Biography:

José Luis Villanova Valero (Zaragoza, 1957) is a aggregate professor at the University of Girona. He studied geography at the Autonomous University of Barcelona where he obtained his Master in Geography in 1998. He qualified as a Doctor in Geography (Territorial Ordenation and Environmental Management) at the University of Girona in 2003. He pursues lines of research into geography and colonialism, historical cartography and geopolitics. He has taken part in diverse research projects into the geography and Spanish colonialism of Morocco financed by the Ministry of Education and Sceince and by the University of Girona, and into Catalan expeditions and travellers in Africa, financed by the Institute of Catalan studies. During the 2006-2007 course he spent a period of four months at the Institut Français de Géopolitique of the Paris 8 University (2006-2007).