Contemporary Memory Politics in Catalonia: Europeanizing and Mobilizing the History of the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

Messenger investigates the prominent and complex role that the memories of Catalonia’s experience in the Spanish Civil War play in ideas about Catalan identity. Focusing on how contemporary Catalan memory sites construct narratives that link experiences of the Spanish Civil War and the fight for democracy with the broader European struggle against Nazism in World War II, the chapter shows how these narratives not only connect Catalonia’s past to Europe’s, but also posit Catalonia as an essential part of contemporary efforts to further democracy in Europe. While these narratives Europeanize and transnationalize memories of the Spanish Civil War, making the memory of Franco’s victims more cosmopolitan, Messenger shows how memories of historical injustices and democratic activism can also be mobilized to create a new sense of civic nationalism in Catalonia.