Exhuming Loss - 9781611320428

Since the 1980s, the dominant paradigm for investigations of atrocities has been the use of forensic exhumation of human remains. This book explores the political and symbolic power of exhumation and the many factors that contribute to it. Renshaw (forensic archaeology and anthropology, Kingston University, UK) examines the moral, metaphysical, and psychological aspects of exhumation in the case of mass graves of Republican civilians killed by supporters of Franco's coup in two rural communities during the Spanish Civil War. The book draws on interviews with relatives of those murdered, older members of the surrounding communities, and other forensic archaeologists. A preamble reviews the literature of the political uses of exhumation, and an introduction reviews the history of the Spanish Civil War, dictatorship, and the transition to democracy. Subsequent chapters explore Republican identity and Spanish memory politics, the creation of new individual and collective identities in the present, and the possibility of redemption and closure in the wake of trauma. The book is illustrated with b&w photos of archaeological sites. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)