Contra la Pospolítica: Arqueología de la Guerra Civil Española

Alfredo González-Ruibali

doi:10.5354/0719-1472.2010.13832

Abstract

Since the 1980s archaeological discourse has been increasingly fi lled with references to ethics and politics. During the last decade, many rchaeologists have seen in multivocality the epitome of a politically-compromised archaeology. In this paper, I argue that the concern for ethical issues and multivocality are far from being a sound basis for a critical archaeology. Th ey are rather a symptom of the postpolitic moment in which we are living. In fact, the success of ethics over politics in archaeology corroborates the fi rm rooting of neoliberal principles in the discipline. Drawing upon the example of the Spanish Civil War and Slavoj Žižek's theories, I explore the fl aws of post-processual politics. In the Spanish case, ethics, democratic fundamentalism and diff erent forms of multivocality are being used by the right to neutralize the truly critical and radical power that excavating the remains of the confl ict might imply. An authentically political archaeology is proposed here, based on exclusion, division and intolerance (sensu Žižek).Key words: Post-processual Archaeology, Ethics, Multivocality, Spanish Civil War, Slavoj Žižek.

Highlights

Since the 1980s archaeological discourse has been increasingly filled with references to ethics and politics
Es necesario recordar que la arqueología latinoamericana se había adelantado una década al mundo anglosajón en sus preocupaciones sociales, sin embargo, en el caso latinoamericano la crítica política se realizó a partir de posiciones positivas basadas en el materialismo histórico (Lumbreras 1974)
Naturalmente, tomar partido —tomar partido de verdad, no negociar visiones dispares, como hacen Hodder o Holtorf— no significa ni falsificar la historia con discursos basados en nuestra propia subjetividad y orientaciones ideológicas, ni negar las atrocidades del lado con el que mantenemos más afinidad política y moral

Summary

Introduction

Since the 1980s archaeological discourse has been increasingly filled with references to ethics and politics. No sólo resulta mucho más difícil entender el por qué del conflicto armado en términos históricos, sino que además se ofrece una visión despolitizada, pero nada inocente, de la Guerra Civil.

Results

Conclusion