Identity, memory and power. When the grandchildrens of the Grandmothers speak for the children

Abstract

You cannot put in order forgetfulness, but the exercise of memory always implies a selection. Also, in the imperative to remember, transitivity is almost compulsory: what to remember? In previous works (Zullo, 2013, 2014), we explore what recontextualizations (Bernstein, 1998; Van Leeuwen, 1993) of the last Argentine military-civic dictatorship (1976-1982) are put into play in various pedagogical materials produced for students of initial and primary schools. At this stage of the investigation, we are interested in tackling a more specific problem: how school materials present the question of children born in captivity or kidnapped during those years. Firstly, we analyze one of the microprograms pertaining to the series Así soy yo (produced by the organization Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and the educational television channel Paka-Paka) from a multimodal sociosemiotic perspective (Hodge, 2017). Secondly, we focus on accounting for the conditions of circulation of these microprograms as from the year 2015. To conclude, we integrate the results of the analysis and reflect on the circumstances that make possible the conditions of existence, permanence and constant renewal of memory processes closely linked to the formation of individual and collective identities in contemporary Argentina.