Dr. Ulrike Capdepón

2017-2018 Visiting Fellow and Lecturer at the Program in Latin American Studies (PLAS), Princeton University, USA.  

2016-2017 Postdoctoral Research Scholar (German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD), Hamburg, Germany.

2015-2017 Researcher and coordinator of the Mapping Historical Dialogue Project (MHDP), ISHR, Columbia University, New York, USA.

2014-2016 Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR), Columbia University, New York, USA.

2013-2014 Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the European Research Council (ERC)-Project: “Narratives of Terror and Disappearance in Argentina”, University of Konstanz, Germany.

2013 Otto Bennemann Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Georg-Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research (GEI), Braunschweig, Germany.

2010-2011 Marie Curie Postdoc Research Fellow at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Center for Social Science and Humanities (CCHS), Madrid, Spain.

2010 PhD (Dr. phil.) in Political Science at the University of Hamburg and the Institute of Latin American Studies (GIGA).

Education

MA in Political Science and Hispanistic Studies at the University of Hamburg, Germany and the University of A Coruña, Spain.

My research interests include Memory Studies and Human Rights policies in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as peace and conflict studies, political violence research and transitional justice.

Book

Vom Fall Pinochet zu den Verschwundenen des Spanischen Bürgerkrieges: Die Auseinandersetzung mit Diktatur und Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Chile und Spanien [From the Pinochet Case to the desaparecidos of the Spanish Civil War. Coming to Terms with the Dictatorships’ Past and Human Rights Violations in Chile and Spain]. Bielefeld: Transcript, Global Studies, p. 376, 2015.

Edited Volumes and Special Issues

The Achille Mbembe Controversy and the German Debate about Antisemitism, Israel and the Holocaust, Forum: Journal of Genocide Research, Taylor and Francis, coedited with PhD A. Dirk Moses (December 2020).

Museums and Monuments: Memorials of Violent Pasts in Urban Spaces, Special Issue: History & Memory, Indiana University Press, coedited with PhD Jill Strauss, and Dr. Aline Sierp, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2020).

The Impact of Human Rights Prosecutions: Insights from European, Latin American, and African Post-Conflict Societies, Leuven University Press, 2020, coedited with Dr. Rosario Figari Layús.

Contested Memory in the City. Materiality, Traces, and Monuments in Global Contexts. Memory Studies Series, Palgrave Macmillan, coedited with Dr. Sarah Dornhof (under contract).

Peer Reviewed Contributions and Review Articles

Challenging the Symbolic Representation of the Franco Dictatorship: The Street Name-Controversy in Madrid. In Special Issue: History & Memory, Indiana University Press, Vol. 32, No. 1, p. 100-130, 2020.

Introduction. Memorials of Violent Pasts in Urban Spaces. In: Special Issue: History & Memory, Indiana University Press, with PhD Jill Strauss, and Dr. Aline Sierp, Vol. 32, No. 1, p. 5-8, 2020.

Der Streit um Francos Leichnam. Das ›Tal der Gefallenen‹ und die Exhumierung des Diktators. [The dispute about Franco’s remains. The ›Valley of the Fallen‹ and the exhumation of the dictator]. In Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften (ZfK). Schwerpunkt Forensik, No. 1, p. 29-42, 2019.

With: Atkinson, Alison/Strauss, Jill/López-Badell, Oriol: Mapping Historical Dialogue: Remembering for the Future. In Kritika Kultura Review, Ateneo de Manila University, No. 33, p. 782-805, 2019, online

Die juristische Aufarbeitung der franquistischen Verbrechen in Argentinien: Von der Straflosigkeit zur universellen Gerichtsbarkeit. [Coming to Terms with the Francoist Crimes in Argentina. From Impunity to Universal Jurisdiction]. In Informationen. Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift des Studienkreises Deutscher Widerstand, Special Issue on "Spanischer Bürgerkrieg. Geschichte und Gegenwart," No. 83, p. 7-11, 2016.

