Emotional conflict and trauma: the recovery of stolen memory using a mixed-methods approach

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a research project carried out in Portomarín, a small town in Galicia (Spain), which was flooded as a result of the construction of a dam in 1963. A new town was built a short distance away, but a strong sense of rootlessness remains among the inhabitants of the town. To what extent does the population of Portomarín recognise its memory regarding the forced removal as heritage? What means can be employed to incorporate the historical process of the forced removal into its identity? How can heritage education contribute towards the population overcoming these feelings of rootlessness? The inhabitants’ conceptions of their forced removal were identified, and an educational activity was implemented in the town’s school regarding the process of the removal. The hypothesis is confirmed that a community that does not foster intergenerational dialogue about its past (which in this case was traumatic) and does not develop its own strategy to assist in explaining and understanding its local history does not construct a shared identity.

Teacher Training Via Debate on the Way of St. James as Controversial Heritage

“…2) The capacity for heritage socialisation in professional practice (Cuenca, 2016) 3) The critical resignification of heritage as a social construct (Prats, 1997) and as an emotional link (Fontal, 2003;Fontal, 2020). 4) The civic education of the citizenship via social problems and controversial issues (López-Facal and Santidrián, 2011) related with heritage (Castro-Fernández et al, 2021a;Castro et al, 2021b). 5) The educational use of heritage for the development of historical thinking (Gómez et al, 2020) and the development of critical thinking (Ross, 2017).…”