University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies Hispanic Studies 2011 MEMORYSCAPES: PLACE, MOBILITY, AND MEMORY IN THE POST-DICATORIAL SOUTHERN CONE Rebbecca M. Pittenger University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Pittenger, Rebbecca M., "MEMORYSCAPES: PLACE, MOBILITY, AND MEMORY IN THE POST-DICATORIAL SOUTHERN CONE" (2011). Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies. 1. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/hisp_etds/1 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Hispanic Studies at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained and attached hereto needed written permission statements(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine). I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless a preapproved embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s dissertation including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Rebbecca M. Pittenger, Student Dr. Susan Carvalho, Major Professor Dr. Susan Larson, Director of Graduate Studies MEMORYSCAPES: PLACE, MOBILITY, AND MEMORY IN THE POST-DICATORIAL SOUTHERN CONE ____________________________________ DISSERTATION ____________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Rebbecca M. Pittenger Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Susan Carvalho, Professor of Hispanic Studies Lexington, Kentucky 2011 Copyright © Rebbecca M. Pittenger 2011 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION MEMORYSCAPES: PLACE, MOBILITY, AND MEMORY IN THE POST-DICATORIAL SOUTHERN CONE The urban landscapes of Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay lay bare the markings of these countries‘ turbulent political and economic pasts, their transition to democracy, and diverse efforts to preserve memory. Claudia Feld‘s observation that these countries have experienced a ‗memory boom‘—not a deficit—in recent years manifests itself as much culturally and politically as it does spatially, through the creation of memorials, memory parks, museums, and memory-related performances and discourses. Along these same lines, narratives of memory recur among artistic and cultural works of the post-dictatorial Southern Cone—not exclusively among memorials and other designated sites of recollection, but along the everyday corridors and causeways of some of South America‘s most populous cities, and rather unexpectedly, among seemingly generic sites of consumerism and transit. In fact, my reading of literary and cinematic works by Alberto Fuguet, Sergio Chejfec, Ignacio Agüero, and Fabián Bielinsky, and my examination of Uruguay‘s Punta Carretas Shopping Center, suggests that memory has not been easily corralled into designated sites nor erased through modern spaces and lifestyles; instead, each of the works analyzed in this study reveals that palimpsests of memory can appear often and, in many cases, spontaneously among all angles of the cityscape. KEYWORDS: Memory, Post-Dictatorship, Mobility, Alberto Fuguet, Punta Carretas Shopping Center Rebbecca M. Pittenger Student‘s Signature October 27, 2011 Date MEMORYSCAPES: PLACE, MOBILITY, AND MEMORY IN THE POST-DICATORIAL SOUTHERN CONE By Rebbecca M. Pittenger Dr. Susan Carvalho Director of Dissertation Dr. Susan Larson Director of Graduate Studies October 27, 2011 Date To my Grandfather Tress, for his undeniable influence over this project, and to my Fifth Grade teacher Chet Augustine, who asked me to dedicate my first book to him. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Doctoral dissertations are rarely written without the guidance of others—despite the many long, solitary hours a graduate student must spend to complete her work. My dissertation is no exception. I would like to thank Dr. Susan Carvalho, my Dissertation Director, for lending her unwavering support to this project—even when I wavered—and for guiding me through what has been a truly spectacular journey. I am equally grateful to Dr. Susan Larson for her early words of encouragement and for greatly influencing the course of my research from beginning to end, and to the remaining members of this Dissertation Committee—Drs. Enrico Mario Santí and Ellen Furlough—for challenging me and, ultimately, for contributing to the current version of this work. A special thanks to Janis Breckenridge for mentoring me through my entire graduate career and for all the exciting work we have done together as colleagues and friends. Doctoral dissertations also come to fruition thanks to the influence and support of loved ones, whom I would be remiss not to mention. It is still unclear whether this dissertation would have reached its conclusion if I had never met my fiancé David Kaplan. I‘m glad I will never know; thank you for showing up when you did. I will never regret saying ‗of course I will.‘ To my mother and father, thank you for your patience and persistence, and for raising us to believe that the pursuit of our passion requires no justification. Lastly, to my brother, thank you for being a good source of laughter and a tremendous source of love. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................... v Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Projecting the Past: Screening Memoryscapes in Alberto Fuguet‘s Las películas de mi vida ............................................................................................ 24 Chapter 3: Memories in Construction: Emerging Memoryscapes in Ignacio Agüero‘s Aquí se construye, o, El lugar donde nací ya no existe ...................................... 81 Chapter 4: Mobilizing Memoryscapes: Ruins and the Rebuilt Environment in Sergio Chejfec‘s El aire and Fabián Bielinsky‘s Nueve reinas ................................... 140 Chapter 5: Beyond the Memorial: Punta Carretas Shopping Center and the Spatial Politics of Memory ........................................................................................... 186 Chapter 6: Conclusion: Towards Public Memoryscapes .............................................. 236 Works Cited .................................................................................................................. 249 Curriculum Vita ............................................................................................................ 264 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1. House between towers ................................................................................. 98 Figure 3.2. Demolition of house .................................................................................. 100 Figure 3.3. House address ............................................................................................ 101 Figure 3.4. Mann recounts memories .......................................................................... 107 Figure 3.5. Young couple looks down on garden space .............................................. 111 Figure 3.6. Tea set ........................................................................................................ 113 Figure 3.7. Excavator demolishes house...................................................................... 123 Figure 3.8. Mann‘s son scales wall .............................................................................. 125 Figure 3.9. Mann faces off with new neighbor ............................................................ 139 Figure 4.1. Tight-angled shot of Juan and Marcos from Nueve reinas........................ 151 Figure 4.2. Hotel lobby ................................................................................................ 162 Figure 4.3. Hotel doors ................................................................................................ 164 Figure 4.4. Marcos standing in front of hotel .............................................................. 165 Figure 4.5. Juan has just kissed