Disrupting 'Wills to Truth'. How Catalan TV documentary contributed to the democratization of Spanish Civil War narratives

Identifier:  imarina:5127292

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina5127292

Authors:  Castello, Enric

Abstract:
Catalan television journalism disrupted the existing hegemonic discourses of the 1990s and 2000s by broaching unknown or silenced topics regarding civilian suffering and the post-Civil War atrocities of Franco¿s fascist dictatorship. The author introduces the concept of `narrative democratization¿ to highlight the existence of alternative narratives regarding the Spanish Civil War and its consequences, paying special attention to a number of documentaries by award-winning journalists Montserrat Armengou and Ricard Belis. It is suggested that narrative democratization is grounded in four discourse strategies: giving the victims a voice, unveiling untold or unknown stories, representing remembrance as an act of justice and internationalizing the narratives of the Civil War. Taking a Foucauldian approach to the concept of `will to truth¿ (volonté de vérité), the author argues that television documentaries presented new perspectives on the public story of the Spanish Civil War.