This essay starts from a rather overly debated topic, that of identity in relation to those “actors” of Argentinean memory of the dictatorship, actors that Elizabeth Jelin has called “memory entrepreneurs”. The Argentinean experience is an extreme case of the power of the figure of the “afectado/a directo/a” and of their personal and individual narratives. The very notion of truth, the legitimacy and the authority to speak, even the very ownership of the topic of the memory of those years have been inscribed into the afectados personal direct experience, and, when it comes to the relatives, into a genetic bond. The very idea of Argentinean memory transmission, whereby the strength and the borders have been traced by this “familism” (familismo), has long implied, paradoxically, the exclusion of other social actors and voices from the public debate on the meaning of the past and on more general politics of memory. Moving from these assumptions, the essay focuses, first, on the ways in which memory can play a key role in processes of change and transition because it transforms knowledge through acts of continuous appropriation. Second, it will be centred on the implications of a statement such as “rights to identity” (derechos a la identitad), once they are spoken by the Abuela de la Paza de Mayo, and by all those who found out that their ‘genetic identity’ does not match with what they thought they were. What does it means to speak of something like a “genetic memory”? Where, and in relation to which other questions connecting memory and commemorations, does the irreducibility of the concept of identity emerge? Far from seeking an ultimate answer, the essay tries to put forward some working hypothesis through the semiotic analysis of a corpus of texts available on Abuelas’ website; in particular, from TV and Web ads to documentaries produced on the very topic of the “apropriados”.
"Who needs Identity?" Disappearances and Appearances in Argentina. The Abel's de la Plaza de Mayo.
DEMARIA, CRISTINA
2017
Abstract
This essay starts from a rather overly debated topic, that of identity in relation to those “actors” of Argentinean memory of the dictatorship, actors that Elizabeth Jelin has called “memory entrepreneurs”. The Argentinean experience is an extreme case of the power of the figure of the “afectado/a directo/a” and of their personal and individual narratives. The very notion of truth, the legitimacy and the authority to speak, even the very ownership of the topic of the memory of those years have been inscribed into the afectados personal direct experience, and, when it comes to the relatives, into a genetic bond. The very idea of Argentinean memory transmission, whereby the strength and the borders have been traced by this “familism” (familismo), has long implied, paradoxically, the exclusion of other social actors and voices from the public debate on the meaning of the past and on more general politics of memory. Moving from these assumptions, the essay focuses, first, on the ways in which memory can play a key role in processes of change and transition because it transforms knowledge through acts of continuous appropriation. Second, it will be centred on the implications of a statement such as “rights to identity” (derechos a la identitad), once they are spoken by the Abuela de la Paza de Mayo, and by all those who found out that their ‘genetic identity’ does not match with what they thought they were. What does it means to speak of something like a “genetic memory”? Where, and in relation to which other questions connecting memory and commemorations, does the irreducibility of the concept of identity emerge? Far from seeking an ultimate answer, the essay tries to put forward some working hypothesis through the semiotic analysis of a corpus of texts available on Abuelas’ website; in particular, from TV and Web ads to documentaries produced on the very topic of the “apropriados”.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
