Berber Bevernage
Ghent University, History, Faculty Member
Call for papers
Research Interests:
During the last decade, Spanish memory movements have exhumed a great number of mass graves from the Civil War and Francoist repression. This exhumation campaign is often interpreted in psychopathological terms as a natural reaction to a... more
During the last decade, Spanish memory movements have exhumed a great number of mass graves from the Civil War and Francoist repression. This exhumation campaign is often interpreted in psychopathological terms as a natural reaction to a traumatic past and as proving that this past should be healed by a therapeutic memory that fosters closure -- a vision that we call 'trauma-therapy-closure (TTC) time'.
Although this vision is in line with widespread 'transitional justice' discourse it should be critically analyzed. We argue that the Spanish situation does not prove the naturalness and universal applicability of TTC time. Although we do identify an influential exhumation group that shares aspects of this TTC vision, its approach is contested by local actors and competing exhumation organizations that engage in alternative politics of time. Therefore we demonstrate how the case of Spain rather reveals how TTC time is actively disseminated and promoted on a local level.
Although this vision is in line with widespread 'transitional justice' discourse it should be critically analyzed. We argue that the Spanish situation does not prove the naturalness and universal applicability of TTC time. Although we do identify an influential exhumation group that shares aspects of this TTC vision, its approach is contested by local actors and competing exhumation organizations that engage in alternative politics of time. Therefore we demonstrate how the case of Spain rather reveals how TTC time is actively disseminated and promoted on a local level.