Self-Portraits of the Past: Conflicting Narratives of the Spanish Transition in a Time of Crisis (2008–2016)

Abstract

The master narrative that presented Spanish transition as a peaceful, consensual and well-organised path to democracy was seriously challenged since the beginning of the financial crisis of 2008. Spain’s contemporary economic and political crises were often considered a result of a botched transition to democracy in the late 1970s. But, for all the significance of this discourse, the years of the economic crisis also witnessed a robust defence of the traditional narrative of the transition to democracy in some quarters. A number of scholars, politicians and artists underscored the benign nature of the origins of Spanish democracy to oppose political and social changes. This chapter explores the dialectic between positive and critical narratives of the Spanish transition to democracy over 2008–2016. The authors analyse the confronting narratives in three fields: academic, political and cultural. The chapter deals with recent historiography on the transition to democracy; examines the uses of the transition in political discourses; and explores the confronting representations of the period in cinema, theatre, television and literature.