "La estatura en Beni Urriaguel" (Cola Alberich, 1948, p. 32), in which he addressed ethnological and biological issues, including approach, and the Durkheimian school.The situation changed radically with the Civil War and the beginning of Franco's regime, when Spanish anthropology started detaching from its international counterparts.Colonialism was a major issue for the national-Catholic ideology, especially concerning America and Africa.Based on a traditional and paternalist perspective of the State, supported by notions of cultural evolution and the idea of Hispanity, the Francoist colonial discourse aimed to disseminate the virtues of the "Spanish race."The IBS served this purpose not only by undertaking studies about the Spanish colonies and those territories that had once been part of the Spanish Empire, but also by (re)visiting the idea of the Museum of Empire.That was the IBSs ultimate ethnological target in the Spanish colonies: the presentation -and representation -of the culture of these countries through the ideological filter of conservative traditionalism.
Anthropobiology was perhaps the IBS's core research avenue, as illustrated by the surge in the number of anthropobiological studies to the detriment of ethnologic works.Of the sixteen anthropology articles on the African colonies published by the IBS, thirteen had to do with anthropobiology, that is, 81.25% of the total.Things were different with journal África, where eleven out of thirteen articles dealt with ethnological issues (84.61%) and only two with anthropobiology.This explains the reassignment of the IBS to the Patronato "Santiago Ramón y Cajal" in 1946: its research was much more closely aligned with biological studies.This probably also triggered the foundation of the Centro de Estudios de Etnología Peninsular, under Patronato "Menéndez Pelayo," in 1948; this aimed to encourage a research avenue in line with the humanities and the social sciences, and thus more suitable to the ethnological approach.
Internationally, this approach put Spanish anthropology on the back foot, as the field was at the time dominated by cultural studies.In a context dominated by British social anthropology -whose most prominent representatives were the functionalists Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski -and American cultural anthropology -led by Franz Boas, a staunch advocate of historical particularism and responsible for outlining the four fields of modern anthropology -and the increasing importance of Levi-Strauss's structuralism, the IBS's publications -concerning both anthropology and ethnology -made no reference at all to international cultural anthropologists, and only cited physical anthropologists.For instance, Fernández Cabeza cites German and Italian physical anthropologists (e.g.Kretschmer, Eickstedt, and Biasutti -who worked to classify human races) repeatedly, while only Cola Alberich mentions a number of historical-cultural German anthropologists, such as Graebner and Ratzel.
In conclusion, the anthropology promoted by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas's research institutes in the 1940s closely followed an ideological-cultural programme aimed to disseminate the values of the new political-economic and sociocultural order.Investment in anthropobiology clearly outstripped that granted to ethnology, which, despite adopting a heavily culturalist approach, was eminently descriptive.In any case, the role of Africanist anthropology was to sing the praise of Spanish colonial action, defend its right to "empire," and emphasise the moral duty to bring immature societies to the path of progress and civilisation.