The past we look at: memory and image in the face of recent history

The essays gathered in this book constitute a fundamental and novel contribution both in the field of communication and in memory studies. Based on the analysis of the different ways of using images in the memory of post-dictatorial Argentina, the compilers not only delimit a problem, but also establish a new line of work by placing their object in the perspective of a multiplicity of approaches. The medium of this book is the language of and about all means of expression of memory: declaration, testimony, autobiography, photography, cinema, documentary, television.

Focusing on visual media, the essays in this book, with their diverse styles and approaches, attempt to understand the relationships between verbal language and image, history and memory, fact and fiction. With this mission, the book avoids falling into a trap that lurks in much of the contemporary bibliography on memory: to believe in the complete authenticity, at all times, of the witness’s voice. And he does not refrain from pointing out mitifications and compulsions to repetition in the process of remembering the disappeared through photography, film and television. In this sense, The Past We Look at is an essential contribution to thinking about and discussing the present.

 

Compilers: Claudia Feld y Jessica Stites Mor