The scientific and affective identification of Republican civilian victims from the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

This article addresses the concurrent processes of the scientific and affective identification of human remains, resulting from the excavation of mass graves from the Spanish Civil War. Affective identification refers to the reconstruction of locally meaningful identities, recognition amongst the living of affective bonds with the dead, and the emotions of mourning elicited in this process. Drawing on fieldwork in two rural communities in the Burgos region of Spain, it follows the exhumation of mass graves containing the human remains of local Republican civilians, victims of extrajudicial killings during the Spanish Civil War. The long time lapse between these deaths and current exhumations place these events on the boundaries of living memory, creating challenges for the investigative process. Widespread experiences of political repression during Spain’s dictatorship have resulted in a fractured transmission of memories of the dead, making the question of affective and familial bonds with the dead more complex for these communities.