Narrative Strategies of Post-Genocide Argentine Filmmaking: the decade of the 1980s

This work is part of a broader study. This article analyzes Argentine films about the genocide perpetrated by the country’s last military dictatorship (1976-1983). The focus is on the films produced during the 1980s, specifically those made between 1984 and 1989. Generally these films have been analyzed from an aesthetic perspective, or else from a chronological standpoint that connects their historical context to the design aspects of individual films, their mise-en-scène. Central to this latter approach has been what is termed a prevailing “theory of the two demons”. This approach is generally valid, however this article posits that in their narrative strategies— that is, their plots, ideas, and stories— Argentinean films from the late- 1980s present a wealth of elements that exceed such narrow theorizing, in the process enabling comparisons and contrasts with other studies of the country’s genocide.Fil: Zylberman, Lior Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero. Centro de Estudios sobre Genocidio; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Comme en 1918 ! La grippe « espagnole » et nous

En 1918-19, la grippe « espagnole » a tué entre 2,5 et 5 % de la population mondiale (entre 30 et 50 millions de morts). Image quintessenciée de l’épidémie moderne, presque tous les scénarios pandémiques s’accordent aujourd’hui pour y voir le modèle d’une pandémie « sévère ». Peut-on toutefois sérieusement comparer le risque pandémique actuel à ce qui reste comme l’un des pires cataclysmes sanitaires de l’histoire ?The 1918 pandemic is still unique in the history of flu pandemics. The pathogenicity of the virus was extreme, and young adults more than infants and old people were its main victims. Many a death was caused by complications. The response of the French authorities didn’t live up to the emergency requirements. Hospitals being requisitioned by the military, the civilian population lacked everything: beds, doctors, nurses, ambulances, drugs. For want of preventive or curative medicine, authorities could have done very little at any rate: public health measures (quarantine and isolation of the sicks) were unable to stop contagion. More than the war itself, present day historians indict the war-boosted increase in railways and sea communications between the continents and between the rear and the front. This momentous growth in transportation activities brought about a « bacterial equalization » throughout social categories and regions of the world. A most singular episode, whose historical chances to replicate within the next ten years are rather slim

Memoria cultural del genocidio ruandés. Una aproximación al archivo cinematográfico.

La memoria cultural es un tipo de memoria que se encuentra mediada a través de textos, imágenes, rituales, etc.; en ese sentido, el cine se ha vuelto uno de los medioscontemporáneos más importantes para su reproducción. Así, a partir de esta noción acuñada por los investigadores alemanes Jan y Aleida Assmann, la ponencia se propone estudiar el genocidio ruandés desde su representación cinematográfica. El genocidio tuvo lugar entre abril y julio de 1994 en el pequeño país de Ruanda, ubicado geográficamente en el corazón de África. A este hecho se lo conoce, tal como lo caracteriza la investigadora Linda Melvern, por ser “el genocidio más rápido de la historia”, entre otras particularidades. En dicho país, la tasa de muertes fue cinco veces la alcanzada por los nazis:durante los 100 días que duró el genocidio, se calcula que fueron asesinados casi 800.000 tutsis y hutus moderados. Los diversos títulos producidos hasta el momento no sólo establecieron formas, esquemas y motivos visuales de representación sino que también permitieron colocar en circulación un conocimiento, una interpretación, sobre el genocidio. En esa dirección, para conducir el estudio la ponencia abordará el tema a partir de una de las formas características de la memoria cultural: el canon y el archivo

