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Cyber Spaces as Forums for Transmitting and Writing Memories

Sat, May 25, 2:15 to 3:45pm, TBA

Abstract

Taking as case study the Ex-ESMA Space for Memory and Human Rights in Buenos Aires, this paper explores visitors’ experiences to both the Site of Memory Museum and the compound at large, which houses several institutions ranging from human rights organizations to the Malvinas Museum. I focus on: 1) how visits to the site are announced and promoted in the Ex-ESMA website, the Site of Memory Facebook page, and tourism websites that list the visits as “Things to do in Buenos Aires” (e.g., Trip Advisor). 2) Visitors’ comments about their visits posted in Facebook and websites. I argue that this cyber public sphere gives new visibility to the Ex-ESMA and is a new space for the cultural and digital transmission, sharing, and writing of memories. New generations of Argentines and foreigners visiting the site have different and more distant relationships with the events of state terrorism and other ways and languages to discuss them. Visitors’ public comments provide rich information to study their experiences. The questions guiding my analysis include: who are the visitors posting these comments? How do they present themselves? How do content and tone of what they write compare to posts in the museum’s visitor books (based on data gathered through years of researching these books)? Do these comments open threads and generate conversations? If so, what patterns emerge?

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