Memorial Reconfigurations of the State Terrorism during the Years of the Rise of the Right-Wing in Argentina

Abstract

After the trials for crimes against humanity began and in the context of a political polarization between Kirchnerism and the rising right wing in Argentina, a memorial reconfiguration of the disputes about the dictatorial past has taken place since 2008. In those years, a heterogeneous set of discourses, actors and practices emerged questioning the memorial narrative about the recent past that was sustained by human rights organizations and was part of state policy during the Kirchnerist administrations (2003-2015). During the government of the Alianza Cambiemos (2015-2019), these discourses, actors and practices acquired greater visibility and projection in the public space through government initiatives and public statements by some of its officials. The interest of this article is to analyze reconfiguration of the disputes of memories focusing on the appearance of a new memorial plot that questions and strains the meanings and representations of the dictatorial past. Indeed, the aim is to understand what is remembered of the past and what modes of elaboration it proposes, how it redefines the limits of what can be said and made visible in a given relationship of forces, and what are the continuities and ruptures with respect to previous moments. The interweaving of these elements will allow us, in short, to understand the complex dynamics of the construction of memories of state terrorism between 2008-2019 in the context of the rise of right-wing political forces in Argentina.