Remember de Atom Egoyan. Vicios y virtudes de los sistemas de memoria

L’extensa obra del cineasta canadenc d’origen armeni Atom Egoyan s’ha distingit per tractar, entre d’altres, el tema de les formes com ens relacionem amb el passat i com la nostra memòria es veu mediada per diferents tipus de tecnologia en la construcció i conservació dels nostres records. A Remember (2015), el darrer llargmetratge que fins ara ha dut a terme, insisteix en aquesta temàtica i mira de representar el funcionament i les carències de la memòria.En aquest article no n’oferim una anàlisi estètica sinó que ens centrem en la forma i els modes com la memòria és representada en el film. Per fer-ho ens proposem estudiar-lo a partir de la indagació en els sistemes de memòria, a fi de donar compte tant de les seves múltiples capes i característiques com també d’alguns dels seus “pecats”, la qual cosa ens permetrà analitzar-ne no únicament les distorsions sinó també la manera com treballen; finalment, dediquem espai a pensar el lloc de la imaginació en les nostres relacions amb el passat.The extensive work of the Canadian-Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan has been characterized to addressing, among other topics, the ways in which we relate to the past and how our memory is mediated by various types of technology in the construction and conservation of our memories. In Remember (2015), his last feature film t to day, he returns to this topic aiming to represent the operation and the failures of  memory.In the present essay, we will not carry out an aesthetic analysis but rather  focus on the form and modes in which the memory is represented in this film. For this purpose, we propose to study it from an inquiry into the memory systems to account for its multiple layers and characteristics, just as we will account for some “sins” that will allow us to analyze not only its distortions but also its ways of working. Finally we will give space to think the place of the imagination in our relations with the past.La extensa obra del cineasta canadiense de origen armenio Atom Egoyan se ha caracterizado por abordar, entre otros temas, las formas en que nos relacionamos con el pasado y cómo nuestra memoria se encuentra mediada por diversos tipos de tecnología en la construcción y conservación de nuestros recuerdos. En Remember (2015), su último largometraje al momento, vuelve a tratar este tópico intentando representar el funcionamiento y las fallas de la memoria.En el presente escrito no llevaremos adelante un análisis estético sino que nos centraremos en la forma y modos en que la memoria es representada en este film. Para tal fin, nos proponemos estudiarlo a partir de la indagación en los sistemas de memoria, para dar cuenta de sus múltiples capas y características, de igual forma daremos cuenta de algunos de sus “pecados” que nos permitirán analizar no solo sus distorsiones sino también sus modos de trabajo; por último, daremos espacio a pensar el lugar de la imaginación en nuestras relaciones con el pasado

Figuras de justicia. El testimonio en los documentales sobre los juicios por los crímenes de la última dictadura militar argentina

En Argentina, desde el 2006 hasta la fecha, han tenido lugar más de cien juicios por los crímenes cometidos durante la última dictadura militar argentina. El presente trabajo, de carácter exploratorio, tiene como objetivo analizar algunas de las producciones documentales sobre los mencionados juicios. Para llevar adelante nuestra tarea, tomaremos la noción de “figura de justicia” pensada por la criminóloga Nicole Rafter en su estudio sobre el cine de juicios, como también las ideas de Annette Wieviorka en torno a la era del testigo. Con ello, indagaremos el lugar del testigo y del testimonio para pensar qué tipo de narrativa de memoria promueven los documentales. Palabras Clave: Juicios, Testigo, Cine Documental, Argentina, DictaduraIn Argentina, since 2006 to date, there have been over one hundred trials for the crimes committed during Argentina's last military dictatorship. The present paper aims to analyze, in an exploratory way, some of the documentary productions about these historical trials. To carry out our task, we will take the notion of “figure of justice” thought by the criminologist Nicole Rafter in her study about cinema and crime, as Annette Wieviorka’s ideas about the age of the witness. With this, we will investigate the place of the witness and the testimony in order to think what kind of narrative memory these documentaries promotes. Key Words: Trials, Witness, Documentary Cinema, Argentina, Dictatorship

