Overview

Forgetting Spain's civil war (1936-39) and subsequent dictatorship was long seen as a necessary safeguard for the democracy that emerged after General Francisco Franco's death in 1975. Since the early 2000s, however, public discussion of historical memory has awakened efforts to remember this past through the personal testimonies of Spaniards who experienced it firsthand. Untold Stories expands accounts of twentieth-century Spain by presenting an ethnography of an ignored population: the impoverished men and women who fled Franco's dictatorship in the 1960s, participating in a wave of labour migration to northern Europe. Now in their eighties, they were born around the time of the civil war and came of age during its repressive aftermath before leaving Spain as young adults. The book features a community of such Spaniards, who gather regularly at a senior centre on the outskirts of Paris. Drawing on concepts from linguistic anthropology, David Divita analyses conversational encounters recorded among the seniors to demonstrate how a turbulent past shapes mundane moments of social interaction in the present. Documenting what is said as well as what is not, Divita reveals through detailed textual analysis how silence can pervade the creation of social meanings - such as belonging, authority, and legitimacy. Untold Stories illuminates the impact of a harrowing historical period on some of Spain's most marginal citizens in the early years of the dictatorship.

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9781487554279

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Reviews

""In Spain, the tapestry of national, familial, and individual memories was torn asunder by the Spanish Civil War. In David Divita's touching ethnography of memory, Spanish migrants, who have been living in France for decades, come together to mend this rift in the life stories they share at the Centro, a centre for Spanish seniors on the outskirts of Paris. Within the pages of this essential and captivating book, Divita not only meticulously chronicles their lives but also creates the conditions for their voices to be heard with care and respect.""--Luisa Martín Rojo, Professor of Linguistics, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid ""This is a masterful account of how a diasporic group has built a mnemonic community around untold stories of the Spanish Civil War. Divita's focus on discursive forms, along with content, are key to his compelling and creative insights about how Spain's past resonates in living memory and allows untold stories to continue speaking.""--James V. Wertsch, David R. Francis Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis ""Untold Stories is not only about the narratives of people who were subjected to marginalization and repression and those who cannot tell, but also about those narrators who have been ignored in historical recounts. In this fascinating ethnography David Divita brings together insights from anthropology, migration studies, and discourse analysis to give voice to migrant labourers from the Spanish diaspora in France. He shows how their sense of self has been shaped by the social conditions in which they grew and how they make sense of their past and present through storytelling, art, and performance.""--Anna De Fina, Professor of Italian Language and Linguistics, Georgetown University

"""In Spain, the tapestry of national, familial, and individual memories was torn asunder by the Spanish Civil War. In David Divita's touching ethnography of memory, Spanish migrants, who have been living in France for decades, come together to mend this rift in the life stories they share at the Centro, a centre for Spanish seniors on the outskirts of Paris. Within the pages of this essential and captivating book, Divita not only meticulously chronicles their lives but also creates the conditions for their voices to be heard with care and respect."" - Luisa Mart�n Rojo, Professor of Linguistics, Universidad Aut�noma de Madrid ""This is a masterful account of how a diasporic group has built a mnemonic community around untold stories of the Spanish Civil War. Divita's focus on discursive forms, along with content, are key to his compelling and creative insights about how Spain's past resonates in living memory and allows untold stories to continue speaking."" - James V. Wertsch, David R. Francis Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis ""Untold Stories is not only about the narratives of people who were subjected to marginalization and repression and those who cannot tell, but also about those narrators who have been ignored in historical recounts. In this fascinating ethnography David Divita brings together insights from anthropology, migration studies, and discourse analysis to give voice to migrant labourers from the Spanish diaspora in France. He shows how their sense of self has been shaped by the social conditions in which they grew and how they make sense of their past and present through storytelling, art, and performance."" - Anna De Fina, Professor of Italian Language and Linguistics, Georgetown University"

"""In Spain, the tapestry of national, familial, and individual memories was torn asunder by the Spanish Civil War. In David Divita's touching ethnography of memory, Spanish migrants, who have been living in France for decades, come together to mend this rift in the life stories they share at the Centro, a centre for Spanish seniors on the outskirts of Paris. Within the pages of this essential and captivating book, Divita not only meticulously chronicles their lives but also creates the conditions for their voices to be heard with care and respect."" - Luisa Martín Rojo, Professor of Linguistics, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid ""This is a masterful account of how a diasporic group has built a mnemonic community around untold stories of the Spanish Civil War. Divita's focus on discursive forms, along with content, are key to his compelling and creative insights about how Spain's past resonates in living memory and allows untold stories to continue speaking."" - James V. Wertsch, David R. Francis Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis ""Untold Stories is not only about the narratives of people who were subjected to marginalization and repression and those who cannot tell, but also about those narrators who have been ignored in historical recounts. In this fascinating ethnography David Divita brings together insights from anthropology, migration studies, and discourse analysis to give voice to migrant labourers from the Spanish diaspora in France. He shows how their sense of self has been shaped by the social conditions in which they grew and how they make sense of their past and present through storytelling, art, and performance."" - Anna De Fina, Professor of Italian Language and Linguistics, Georgetown University"

Author Information

David Divita is a professor of Romance languages at Pomona College.

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