Pinta Pasado, Crea Futuro: a new approach for remembering the Second Republic, the Civil War, and the Franco dictatorship

Abstract

ABSTRACT The trauma wrought by fascism in Spain continues to haunt the country and spur various memory-oriented inquiries. However, the youth has not demonstrated thus far that it will continue the memory projects currently conducted mostly by the third generation, aged approximately between fifty-five and thirty-five. Activist art inspired by critical pedagogy can provide one effective framework for engaging the Spanish youth in remembrance of the Second Republic and the trauma caused by Francoism. The inspiration for Pinta Pasado, Crea Futuro was Judith Baca’s The Great Mural of Los Angeles for which she employed hundreds of marginalized youth in the late 1970’s. This project provides a framework for the Spanish youth to publicly recreate their own historical narration on the democratic achievements of the Second Republic and the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the fascist uprising, the ensuing war, and Franco’s dictatorship. While learning history in an academic setting rarely invites students to do anything with their knowledge, activist art inspired by critical pedagogy puts the youth in the saddle of transmitting history. Interacting with the past in this fashion can motivate the participants to become involved in historical memory.