Description
Winner, 2023 Charles Tilly Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section, American Sociological Association
Honorable Mention, 2023 Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section Outstanding Book Award, Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section, American Sociological Association
Many years after the fall of Franco's regime, Spanish human rights activists have turned to new methods to keep the memory of state terror alive. By excavating mass graves, exhuming remains, and employing forensic analysis and DNA testing, they seek to provide direct evidence of repression and break through the silence about the dictatorship's atrocities that persisted well into Spain's transition to democracy.
Nicole 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. She argues that by grounding their claims in science, activists can present themselves as credible and impartial, helping them intervene in fraught public disputes about the remembrance of the past. The perceived legitimacy and authenticity of scientific techniques allows their users to contest the state's historical claims and offer new narratives of violence in pursuit of long-delayed justice.
Iturriaga draws on interviews with technicians and forensics experts and provides a detailed case study of Spain's best-known forensic human rights organization, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory. She also considers how the tools and tactics used in Spain can be adopted by human rights and civil society groups pursuing transitional justice in other parts of the world. An ethnographically rich account, Exhuming Violent Histories sheds new light on how science and technology intersect with human rights and collective memory.
About the Author
Nicole Iturriaga is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at the University of California, Irvine, and was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute Center on Religious and Cultural Diversity.
Reviews
Often 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 Terror
Exhuming 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 Justice
There 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 *
Awards
Winner of Charles Tilly Award for the Best Book in Collective Behavior and Social Movements, Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements, American Sociological Association 2023. Commended for Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section Outstanding Book Award, Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section, American Sociological Association 2023.
Book Information
ISBN 9780231201131
Author Nicole Iturriaga
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
Honorable Mention, 2023 Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section Outstanding Book Award, Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section, American Sociological Association
Many years after the fall of Franco's regime, Spanish human rights activists have turned to new methods to keep the memory of state terror alive. By excavating mass graves, exhuming remains, and employing forensic analysis and DNA testing, they seek to provide direct evidence of repression and break through the silence about the dictatorship's atrocities that persisted well into Spain's transition to democracy.
Nicole 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. She argues that by grounding their claims in science, activists can present themselves as credible and impartial, helping them intervene in fraught public disputes about the remembrance of the past. The perceived legitimacy and authenticity of scientific techniques allows their users to contest the state's historical claims and offer new narratives of violence in pursuit of long-delayed justice.
Iturriaga draws on interviews with technicians and forensics experts and provides a detailed case study of Spain's best-known forensic human rights organization, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory. She also considers how the tools and tactics used in Spain can be adopted by human rights and civil society groups pursuing transitional justice in other parts of the world. An ethnographically rich account, Exhuming Violent Histories sheds new light on how science and technology intersect with human rights and collective memory.
About the Author
Nicole Iturriaga is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at the University of California, Irvine, and was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute Center on Religious and Cultural Diversity.
Reviews
Often 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 Terror
Exhuming 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 Justice
There 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 *
Awards
Winner of Charles Tilly Award for the Best Book in Collective Behavior and Social Movements, Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements, American Sociological Association 2023. Commended for Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section Outstanding Book Award, Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section, American Sociological Association 2023.
Book Information
ISBN 9780231201131
Author Nicole Iturriaga
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