Dictatorship and Human Rights Violations in Latin America. Coming to Terms with the Past in Chile and Argentina. In Art & Thought, Fikrun Wa Fann. Cultural Magazine for the Dialogue with the Arabic World (Journal of the Goethe-Institute) Special Issue on “Coming to Terms with the Past,” No. 98, p. 31-36, 2013 (also published in Arabic and Farsi), online

The Influence of Human Rights Discourses and Practices from the Southern Cone on the Confrontation with the Franco Dictatorship in Spain. In Human Security Perspectives, No. 1, p. 84-90, October 2011, online

Der öffentliche Umgang mit der Franco-Diktatur in Spanien [Public Remembrance of the Franco Dictatorship in Spain]. In Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (APuZ), German Center for Political Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung), No. 36, p. 33-38, September 2010, online

Die Verschwundenen des Spanischen Bürgerkriegs: Zwischen globalen Normen und lokalen Erinnerungsdiskursen [The Disappeared of the Spanish Civil War: Between Global Norms and Local Memory Discourses]. In WeltTrends. Zeitschrift für internationale Politik, No. 68, p. 13-18, September 2009.

La memoria de la Guerra Civil española a los setenta años de su comienzo [The Memory of the Spanish Civil War Sixty Years After its Beginning]. In Iberoamericana. América Latina–España–Portugal, No. 25, p. 184-189, May 2007, online

Recent Book Chapters 

The Selectivity of Universal Jurisdiction: The History of Transnational Human Rights Prosecutions in Latin America and Spain. In Quataert, Jean H./Wildenthal, Lora (eds.): The Routledge History of Human Rights, New York: Routledge, p. 507-522, 2019.

Spaniens Übergang zur Demokratie und Westintegration: Von der ausbleibenden Auseinandersetzung mit der Franco-Diktatur zur Abkehr vom Transitionskonsens. [Spain's Transition to Democracy and Integration to Europe. From a Lack of Official Politics of Coming to Terms with the Past to a Rejection of the Transition Consensus]. In Ganzemüller, Jörg (ed.): Europas vergessene Diktaturen? Diktatur und Diktaturüberwindung in Spanien, Portugal und Griechenland, Weimar/Berlin: Böhlau Verlag, p. 113-130, 2018, also published at the German Center for Political Education (Schriftenreihe der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung), Vol. 10452, 2019.

Memorias familiares, identidades reprimidas y la vida política de los cadáveres: El significado actual de las narrativas de parentesco en las exhumaciones de la Guerra Civil española [Family Memories, Repressed Identities and the Political Life of Dead Bodies. The Current Significance of Kinship Narratives at Exhumations from the Spanish Civil War]. In Gatti, Gabriel/Mahlke, Kirsten (eds.): Sangre y filiación en los relatos del dolor [Blood and Filiation in Narratives of Pain]. Frankfurt a. M.: Verfuert, Iberoamericana, p. 115-131, 2018.

La ‘Querella Argentina’ y la represión franquista: memorias locales, procesos de justicia transnacionales y ‘efectos rebote’ [The Argentine Complaint and Francoist repression: Local memories, transnational memory processes and ‘boomerang effects’]. In Eser, Patrick/Schrott, Angela/Winter, Ulrich (eds.): Transiciones democráticas y memoria en el mundo hispánico. Miradas transatlánticas: historia, cultura, política. [Democratic transitions and memory in the Hispanic world. Transatlantic views: History, culture, politics]. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang, Estudios hispánicos en el contexto global, p. 235-252, 2018.

Die späte Auseinandersetzung mit der Franco-Vergangenheit [Late Transitional Justice. Coming to terms with the Francoist past in Spain]. In Mihr, Anja/Pickel, Gert/Pickel, Susanne (eds.): Handbuch Transitional Justice. Aufarbeitung von Unrecht - hin zur Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Demokratie, Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, p. 275-293, 2018.

Von Nürnberg nach Madrid? Transnationale Vergangenheitspolitik und universelle Gerichtsbarkeit zur juristischen Auseinandersetzung mit der Franco-Diktatur [From Nuremberg to Madrid? Transnational Politics with the Past. Coming to Terms with the Franco Dictatorship Through Universal Jurisdiction].  In Ganzemüller, Jörg (ed.): Recht und Gerechtigkeit. Die strafrechtliche Aufarbeitung der Diktaturen in Europa, Weimar/Berlin: Böhlau Verlag, p. 231-251, 2017. 

