Legacies of Haunting: Confronting my Grandfather, his Films, and my Ghosts

This thesis explores the paradoxical nature of Rafael Azcona’s legacy; Azcona is deeply ingrained in Spanish collective memory through his culturally significant films yet, contradictorily, my memories of him as my grandfather are very limited. Guided by an understanding of hauntology, this paradox launches an examination of myself as a figure haunted by ghosts generated at multiple sites. This thesis investigates forgetting enforced by the Spanish state, the hauntings and methods of uncertainty in Azcona’s films, and the mobilization of third generation and diasporic communities through haunting. Ultimately, it argues that the ability to integrate the past with the present is fundamental to one’s sense of self and belonging and contends that creation, imagination, and fictional narrative are the sites of this integration.