Materiality, Landscapes, and Memory of the Spanish Guerrilla Movement: The Case of La Ciudad de la Selva, Casaio, Galicia

Abstract From the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the anti-Francoist guerrillas movement––disorganized individuals and groups who had fled their homes in the face of repression––developed into an organized movement in the struggle against the dictatorship. Though mobile, guerrillas settled in spaces they physically and symbolically appropriated in a process that was mediated by local communities. La Ciudad de la Selva, a group of camps built by the guerrilla groups in Casaio (Ourense, Galicia), is one such site. We propose an archaeological approach to both the campsites and the landmarks the fighters used to navigate the territory, together with an anthropological study of the oral histories of current villagers. This will allow us to delve into layers of local knowledge and know-how upon which the fighters drew to transform these spaces into landscapes of resistance.