The return of Civil War ghosts: The ethnography of exhumations in contemporary Spain
Abstract
Mass graves resulting from episodes of extreme violence are crucial evidence of the wounds of history, and a key to understanding the dynamics of terror. The intentional jumbling of unidentified corpses in unmarked graves is a source of disorder, anxiety and division in many societies \n(Robben 2000). As a sophisticated instrument of terror, this type of grave is intended to bury the social memory of violence and thus to strengthen the fear-based regimes of the \nperpetrators, which can survive for decades. Yet as social and political circumstances evolve, social memory eventually \nreturns to confront these unquiet graves. Events of recent decades in countries such as Argentina, Guatemala,Spain and Rwanda show us precisely this. What happens \nas a result of these return visits, often involving exhumations, depends on the national and international contexts \nin which the remains are found, investigated and manipulated(Verdery 1999). This paper explores the contemporary controversies around the exhumation of Civil War (1936-1939) mass graves in Spain, as well as the ethnographic challenges posed by them.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography
Marcus, G. E. (1995) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev.an.24.100195.000523 · Cited by 8,885 · see citing works
Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity
Alexander, J. C., Eyerman, R., Giesen, B., Smelser, N. J., & Sztompka, P. (2004) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/9780520936768 · Cited by 1,143 · see citing works
Ginsburg, F. D., Abu-Lughod, L., & Larkin, B. (2002) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/9780520928169 · Cited by 915 · see citing works
Hayner, P. B. (2002) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203903452 · Cited by 800 · see citing works
Sanford, V. (2003) · Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · doi:10.1057/9781403973375 · Cited by 474 · see citing works
Tense Past: Cultural Essays in Trauma and Memory
Leavitt, J., Antze, P., & Lambek, M. (2001) · Anthropologica · doi:10.2307/25606043 · Cited by 373 · see citing works
Hanging Without a Rope: Narrative Experience in Colonial and Post-colonial Karoland
Niessen, S. A. (1994) · Pacific Affairs · doi:10.2307/2760448 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Sztompka, P. (2000) · European Journal of Social Theory · doi:10.1177/136843100003004004 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Jüliá, S., & Casanova, J. (1999) · Virtual Defense Library (Ministerio de Defensa) · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Morir, matar, sobrevivir : la violencia en la dictadura de Franco
Casanova, J., Espinosa, F., Mir, C., & Gómez, F. M. (2002) · Virtual Defense Library (Ministerio de Defensa) · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror
Nagengast, C. (2001) · American Ethnologist · doi:10.1525/ae.2001.28.2.452 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
La columna de la muerte: el avance del ejército franquista de Sevilla a Badajoz
Maestre, F. E. (2003) · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Ruiz, C. M., Sala, M. T. I., Callicó, J. S. I., & de Catalunya, M. D. (2003) · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Revolutionary Exhumations in Spain, July 1936
Lincoln, B. (1985) · Comparative Studies in Society and History · doi:10.1017/s0010417500011348 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Esclavos por la patria: la explotación de los presos bajo el franquismo
Lafuente, I. (2002) · Virtual Defense Library (Ministerio de Defensa) · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Los niños perdidos del franquismo
Pérez, J., Vinyes, R., Armengou, M., Belis, R., Armengou, M., & Belis, R. (2005) · Hispania · doi:10.2307/20063190 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Memoria y olvido de la guerra civil española
Cuevas, P. C. G. (1997) · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Hijos de la guerra: testimonios y recuerdos
Reverte, J. M., & Thomás, S. (2001) · Virtual Defense Library (Ministerio de Defensa) · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Los crímenes de la guerra civil y otras polémicas
Rodríguez, P. M. (2004) · Virtual Defense Library (Ministerio de Defensa) · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Díez, L. M. (2004) · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Torres, R. (2002) · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Las políticas de la memoria en los sistemas democráticos: poder, cultura y mercado
del Río, J. M. V., & Narotzky, S. (2005) · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Cited by 4 · see citing works
El canto del búho: la vida en el monte de los guerrilleros antifranquistas
Domingo, A. (2002) · Virtual Defense Library (Ministerio de Defensa) · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Otero, A., Rivas, M., Vilavedra, D., & Otero, A. (2000) · Hispania · doi:10.2307/346193 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 23
- 10.1525/california/9780520235946.003.0001 · DOI · Paper page
- Cebrián J.L., 2003, Francomoribundia
- Cercas J., 2001, Soldados de Salamina
- Chacón D., 2002, La voz dormida
- Delgado M., 2001, Luces iconoclastas: Anticlericalismo, espacio y poder en la España contemporánea
- Elio L., 2002, Soledad de ausencia: Entre las sombras de la muerte
- Elordi C., 2002, Los años difíciles: El testimonio de los protagonistas anónimos de la guerra civil y la posguerra
- Ferrándiz F., 2005, Las políticas de la memoria en los sistemas democráticos: Poder, cultura y mercado
- Ferrero J., 2003, Las trece rosas
- García Alonso M., 2004, La desgeneralización del mundo: Reflexiones en conceptos de globalización
- Herzfeld M., 2001, Sufferings and disciplines. In: Anthropology: Theoretical practice in culture and society
- Juliá S., 2003, Memoria y amnistía en la transición, Claves de razón práctica, 129, 14
- Juliá S., 2004, Historia de las dos Españas
- Juliá S., 1999, Víctimas de la guerra civil
- Regás R., 1999, Luna lunera
- Rodrigo J., 2003, Los campos de concentración franquistas: Entre la historia y la memoria
- Salas Larrázabal R., 1977, Pérdidas de la guerra
- Sans J., 2001, Comisario de choque: La guerra que nunca imaginé
- Semprún J., 2003, Veinte añosy un día
- Silva E., 2003, Las fosas de Franco
- Torres R., 2002, Desaparecidos de la guerra de españa (1936‐?)
- Tusell J., 2003, La reconciliación española, Claves de razón práctica, 132, 32
- Verdery K., 1999, The political lives of dead bodies: Reburial and postcolonial change
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Making things public: Archaeologies of the Spanish Civil War
González-Ruibal, A. (2007) · Public Archaeology · doi:10.1179/175355307x264165 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
CRIES AND WHISPERS: EXHUMING AND NARRATING DEFEAT IN SPAIN TODAY
Ferrándiz, F. (2008) · Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies · doi:10.1080/14636200802283704 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Self-citationMissing Bodies Near-at-Hand: The Dissonant Memory and Dormant Graves of the Spanish Civil War
Renshaw, L. (2010) · An Anthropology of Absence · doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-5529-6_3 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Delgado, M. M. (2015) · Theatre Journal · doi:10.1353/tj.2015.0042 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Ferrándiz, F. (2013) · Anthropology Today · doi:10.1111/1467-8322.12073 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citationAyán-Vila, X., & González-Ruibal, A. (2014) · Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology · doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1568 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- FERRÁNDIZ, F.
- Affiliations
- Universidad de Deusto (ES)
- Corresponding author
- FERRÁNDIZ, FRANCISCO
- Venue
- Anthropology Today
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2006-06
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 7-12
- ISSN
- 0268-540X (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8322
- OpenAlex
- W2098042903
- Cited by
- 144
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 63.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Anthropology Today (publishedVersion)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Spanish Culture and Identity
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Memory, violence, and history
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Spanish History and Politics
- Keywords
- exhumation, mass graves, Spanish Civil War, social memory, collective memory, historical memory, terror, forensic archaeology
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
