Archaeologies. Journal of the World Archaeology Congress, 4(3): 429-444, 2008

The recovery of historic memory of the Spanish Civil War is a multilayered initiative to escape both the romanticism of the Franco era, in which only the glory of the victors was celebrated while their past atrocities were ignored, and the cautiousness of the post-Franco democracy, for which forced amnesia of the Civil War was considered a sacrifice for the greater good. In the past five years the efforts to recover historic memory have gained empirical footing by employing archaeological methods to locate, enumerate and identify the victims of extrajudicial executions. The ultimate goals of such work include the production of a more accurate historical statement of past events, the repatriation of missing persons to their families, and the documentation of physical evidence that may allow families to seek civil restitutions. While the scientific methodology is fairly straightforward, the process is nonetheless inherently political in that various government bodies can and do impede recovery efforts. This paper contextualizes the current political and social climate of human rights investigations in Spain by illustrating some of the recent recovery efforts in Catalonia and Andalucia. Le rétablissement de la mémoire historique concernant la guerre civile espagnole est une initiative à plusieurs niveaux pour échapper au romantisme de l’ère franquiste, dans laquelle seule la gloire des vainqueurs était célébrée, tandis que leurs exactions criminelles étaient passées sous silence. La prudence de la démocratie postfranquiste forçait l’amnésie de la guerre civile tout en la considérant comme un sacrifice nécessaire au bien de tous. Au cours de ces cinq dernières années, les efforts déployés pour rétablir la mémoire historique a empiriquement gagné du terrain de façon par l’emploi de méthodes archéologiques destinées à localiser, faire le compte et identifier les victimes d’exécutions extrajudiciaires. Les objectifs ultimes d’un tel travail comprennent la production d’une mémoire historique plus précise des événements passés, la restitution des personnes disparues à leurs familles, et la documentation de preuves physiques qui peuvent conduire les familles à entamer des poursuites judiciaires en vue d’obtenir des compensations. Tandis que la méthodologie scientifique est assez simple et directe, le processus est malgré tout politique par nature et sujet aux divers corps gouvernementaux qui peuvent entraver les efforts déployés. Cet article contextualise la politique et le climat social actuels des enquêtes sur les droits humanitaires en Espagne, en illustrant les efforts récents de rétablissement de la mémoire historique en Catalogne et en Andalousie. La recuperación de la memoria histórica de la Guerra Civil Española es una iniciativa de varios niveles con la que se persigue escapar tanto del romanticismo de la era franquista, en la que sólo se celebraba la gloria de los vencedores ocultando las atrocidades del pasado, y la prudencia de la democracia posterior a Franco, que consideraba la amnesia sobre lo relacionado con la Guerra Civil un sacrificio necesario para disfrutar de más prosperidad. En los últimos cinco años, los esfuerzos para recuperar la memoria histórica han ganado fundamento empírico con el empleo de métodos arqueológicos que permiten localizar, enumerar e identificar las víctimas de las ejecuciones extrajudiciales. El fin último de este trabajo es la recuperación de unos hechos históricos más precisos del pasado, la repatriación de los desaparecidos a sus familias y la documentación de las pruebas físicas que pueden permitir a las familias solicitar restituciones civiles. Aunque el método científico es bastante sencillo, el proceso es sin embargo político en esencia, en el sentido de que los distintos organismos gubernamentales puede constituir un obstáculo a los esfuerzos de recuperación y de hecho, lo hacen. Este trabajo presenta el clima político y social de las investigaciones actuales sobre derechos humanos en España, poniendo como ejemplo algunos de los trabajos recientes de recuperación en Cataluña y Andalucía.

2011

This dissertation analyses the role archaeologists are playing in Spain within the context of the so-called 'recovery of the historical memory'. I will review how the archaeology of the Spanish Civil War is being constructed by trying to combine very different approaches towards heritage, human rights and political activism. This is a recent and ongoing process which still needs the development of a coherent theoretical base. I will use the exhumation of mass graves as a phenomenon in which the complexities and contradictions of the current situation can be revealed. My main objective is to demonstrate how imperative it is to initiate a deep debate at the heart of the discipline in order to reconsider how archaeologists are joining this social movement. I will review several examples that illustrate the way some academics and professionals are beginning to assume new public responsibilities. This alternative implies defining and defending their own criteria while taking part in broader political controversies. This is precisely what tends to be avoided by those who understand the archaeological practice as an aseptic or apolitical task. In the case of the 'recovery of the historical memory', this conception does relegate archaeologists to a merely technical position with little legitimacy to question their own framework.

2010

eds.) 2008. Diccionario político y social del siglo XX español. Madrid: Alianza, 1395 pp.

2015

European Review, 21, 4, 507-522, 2013

2018

Historical research in Spain, as in other countries, has been deeply affected by the historiographical revolution of the twentieth century—the decline and retreat of traditional history and the consequent rise and dissemination of the social history paradigm, embodied, for example, in the Marxist and Annales schools. The transition to social history undoubtedly started later in Spain than elsewhere, and it was largely brought about by foreign influences. Indeed, Spain's historiographical dependence on the outside continues even now; Spanish historians are more often beneficiaries than creators of historiographical innovations. Regardless of the ge-nealogy of the Spanish historiographical revolution, however, the important point is that it happened, and as a result historical research in Spain during recent decades has reached a level of analytical sophistication similar to that of the most advanced historiographies. Since the advent of social history, the objects of study, method-ological and theoretical concerns, research agendas, and principal debates of Span-ish historians have been essentially the same as those of their foreign colleagues. At the same time, the huge growth of historical research and the creation of a solid, professional academic infrastructure, including academic journals, have clearly brought Spanish history much closer to the forefront of the discipline. Indeed, Spanish historical research is now clearly in the international mainstream. The object of this article is to describe the terms and extent of this modernization process and to examine the specific impact it has had on works in the fields of nineteenth-and twentieth-century Spanish history. I will try to give the reader not only a comprehensive view of recent developments in Spanish historiography but also an assessment of the contribution of this historiography to the general development of historical knowledge. The adoption by Spanish historians of the new social history paradigm and the abrupt theoretical change this involved led to a fundamental redefinition of the object of study. In Spain, as elsewhere, the old narrative history of high politics, institutions, and great individuals gave way to a history that was more concerned with the study of economic and social phenomena and of collective action. Spanish social historians were driven to explore historical events that had previously been * Translated for the Journal of Modern History by Edwin Tudsbery.