La representación del Holocausto en libros escolares de historia chilenos, españoles y argentinos: ¿Hacia la inscripción en un marco universal de los Derechos Humanos? [Holocaust Representations in Chilean, Spanish and Argentine Textbooks: Towards a Global Framework of Universal Human Rights?] In Fracapane, Karel (ed.): La enseñanza del Holocausto en América Latina. Los desafíos para educadores y legisladores [Holocaust Education in Latin America. Challenges for Educators and Legislators], UNESCO: Paris, p. 174-184, 2017, online

Del ‘caso Pinochet’ a los desaparecidos de la Guerra Civil: La influencia de los discursos sobre los Derechos Humanos del Cono Sur en el debate español sobre el pasado franquista (1998-2012) [From the Pinochet Case to the Disappeared of the Spanish Civil War. The Influence of Human Rights Discourses from the Southern Cone on the Spanish Debate about the Franco Past]. In Memorias en Red. Macé, Jean François/Martínez Zauner, Mario (eds.): Pasados de violencia política. Memoria, discurso y puesta en escena [Pasts of Political Violence. Memory, Discourse and Performance], Madrid: Anexo editorial, p. 257-279, 2016.

Vom ‚Fall Pinochet’ zum ‚Fall Garzón‘. Der Einfluss von Menschenrechtsdiskursen aus dem Cono Sur auf die Auseinandersetzung mit der Franco-Diktatur in Spanien [From the Pinochet Case to the Garzón Case. The influence of human rights discourses from the Southern Cone to the process of coming to terms with the Franco dictatrorship in Spain]. In Halbmayer, Ernst/Karl, Sylvia (eds.): Die erinnerte Gewalt. Postkonfliktdynamiken in Lateinamerika [Remembered Violence. Post Conflict Dynamics in Latin America], Global Studies, Bielefeld: Transcript, p. 277-300, 2012.

Book Reviews

Surviving Forced Disappearance in Argentina and Uruguay. Identity and Meaning, Gabriel Gatti, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. In Human Rights Quarterly, Cincinnati: John Hopkins University Press, Vol. 39, No. 1, p. 478-480, 2017.

The Past Below Ground. Contemporary Exhumations of the Spanish Civil War, Francisco Ferrándiz, Barcelona: Anthropos, 2014. In Revista de Dialectología y Tradiciones Populares, Madrid: CSIC, Vol. 70, No. 2, p. 571-573, 2015. Also published at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Historical Dialogues, Columbia University, New York online

Entre historias y memorias. Los desafíos metodológicos del legado reciente en América Latina, Maria Rosaria Stabili (ed.) Frankfurt a. M.: Verfuert, 2007. In Lateinamerika Analysen, Hamburg, GIGA, No. 18, p. 240-243, 2007.

This research project analyzes the topography of public urban spaces exemplified in the cultural politics of re-naming streets related to the respective dictatorship past in the capitals of Spain and Portugal. It deals with the street name changes as an act of replacement of symbolism after the end of the Franco- and Salazar-dictatorships. Due to the different constellations of the transition process in each country, the Portuguese Carnation Revolution, and the ‘negotiated transition’ in neighboring Spain, my underlying hypothesis is that the differing outcomes of the democratization processes are reflected in symbolic politics of street name changes in the post-dictatorship era.

Following specific memory cycles, I analyze the public discourses that have determined the presence or replacement of dictatorial memory sites and how they evolved over time. The project aims to open a comparative perspective regarding Madrid on the one hand and Lisbon on the other, adopting a Southern European, peninsular inter-regional perspective. The central research question underlying this comparative case study is, how the symbolic representation of each of the dictatorships in the urban memorial landscape shapes the current public debate, triggering counter-memorial practices ‘from below’ at the grassroots level. This research project offers insights into the collective and political negotiation of contested memorialization processes and how different political forces shape commemorative practices in the public sphere.