Abstract

MARTINEZ-RODRIGUEZ, Rosendo; SANCHEZ-AGUSTI, María  and  MUNOZ-LABRANA, Carlos. Teaching a Controversial Past from a Polarized Present: Historical Memory in Spain from a Teaching Perspective. rev.estud.soc. [online]. 2022, n.81, pp.93-112.  Epub July 14, 2022. ISSN 0123-885X.  https://doi.org/10.7440/res81.2022.06.

In societies with divided and contradictory memories of their recent past, the resulting historical memory is heavily conditioned by a process of cultural, public, and mediatized construction that hinders a proper educational treatment of recent history and memory in the classroom. This is the case of Spain, where, after a long dictatorship (1939-1975), an agreed transition to democracy and the memory of the civil war (1936-1939), continue to give rise to conflicting narratives, strongly connected to present interests. In this study, we focus on the conceptions and opinions of a group of 39 teachers from seven Spanish cities and historical territories. They have been interviewed in order to learn about their experiences and to analyze their conceptions regarding historical memory and its public management in Spain. Teachers’ perceptions are relevant because they are representative of an educated population, with historical training, but above all because they play a fundamental role in the construction or transmission of memories from the educational sphere. The results reveal a deep divide around historical memory and its recovery in the Spanish context. Despite the time that has passed, history professors do not hesitate in recognizing today the social fracture of the civil war and Franco’s regime, which they connect with current ideologies and political discourses. At educational level, these events are treated from an equidistant and equalizing perspective in order to avoid conflict and problematized interpretation in favor of a superficial and pacifying vision. The results suggest that certain collective memories of societies in conflict persist over time, and that it is the polarization of the present that encourages a mythologized reading of the past.

Keywords : Civil war; contemporary history; historical education; history teachers; social memories; transitional justice.

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