Professor Stapell’s research examines political and cultural change in modern Spain and the history of popular social movements that have sought to reshape modern life.
His scholarship on modern Spain focuses on national and regional identity, democratization, Americanization, urban culture, and political participation. This work includes his book, Remaking Madrid: Culture, Politics, and Identity after Franco, as well as his current research on foreign women, gendered labor, and international anti-fascism during the Spanish Civil War.
A second strand of his research explores evolutionary health, the Paleo movement, and the history of European physical culture. This work examines how reformers have drawn on evolution and the human past to diagnose the problems of modern life and propose alternative ways of living.
Google Scholar webpage for Hamilton M. Stapell.
Publications
Book:
▪ Remaking Madrid: Culture, Politics, and Identity after Franco. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Remaking Madrid is the first full-length study of Madrid’s transformation from the dreary home of the Franco dictatorship into a modern and vibrant city. It argues that this remarkable transformation in the 1980s helped secure Spain’s fragile transition to democracy and that the transformation itself was primarily a product of “regionalism”–even though the capital is typically associated with “Spanishness” and with “the nation.” The official project to distance Madrid from its dictatorial past included urban renewal and administrative reform; but, above all, it involved greater cultural participation, which led the revival of the capital’s public festivals and the development of a modern cultural outpouring known as the movida madrileña. The book also explains the ultimate failure of regionalism in the capital by the end of the 1980s and asks whether or not Madrid’s inclusive form of “civic” identity might have served as a model for the country as a whole.
Book Chapters:
▪ “Enrique Tierno Galván: ‘El viejo profesor’ y la transformación de Madrid, 1979-1986.” In Algo más que cabos sueltos. El Partido Socialista Popular en su contexto internacional, edited by Enrico Giordano and Misael Arturo López Zapico. Valladolid, Spain: University of Valladolid Press, 2026.
▪ "From Physical Culture to the Primal Life: Evolutionary Health Movements in Historical Context." In Evolutionary Studies: Darwin’s Roadmap to the Curriculum, edited by David Sloan Wilson, Glenn Geher, Hadassah Head, and Andrew Gallup. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
▪ “Bienvenido, Walt Disney?: Rethinking Americanization, Anti-Americanism, and Cultural Imperialism in Post-Franco Spain.” In North America and Spain: Transversal Perspectives, edited by Julio Cañero. New York: Escribana Books, 2017.
▪ “The Same in Name, But Different: the movida madrileña and the other ‘movidas’ of Spain.” In Back to the Future: Towards a Cultural Archive of the Movida, edited by William J. Nichols and H. Rosi Song. Lanham, Maryland: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013.
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles:
▪ “Postmodern Cavemen: The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of the Paleo Diet, 2000–2025.” Peer-reviewed article accepted at the journal Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies. Forthcoming in 2027.
▪ "Paleo Then and Now: A Five-Year Follow-up Survey of the Ancestral Health Community." Co-authored with: Anthony J. Basile and David B. Schwartz. Journal of Evolution and Health 5, no. 1 (2020): Article 1.
▪ “Bienvenido, Mickey Mouse!?: Hopes for a Magic Kingdom in Post-Franco Spain.” Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies 44, no. 1 (2019): Article 8.
▪ "Status of Evolutionary Medicine within the Field of Nutrition and Dietetics: A Survey of Professionals and Students." Co-authored with: Anthony J. Basile, David B. Schwartz, and Joseph B. Rigdon. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health 2018, no. 1 (2018) 201-210.
▪ "Beyond Cultural Imperialism: Rethinking Americanization, National Identity, and ‘Difference’ in Post-Franco Spain," Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies 41, no.1 (2016): Article 5.
▪ "Going Mainstream or Just a Passing Fad? The Future of the Ancestral Health Movement." Journal of Evolution and Health 1, no. 1 (2016): Article 11.
▪ “Modern Cavemen? Stereotypes and Reality of the Ancestral Health Movement.” Co-authored with David B. Schwartz. Journal of Evolution and Health 1, no. 1 (2013): Article 3.
▪ “’Do You Feel More Madrileño or Español?’: Making the Case for Regionalism in the Capital, 1979-1990.” Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies 35, no. 1 (2011): Article 1.
▪ “Walking the Walk to Teach the Talk: Implementing Ancestral Lifestyle Strategies as the Newest Tool in Evolutionary Studies.” Co-authored with: Steven Platek, Glenn Geher, Leslie Heywood, J. Ryan Porter & Tia Walters. Evolution: Education and Outreach 4, no. 1 (2011): 41-51.
▪ “Just a Teardrop in the Rain? The movida madrileña and Democratic Identity Formation in the Capital, 1979-1986.” Bulletin of Spanish Studies 86, no. 3 (2009): 345-369.
▪ “Reconsidering Spanish Nationalism, Regionalism, and the Center-Periphery Model in the Post-Francoist Period, 1975-1992.” International Journal of Iberian Studies 20, no. 3 (2007): 171-185.
Invited Articles and Book Reviews:
▪ “The Future of the Ancestral Health Movement.” This View of Life Magazine (The Evolution Institute), ProSocial World, July 16, 2024.
▪ Review of Flamenco Nation: The Construction of Spanish National Identity by Sandie Holguín. In The Journal of Modern History, 92, no. 4 (December 2020): 959-961.
▪ Review of US-Spanish Relations after Franco: The Will of the Weak by Morten Heiberg. In European History Quarterly 48, no. 4 (2018): 747-749.
▪ Review of Madrid’s Forgotten Avant-Garde: Between Essentialism and Modernity by Silvina Schammah Gesser. In European History Quarterly 46, no. 4 (2016): 742-743.
▪ Review of Barcelona and Madrid Social Networks of the Avant-Garde by Aránzazu Ascunce Arenas. In European History Quarterly 43, no. 3 (2013): 742-473.
▪ Review of Crossing through Chueca. Lesbian Literary Culture in Queer Madrid by Jill Robbins. In Bulletin of Spanish Studies 90, no. 2 (2013): 283-284.
▪ Review of Spain since 1939 by Stanley Black. In European History Quarterly 42, no. 4 (October 2012): 680-681.
▪ “Spain's Election Is Set to Worsen the Crisis in Europe.” Foreign Affairs. November 17, 2011.
▪ Review of Más es más. Sociedad y cultura en la España democrática, 1986-2008 by Jordi Gracia and Domingo Ródenas de Moya, eds. In Bulletin of Spanish Studies 88, no. 2 (2011): 305-306.
Works In Progress
▪ “Redefining Political Participation: Foreign Women, Gendered Labor, and International Anti-Fascism in the Spanish Civil War.” Peer-reviewed article for The Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies.
▪ “Lessons Learned from the Paleo Diet: Implications for Nutrition Education and Behavior.” Co-authored with: Anthony J. Basile, Hilary J. Bethancourt, and Adrienne Bitar. Peer-reviewed article currently under review at Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
▪ “Degeneration, Health, and Modernity: Evolution and the Physical Culture Movement.” Book manuscript in progress.