Resumo

MULLER, Felipe Juan; BERMEJO, Federico  e  CEVASCO, Jazmín. Communicative memory and the themes of the collective memory of the 2001 crisis in Argentina, across generations, political ideology and degree of personal damage. Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2019, vol.36, n.2, pp.79-95. ISSN 1668-7027.  http://dx.doi.org/10.16888/interd.2019.36.2.6.

Among the distinctions in the field of collective memory studies, there is one that refers to the source of the memories, and is growing in force and importance: that is, the distinction between communicative and cultural memories. Another important distinction refers to the type of memories that constitute collective memories, and is the one between Lived Semantic Collective Memory and Distant Semantic Collective Memory. Another two important factors are the ideology of the rememberer and how was the rememberer affected by the crisis. The present study aims to investigate how the last three factors (type of memory, being affected or not, and ideology) influenced the content of collective recall of the 2001 crisis, considering themes/main ideas as dependent variables. As national memories allow us to study collective memory, the present study is focused on the memories Argentinians have of the economic, political and social crisis of 2001. This is considered the most profound economic and financial crisis in Argentina´s recent history. After years of economic recession, the crisis was triggered by an economic measure called “corralito,” which almost completely froze bank accounts and thereby prevented people from withdrawing their money. Demonstrations and protests followed, which contributed to the resignation of President Fernando de la Rúa after he declared a state of siege. Police action resulted in more than 30 deaths. Institutional and political chaos and a succession of five Presidents in one week followed De la Rúa’s resignation. Despite its magnitude, there is not a cultural memory constituted around this event. For example, there are only a few books, films, memorials or monuments on this event, it has received little attention in High School history curricula, and there is not a national commemorative day. That is why it is considered an event around which people have predominantly a communicative memory. Conversely, the 1976 coup d´état and the military dictatorship that followed has led to the development of a cultural memory (for example, there are many books, movies, monuments or memorials, and a national commemorative day). In the present study, participants´ memories about the 2001 crisis are considered. Eighty participants responded to a free-recall task about the crisis. Two groups of forty participants were conformed, one with Lived Semantic Collective Memory and the other with Distant Semantic Collective Memory. At the same time, half of the members of each of these groups were directly affected by the crisis, and the other half was indirectly affected. The political ideology of the participants in terms of right and left is also considered. The dependent variables were the themes or main ideas that constitute the participants recall of the 2001 crisis. Multiple Anova´s were performed. Results showed that participants with Lived Semantic Collective Memories and indirectly affected remembered themes/main ideas which offered information regarding the social and emotional climate of that period or, in the case of those with Lived Semantic Collective Memories, a themes/main idea that assigned responsibilities for the crisis. We found no differences as a function of ideology. But most importantly, results show a predominant lack of differences in the themes/main ideas remembered by different groups. Overall, the recall is mostly composed of themes/main ideas that are mostly descriptive of the different facts that took place during the 2001 crisis. There are no differences for themes/main ideas that offered a more contextualized recall. In general, results are explained in terms of the kind of memories promoted by communicative memories, which are less elaborated, more emotional and composed mostly of facts. In contrast, cultural memories seem to offer a more contextualized version, with causes and consequences that explain the facts.

Palavras-chave : Source of Memory; Type of Memory; Ideology; Personal Damage; Collective Memory; Themes; 2001 Crisis; Argentina.

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