More than the ordinary ritual of memory. The 'apology speech' of President Néstor Kirchner at the Navy School of Mechanics (ESMA), Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 24th, 2004

DAGATTI, MARIANO

Estocolmo

Workshop; International Rhetoric Workshop 2016; 2016

University of Uppsala

Official apologies are public statements of regret presented in the name of collectivities such as nation states, governments, or religious institutions for wrongful actions in the past. In the so-called ?age of apology?, it is a key gender to study the relationship between commemoration, memory and political communication. This paper takes the case of official apology of former Argentine president Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) during the announcement of creation of Museum of Memory in the site of a former clandestine detention center during last Argentina's military dictatorship (1976-1983). Appropriately, the announcement?s day was the 28th anniversary of the last military coup and the onset of dictatorship, March 24th, 2004. From the standpoint of constitutive Rhetoric (Charland, 1986; Bruner, 2002; Anderson, 2006), this paper provides a theoretical framework to examine this kind of apologies, which are dedicated to rebuilding and strengthening communal bonds harmed by historical injustice caused by the State against society. The recovery of the property formerly occupied by the Naval School of Mechanics (ESMA, as abbreviated in Spanish) is part of the historical battle carried out by human rights organizations in Argentina, starting with the resistance against dictatorship and remaining strong until today. The interest of this case is that the official apology was on the one hand a strong act of commemoration, but on the other hand, brought about a controversy with the State politics of former Argentine President Raul Alfonsín (1983-1989), recognized for its crucial role in the trial of the military dictatorship. We argue that Kirchner?s apology can ?open-up? testing the boundaries of citizenship, but also may circumscribe or close some boundaries as well. In this sense, we think that the political consequences of the commemoration?s speech serve to propose a theoretical reconceptualization of the genre in order to better understand its role in civic life and in the configuration of a rhetorical citizenship (Kock & Villadsen, 2009). Official apologies have the potential to serve as an occasion and forum for public discourse on the norms and values informing that community at a given point in time.