Associate Professor of Spanish
Bryn Mawr College

“Restaging the 23-F: Transitional Memories in Spain”

The dominant historical account of the transformation of Spain from a dictatorship into a democracy is one of change and political success. The key political event that helped to forge this view was the failed coup d’état by Colonel Antonio Tejero on February 23, 1981. This attempt at a military uprising, when King Juan Carlos firmly stood by the constitutionally elected government, has been hailed as the culminating moment of the Transición and a clear demonstration of the arrival of democracy in the country. In this talk I explore how this narrative has been recently depicted in television and film questioning and reframing this story behind the triumph of democracy in Spain.