Expiation as Performative Rhetoric in National-Catholicism: The Politics of Gesture in Post-Civil War Spain

This contribution to The Politics of Gesture: Historical Perspectives recounts the end of the Spanish Civil War, which occurred abruptly when an attempted coup among the Republicans brought the total collapse of resistance. General Francisco Franco & the Nationalists entered the presumed Republi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Past & present 2009-01, Vol.203 (suppl-4), p.235-256
Main Author: Vincent, Mary
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catholicism
Civil war
Conflict
Coups d'Etat
Madrid Spain
Military personnel
Nationalism
Political dissent
Politics
Revolution
Revolutions
Rhetoric
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Summary:This contribution to The Politics of Gesture: Historical Perspectives recounts the end of the Spanish Civil War, which occurred abruptly when an attempted coup among the Republicans brought the total collapse of resistance. General Francisco Franco & the Nationalists entered the presumed Republican space of Madrid on 28 Mar 1939 in a strange unearthly silence. Then the hidden Falangists began to emerge, shouting "Viva Espana!" In the days & weeks that followed, the process of purification through a symbolic repossession of Republican space involved numerous acts of liturgy. Franco entered the royal basilica of Santa Barbara & joined in the Mass before presenting his "sword of victory" to the cardinal archbishop in a gestural act of expiation, actually of performative rhetoric in National-Catholicism. S. Stanton
ISSN:0031-2746
1477-464X
DOI:10.1093/pastj/gtp011