Description
Book SynopsisNicole Iturriaga offers an ethnographic examination of how Spanish human rights activists use forensic methods to challenge dominant histories, reshape collective memory, and create new forms of transitional justice.
Exhuming Violent Histories sheds new light on how science and technology intersect with human rights and collective memory.
Trade ReviewOften moving and eminently readable way....a quite useful text for undergraduate students of ethnography, human rights, memory, and collective collaboration. * H-Sci-Med-Tech *
Exhuming Violent Histories exhibits deep research and attention to detail, in addition to being clearly written. In all my years conducting forensic investigations of the disappeared and researching and writing about their effects on survivors and communities, I have never come across a book that does such a thorough job of analyzing this process in the context of Spain. -- Eric Stover, coauthor of
Hiding in Plain Sight: The Pursuit of War Criminals from Nuremberg to the War on TerrorExhuming Violent Histories is an engaging ethnography of how forensic and genetic sciences are being deployed to recover and reframe literally buried histories in post-Franco Spain. Through their painstaking work, human rights-oriented forensic specialists and human rights activists are together challenging the necropower of the state and revising the official history of the Franco era. Iturriaga also reflects upon transnational advocacy and how such efforts further social justice. -- Gail Kligman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
Nicole Iturriaga has written a terrific book.
Exhuming Violent Histories is a compelling portrait of efforts to reclaim the remains of civilian victims of the Spanish Civil War era. But more importantly, she has delivered a clarion call for how activists can utilize forensic science to advance human rights on a global scale. -- Scott Ellsworth, author of
The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for JusticeThere is no doubt that scholars of human rights, peace, conflict and justice studies, and law and social movements will find this well-researched and accessibly written book useful and deeply engaging. * Social Forces *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1.
No Pasarán? The Spanish Civil War, the Franco Regime, and Democracy
2. Excavations: A Scientific Trojan Horse
3. At the Foot of the Grave: Teaching Science and the “True” History of Spain
4. Reburying the Dead: Performance of Grief and Reframed Narratives
5. Transnational Networks
Epilogue
Methodological Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
