IMHICIHU   13380
INSTITUTO MULTIDISCIPLINARIO DE HISTORIA Y CIENCIAS HUMANAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
capítulos de libros
Título:
Preface; Archaeology, Dictatorship, and Repression in World Context; The Latin American Case (1960-1980)
Autor/es:
PEDRO P. FUNARI; ANDRÉS ZARANKIN; MELISA A. SALERNO
Libro:
Memories from Darkness. Archaeology of Repression and Resistance in Latin America (1960-1980)
Editorial:
Springer
Referencias:
Lugar: New York; Año: 2009; p. 11 - 23
Resumen:
Interest in the recent past and a new political commiment were necessary to study the historical consequences of political and ecomonic systems. Following this tendency, several researchers decided to discuss the particularities of 20th-century conflicts in the last decade. In our case, we are especially interested in dictatorships. From an analytical point of view, we think it is possible to divide archaeological works on dictatorship into two main groups. Some investigations focus their attention on the existent relationship between archaeology and dictatorial governmnets. In general, these studies try to find out how archaeological discourses were politically used to legitimate the groups in power. Some other investigations intend to shed light on the darkest aspects of dictatorial governments –mainly political violence. The first works might be included under the term “archaeology under dictatorship”; the second ones, under the term “archaeology of dictatorship” (which is, at the same time, what we call an “archaeology of repression”). Although this book especially (although not exclusively) deals with an archaeology of dictatorship, in the first part of this introduction we thought it was important to offer a general overview of an archaeology under dictatorship on a world stage. Without a single doubt, archaeological works under authoritarian governments developed well before the transformation of the positivist and scientific paradigm of the discipline. As a consequence, they included disciplinary projects we previously associated with the construction of monolithic visions of the past. Several investigations interested in discussing archaeology under dictatorship were presented in a book edited by Michael Galaty and Charles Watkinson (2004) a couple of years ago. Most contributors to this publication studied the traits defining the complex dialogue between dictatorial governments and archaeology. The comprehension of the bonds between national states and science is necessary to learn more about dictatorships and the challenges researchers face to create an archaeology of these political regimes. In the second part of this introduction, we propose to analyze the main goals of an archaeology of dictatorship and political repression. Works on the subject have experienced an accelerated growth since 1980. This process was particularly intense in the case of Latin America. Violent events caused by 1960s and 1970s dictatorships were long forgotten, ignored, or distorted by official discourses. In this social setting, Latin Americans felt the construction of a new social project heavily depended on the possibility to dig and question the past. Archaeologists played a key role in this process. As a discipline mainly concerned with material remains, archaeology was able to provide an alternative vision of the history of repression. It could also make significant contributions to human right causes. The chapters in this book mainly discuss the interests of an archaeology of dictatorship in Latin America. Although we acknowledge the regional character of these contributions, we believe they provide useful theoretical and methodological tools for the study of political violence in other contexts. Furthermore, the book is completed by two other articles written by Laurent Olivier (Foreword) and Martin Hall (Concluding Remarks) which –along with this introduction– allow the reader to understand repression in world perspective.