Exhuming Violent Histories: How to Tell the Story of Spain's Mass Graves

The Sobremesa Podcast

This week's guest is sociologist Nicole Iturriaga who Eoghan talked to about her new book 'Exhuming Violent Histories: Forensics, Memory and Rewriting Spain's Past'. The book provides a detailed case study of Spain’s best-known historical memory organization, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory which since 2000 has been responsible for exhuming many of Spain's Franco-era mass graves. In the book, Nicole argues that part of the association's success has been due to its use of a depoliticised approach, i.e. using forensic science and family testimony, rather than overtly political arguments, to force the issue of Francoist state terror back onto the public agenda. It is available to buy on amazon (including in a very reasonable ebook version): https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B094YXN968/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0