Memory Surrounding a Mausoleum: Transforming Spain’s Valley of the Fallen Into a Site of Conscience

Francisco Franco announced the construction of the Valley of the Fallen in 1940, a year following the end of the Spanish Civil War, and incorporated overt iconography that honored the struggle of Nationalists without memorializing the Republican victims during this war. This memorial distinguished the names of two fascist leaders, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera and Franco, buried in the center of the basilica in 1959 and 1975, respectively. However, this site, as of June 2021, has failed to acknowledge the over 33,000 victims, both Nationalists and Republicans, interred in this site, many of whom remain unidentified. The signification of the Valley of the Fallen has transformed since the turn of the 21st century due to recent memory practices that increasingly commemorate Republican victims of the Spanish Civil War. This article illustrates how the persistence of memory and counter-memory practices have shifted the meaning of the Valley of the Fallen, creating a site of conscience through changes affecting place and space, particularly in light of Franco’s legacy.

Schoolscaping in the third space

The aim of this paper is to trace students’ multilingualism and agency in the schoolscape of the Language Introduction Programme (LIP) in one Swedish upper secondary school. Through linguistic schoolscaping, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of LIP. The schoolscape is analysed as reconstructions of photographs of displayed images, objects, symbols, and written language on walls and elsewhere in the school area. The photographs are analysed in terms of how they orient to time, place, and space; control behaviour; and shape discourses. Through the analysis, discourses of an organized, inclusive, and tolerant society appear, that simultaneously shape a discourse of behaviour: in this school (and in Sweden) we (want to) follow (the) rules. Students’ multilingualism is nearly absent in the schoolscape, as is their agency. In line with Bhabha’s concept third space, the schoolscape may be understood as a space for Swedishness, where inclusion demands mastery of Swedish. The in-betweenness of the LIP, as a transitional programme, appears as a space to escape otherness by changing language, which is the requirement for inclusion. Thus, in this case, the signage displayed in the schoolscape does not open up spaces for identity development related to multilingualism or multiculturalism. Opening space for students as agents in the schoolscape and making their diverse linguistic resources visible would also open up a third space for negotiation of norms, through contestation, resistance, and manifestation. Thus students’ development of multiple identities would be enabled and their opportunities to be (co-)creators of their own futures widened.

Inner-city possibilities: using place and space to facilitate inter-ethnic dating and romance in 1960s–1980s Leicester

Applying a spatial lens to the oral histories of heterosexual women who had intercultural romantic relationships in Leicester from the 1960s to the 1980s provides an alternative perspective on their experiences. This article examines these women's movements into and around the inner city, eliciting discussion about the concept of ‘safe’ places and spaces and the factors that determined the transient nature of these spaces. It illustrates opportunities created for intercultural mixing, away from familial gaze and public hostility. Utilizing such spaces to develop and sustain their relationships reveals a previously unacknowledged female agency that also enabled an ‘everyday multiculturalism’ in the British city.

Writing and Space: Writing the City by Stuti Khanna

Writing the City, a collection of essays edited by Stuti Khanna is a noteworthy publication as it includes 13 engaging essays by critically acclaimed contemporary mostly Indian writer. The book has an attractive cover with an infographic map of cities — the theme around which Khanna assembles this collection. This book with only 114 pages can be a treasure trove for researchers of the contemporary Indian writing as “it explores the symbiotic relationship between form and content” (Khanna, 2020, p. xi) as each of these 13 writers present in their introspective mood, “the relationship of their writing to place and space” (Khanna, 2020, p.xi) of their upbringing. Hence, the apt title, Writing the City. The book validates Tim Creswell and other Humanist Geographer’s reverberations that: “Place is the raw material for the creative production for identity” (Cresswell, 2004, p.39)

Mapping the Soundscape in Communicative Forms for Cultural Heritage: Between Realism and Symbolism