Krapp's Last Tape, un recorrido por las metáforas de la memoria

A partir de la obra de Samuel Beckett Krapp's Last Tape, el presente artículo se propone presentar y revisar críticamente las metáforas de la memoria. A lo largo de la historia, los diferentes pensadores que se refirieron a la memoria hicieron uso de esta figura retórica para explicar su funcionamiento. En la crítica se verá que las metáforas poseen sus limitaciones, si bien pueden sugerir cómo se dan los procesos de almacenamiento y sus funciones, resultan insuficientes ante la cuestión del sentido que brinda la memoria. Así, y a partir de esas críticas, quedará abierto el lugar de la imaginación en nuestra relación con el pasad

Improving public health amidst crises. Introduction

This dossier springs from a meeting of the network «Health in the Interwar years» held in Granada in April 2007. This international network, which it is loosely organised around the electronic list of distribution maintained by the spiritful dedication of Iris Borowy, from Rostock University in Northern Germany, had a first presentation meeting in 2003, which produced a book on Facing Illness in Troubled Times. Health in Europe in the Interwar Years, 1918-1939 1. There we tried to grasp the actual health experiences beyond political shifts and organizational changes of the time, taking a view on the forming of health statistics that remained as main quantitative sources for the period. This allowed for a nuanced approach to the European past and contributed to the better understanding of the several case-studies (on Yugoslavia, Spain, Macedonia, Germany or Palestine, among others) presented. The book produced a nitid view of health as becoming a firstclass political problem in the interwar years, full of questionings, rich in promises and burgeoning professional administrations, a space worth of further analysis. At a next informal gathering in Paris, at the occasion of the 2005 Conference of the European Association for the History of Medicine and Health, we decided that time was ripe for a second scientific meeting dealing with «Crises as opportunities for health?». We aimed to discuss aspects and initiatives of future developments that revealed themselves through the diverse critical situations lived during the interwar years in Europe, and their interconnecting links, by means of a plurality of singular, nation —or institution— centred studies. A selection of papers presented at the Granada meeting have been collected here, including a further one prepared independently that has been added because of its closeness to our subject. Thus, we present papers on Britain, Norway, Greece and Spain (two), as well as one on a Jewish organization in Russia and/or Poland and a further one on the activities of the main institutional international actor in public health of the time, the League of Nations Health Organisation

Material flow analysis for identifying rare earth element recycling potentials in the EU-27

International audienceRare earth elements (REEs) are essential for high-techology industrial sectors. This paper presents research on material flow analysis (MFA) applied to REEs in the EU-27. Innovative aspects of this research pertain to (i) considering potential lithospheric stocks of REEs in the EU and (ii) accounting for incomplete and imprecise information in MFA data reconciliation. Results obtained to-date provides a history of EU-27 raw rare earth imports and exports and a methodology for data reconciliation which constitutes an alternative to the classical least-squares method

Making Food Safety an Issue: Internationalized Food Politics and French Public Health from the 1870s to the Present

Food safety is an ever more conflictive issue receiving media attention. “The increased activity of interest groups, the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy and changes in the retail economy have combined to transform [a relatively closed] food policy community into an issue network”. This account of recent changes lacks the historical dimension that might endow it with meaning. It is hardly appropriate to describe the current situation as a reawakening after a long slumber. In France at least, complaints about food safety voiced in numerous newspaper articles echo enduring concerns and a permanent sense of alarm. In 1957, Demain ran a catalogue of food scares: industrial bread causing eczema; wine adulterated with sulphur anhydride (for safe transportation); eggs and milk feared by doctors to be toxic (because chickens were being fed with chemicals or fish, and cattle with ground up rubbish); and filthy conditions on cattle and poultry farms. Much the same sort of list could have been drawn up early in the century during meetings of the Société Scientifique d'Hygiène Alimentaire (created in 1904), or run in the press following passage of the 1905 Food Adulteration Act, or printed in popular pamphlets such as Dr Raffray's Le péril alimentaire (1912). As the Common Market took shape in the 1960s, repeated articles in the daily newspapers relentlessly focused on the issue of food and public health. In France, arguments were continually framed in the language of the 1905 act.</jats:p