The Pedagogical Missions in the Alpujarra of Granada (1933): an analysis in comparative perspective with other Missions in Andalucia

Abstract

The deep inequality with reference to educational and cultural backwardness of rural spanish areas in the first third of xx century seemed remarkable faced to the emerging cultural development in urban zones. The arrival of the Second Republic brought with the first serious attempt to modernize, democratize and reform the education system. These efforts reached the field of formal education; the creation of the Board of Pedagogical Missions in 1931 signified the start-up of an extensive network of popular education activities with the intention of putting culture and education closer for the inhabitants of remote zones in the spanish geography. This article expects to analyse the work executed by the Pedagogical Missions in the province of Granada and Andalucia, as well as to describe its impact on educational and cultural dimession in La Alpujarra after its task during the 1933 summer in the context of an agrarian Andalucia, with high rates of illetracy and a great distancy between the countryside and the city.