The dimension of sound plays a central role as a form of cultural representation. Sound is a means of knowledge and experiential involvement, as it is inextricably linked to place and space, mind and body, cultural context and emotion. This contribution aims to explore how sound design follows different paradigms and methods in the various media. Virtual reality, videogame, cinema and documentary have differently codified rules to provide acoustic verisimilitude to the simulated space, to orient or stimulate the user, to suggest contents or evoke events and to emotionally involve the public. These rules follow artistic principles closer to psychoacoustics than to scientific reproduction of sound in the simulated space. Under what conditions, however, is the scientific simulation of an acoustic space preferable to the more common paradigms of psychoacoustics? How could this be created? Immersive and non-immersive virtual reality for cultural heritage is currently the field of experimentation most open to future developments. Some virtual reality and mixed reality applications will be presented, dedicated to archaeological or historical-artistic contexts, where a fundamental relationship between sound and multisensory interaction has been created.

Marking Space and Making Place: Geographies of Graffiti in Wellington, New Zealand

<p>Contemporary graffiti dates from the 1960s when hip-hop style graffiti grew in popularity amongst youth in Philadelphia and New York. It has since spread throughout the world and its various forms and styles are considered both art and vandalism. In Aotearoa New Zealand, graffiti is seen in most urban areas and is regarded as a major problem for local authorities. Despite this, research concerning graffiti in New Zealand is sparse. This research contributes to emerging work on graffiti in Wellington and New Zealand. It aims to provide an insight into the geographies of graffiti in Wellington by exploring the visual, spatial, and temporal aspects of graffiti, as well as the social dynamics informing its production and distribution. Using this information I investigate parallels between what is happening locally and what has been documented in international research. To carry out the research aims, I employed qualitative observations of selected sites around the city over time and used photographs to interpret and document graffiti. I also carried out semi-structured interviews with some graffitists, in addition to people involved in city safety and efforts to stop graffiti. In framing the research I specifically draw from critical geography writing on discourse, power, resistance, place, and space which are particularly salient in regards to graffiti. The research documents similarities with international research in regards to the motivations, rules, and visual, temporal, and spatial aspects. However, Wellington graffitists interact with, and utilise, the city’s space in unique and multifaceted ways which reflect and exhibit localised differences worthy of consideration internationally. For instance, graffitists use, view, and read the urban environment in ways that result in them having an intimacy with the urban environment. Additionally, graffitists think about where they place their graffiti with regards to property, location, intended audiences, and observance to subculture rules.</p>

Marking Space and Making Place: Geographies of Graffiti in Wellington, New Zealand

<p>Contemporary graffiti dates from the 1960s when hip-hop style graffiti grew in popularity amongst youth in Philadelphia and New York. It has since spread throughout the world and its various forms and styles are considered both art and vandalism. In Aotearoa New Zealand, graffiti is seen in most urban areas and is regarded as a major problem for local authorities. Despite this, research concerning graffiti in New Zealand is sparse. This research contributes to emerging work on graffiti in Wellington and New Zealand. It aims to provide an insight into the geographies of graffiti in Wellington by exploring the visual, spatial, and temporal aspects of graffiti, as well as the social dynamics informing its production and distribution. Using this information I investigate parallels between what is happening locally and what has been documented in international research. To carry out the research aims, I employed qualitative observations of selected sites around the city over time and used photographs to interpret and document graffiti. I also carried out semi-structured interviews with some graffitists, in addition to people involved in city safety and efforts to stop graffiti. In framing the research I specifically draw from critical geography writing on discourse, power, resistance, place, and space which are particularly salient in regards to graffiti. The research documents similarities with international research in regards to the motivations, rules, and visual, temporal, and spatial aspects. However, Wellington graffitists interact with, and utilise, the city’s space in unique and multifaceted ways which reflect and exhibit localised differences worthy of consideration internationally. For instance, graffitists use, view, and read the urban environment in ways that result in them having an intimacy with the urban environment. Additionally, graffitists think about where they place their graffiti with regards to property, location, intended audiences, and observance to subculture rules.</p>