Contemporary Spanish Portrayals of Victims of Political Violence

FAIN: FT-59245-11

Justin Thomas Crumbaugh
Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, MA 01075-1423)

I seek support for research related to the book I am writing on the portrayal political victimhood in contemporary Spain. Specifically, I examine cultural materials that honor and speak for victims, including philosophical writings, newsreels and television broadcasts, and public monuments. My analysis shows that political victimhood is not a self-evident condition but rather an evolving cultural phenomenon that shapes public perception of violence and history. By adopting an approach grounded in the humanities, the book questions the premises of existing scholarship on victimhood, which comes from the empirical social sciences. Study of victim enshrinement in Spain, where the victim figure has dominated public debate since the country's civil war (1936-1939), also contributes to several branches of the humanities, such as cultural studies, memory studies, and cultural history.