Francisco Ferrándiz

CRIES AND WHISPERS: EXHUMING AND NARRATING DEFEAT IN SPAIN TODAY

In this paper, I will reflect on the impact in contemporary Spain of the production, circulation and consumption of narratives and images of civil war terror and suffering, specifically those resulting from the opening of mass graves from the Francoist repression. This sharing of narratives has to be seen in the context of a broader and highly controversial process of reconsideration of the civil war as a traumatic past. At a time when Spanish society is engaged in important debates regarding the singularity or plurality of our identity and the structure of our territorial organization, these exhumations are bringing to light rather disturbing information regarding our past, our present and probably our future as well. The excavation of these ‘‘crime scenes’’ in various parts of the country is provoking heated discussions and performances in family contexts, politics, historiography, the media, the arts and the public sphere in general. For example, the public display of skeletons, skulls and bone fragments bearing the marks of violence*from ‘‘perimortem’’ tortures to bullet wounds and coups de grâce*is bringing back tragic stories that, for many relatives but also for civil society at large, were for decades mostly silenced, told in whispers, imperfectly transmitted in limited family circles or simply ignored. The screen of silence, fear and self-censorship has been particularly strong in local, rural contexts. Exhumation and narration are inextricably entwined. Exhumations elicit storytelling; conversely, their meaning and social impact depend on the available repertoire of competing ‘‘memory plots’’. These range from expert discourses, political initiatives, media reports, memoirs, and artworks to more local, fragmented, and ‘‘fugitive’’ memories (Steedly 119 143) that have barely survived in the interstices of the dictatorship’s hegemonic accounts of ‘‘Victory’’, remaining largely ignored since the dictator’s death.

Memory, media and spectacle: Interviú's portrayal of Civil War exhumations in the early years of Spanish democracy

ABSTRACT The Franco regime promoted a memory of the war full of distortions and omissions. The silenced existence of mass graves with Republican civilians executed by Francoists was among the most outrageous of these. During the transition, the desire to put aside the traumatic memory of the war led to the neglect of these victims. This was particularly visible in the absence of government policies regarding these corpses. In spite of this silence, a first wave of exhumations took place in the transition period. We deal with its unique exposure in one of Spains most controversial and successful magazines: Interviú. Despite widespread extreme-right violence and threats, Interviú was one of the very few media that dared to cover this type of information. This article is based on research in Interviús archives and on interviews with some of the journalists responsible for the reports. We will explain the reasons behind these unparalleled reports and will analyze why, in contrast with what happened many years later, Interviús efforts failed to unleash a widespread social reaction in favor of exhuming and reburying the remains concealed in these graves. Our study contributes to current debates on the interconnections between the media and complex social memory processes.

Rapid response ethnographies in turbulent times: Researching mass grave exhumations in contemporary Spain (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This article is part of COST Action IS1203. It is also a result of Research Project CSO2012-32709, financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.