The Politics of Memory: Unearthing Mass Graves from the Spanish Civil War

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Wednesday November 04, 2009 13:45 by xtic - PRA

A talk by Prof Ermengol Gassiot (University of Barcelona)

Those interested in the recent history of Spain and the repression brought on by the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil war may be interested in attending this talk by Catalan academic Ermengol Gassiot entitled ‘’The Politics of Memory: Unearthing Mass Graves from the Spanish Civil War". It’s being organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub and takes place on Friday 13 November in Room C6002 in the Arts Block, TCD between 13.00-14.30.

The bodies of 13 unidentified Republican militants excavated last year in Alto do Aceves, murdered by Falangists in October 1937

The modern states of Ireland and Spain have both emerged from periods of civil war which have, unremarkably, fashioned the political make-up of both to the present day. The recent publicity surrounding the excavation of the grave of dramatist Federico García Lorca has highlighted an issue that has been central to grassroots political participation in Spain under the auspices of the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica. The organisation has coordinated the excavation of 100s of mass graves dating to the Civil War period, work which has been actively opposed by the right-wing Partido Popular, uncomfortable with the opening up of old wounds which point unambiguously to the ferocity of fascist repression.

Gassiot is a pre-historian of some note and it will be interesting to discover how the cloistered world of Spanish archaeology has come to terms with a situation where the majority of excavations in the country are now conducted to this overtly political purpose.

It is difficult not to draw comparisons with our own 'disappeared' and the lack of archaeological engagement with the troubled period of our own recent past.