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Carsten Jac­ob Hum­le­bæk

Associate Professor

Subjects
Tourism Nationalism History Identity Spain

Primary research areas

Span­ish na­tion­al­ism(s)
The Span­ish case with its 20th cen­tury his­tory of na­tion­al­ist ten­sions, 40 years of dic­tat­or­ship, and re­turn to demo­cracy was what got me into aca­demia in the first place. My re­search fo­cus has been on na­tion­al sym­bols and sites of memory, among oth­ers, be­cause they serve as mani­fest­a­tions of na­tion­al­ism and con­tain polit­ics of memory.
Polit­ics of memory in Spain
The trans­ition to demo­cracy was closely linked to a polit­ics of memory that dic­tated fo­cus­ing on the fu­ture and for­get­ting about the past. It was widely ac­cep­ted at first but be­came in­creas­ingly cri­ti­cized around the turn of the cen­tury, which sparked my in­terest. It is a ques­tion that I have fol­lowed since then.
The­or­ies of na­tion­al­ism and col­lect­ive iden­tity
The the­or­et­ic­al fo­cus of my re­search has been on the­or­ies of na­tion­al­ism, where na­tion­al­ism is un­der­stood as a polit­ic­al pro­ject of build­ing com­munit­ies. In this light, it is there­fore linked to the­or­ies of col­lect­ive iden­tity form­a­tion.
Polit­ics of memory and trans­ition­al justice
The Span­ish case has promp­ted new de­vel­op­ments in the­or­ies of trans­ition­al justice vari­ous times, and oc­cu­pa­tion with the the­or­et­ic­al angle on this par­tic­u­lar polit­ics of memory has also been a con­stant in my re­search.
Place brand­ing
My in­terest in na­tion­al­ism has ex­pan­ded in the dir­ec­tion of place brand­ing, which shares sev­er­al fea­tures with na­tion build­ing (one of the goals of na­tion­al­ism). There are, how­ever, also sig­ni­fic­ant dif­fer­ences between the two.
Cul­tur­al tour­ism
For me, cul­tur­al tour­ism brings to­geth­er re­search in­terests into com­munity build­ing and place brand­ing. At the same time, it al­lows me to work with real com­munit­ies rais­ing aware­ness around signs of iden­tity and co-de­vel­op­ing tour­ism products and brand­ing strategies.

I study Spain to learn about trauma, cop­ing and re­build­ing

The tragedy of Spanish 20th century history is also an inspirational story of coping with trauma and struggling to rebuild the country. I have taken the ‘sites of memory’ approach to another level using them as manifestations of discourses, which, over time, demonstrate how national identity is evolving through changes in value attribution.  

After the turn of the century, the so-called ‘pact of forgetting’ became criticized for its negative effects. Together with Spanish colleagues, I have investigated this paradigm shift, and the Spanish case prompted new developments within the theories of transitional justice. These theories are based on a linear understanding of history and the premise that we learn from past mistakes, which is not always the case. 

In my research, I strive to uncover the mechanisms that drive discourses about the nation, an eminently political project that, however, also has a sociological dimension concerned with self-understanding as well as a branding dimension regarding how the external image is affected. Each of these follows its own logic and sometimes they develop in parallel; at other times, however, they do not, and tensions occur. These crises are often gateways to new understandings.

Recent research projects

SECre­Tour Sus­tain­able, En­ga­ging and CRE­at­ive Tour­ism as a driver for a bet­ter fu­ture in rur­al and re­mote areas (2024-2027)

SECre­Tour aims to de­vel­op a fair, cre­at­ive and sus­tain­able tour­ism ap­proach to­geth­er with the loc­al com­munit­ies in ten pi­lot loc­a­tions through test­ing and ex­per­i­ment­ing with new forms of tour­ism...
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IN­CULTUM Vis­it­ing the Mar­gins. IN­nov­at­ive CUL­tur­al ToUr­isM in European peri­pher­ies (2021-2024)

IN­CULTUM aimed at fur­ther­ing sus­tain­able so­cial, cul­tur­al and eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment through cul­tur­al tour­ism. It show­cased the po­ten­tial of mar­gin­al and peri­pher­al areas when man­aged by loc­al...
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Span­ish na­tion­al­ism: Dis­course and polit­ic­al prac­tice from the leftwing (1982-2008) (2009-2012)

This pro­ject fun­ded by the Span­ish Min­istry of Sci­ence and Tech­no­logy aimed at filling a know­ledge gap re­gard­ing Span­ish na­tion­al­ism and na­tion­al­ist sen­ti­ment on the leftwing, both among party...
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