GRAFFITI, MEMORY AND CONTESTED SPACE: MNEMONIC INITIATIVES FOLLOWING TRAUMA AND/OR REPRESSION IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA BY ERIN E. ARMI KAIPAINEN A thesis Submitted in partial fiilfillment Of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts MA Program in Social Justice and Equity Studies BROCK UNIVERSITY St. Catharines, Ontario February 12,2007 © Erin E. Armi Kaipainen, 2007 Yd '< /.M ABSTRACT Graffiti, Memory and Contested Space: Mnemonic Initiatives Following Periods of Trauma and/or Repression in Buenos Aires, Argentina This thesis concerns the popular articulation ofmemory following periods or incidents of trauma in Argentina. I am interested in how groups lay claim to various public spaces in the city and how they convert these spaces into mnemonic battlegrounds. In considering these spaces of trauma and places of memory, I am primarily interested in how graffiti writing (stencils, spray-paint, signatures, etchings, wall-paintings, murals and installations) is used to make these spaces transmit particular memories that impugn official versions of the past. This thesis draws on literatures focused on popular/public memory. Scholars argue that memory is socially constructed and thus actively contested. Marginal initiatives such as graffiti writing challenge the memory projects of the state as well as state projects that are perceived by citizens to be 'inadequate,' 'inappropriate,' and/or as promoting the erasure of memory. Many of these initiatives are a reaction to the pro- reconciliation and pro-oblivion strategies of previous governments. I outline that the history of silences and impunity, and a longstanding emphasis on reconciliation at the expense of truth and justice has created an environment of vulnerable memory in Argentina. Popular memory entrepreneurs react by aggressively articulating their memories in time and in space. As a result of this intense memory work, the built landscape in Buenos Aires is dotted with mnemonic initiatives that aim to contradict or subvert officially sanctioned memories. I also suggest that memory workers in Argentina persistently and carefially use the sites of trauma as well as key public spaces to ensure official as well as popular audiences . The data for this project was collected in five spaces in Buenos Aires, the Plaza de Mayo, Plaza Congreso, La Republica Cromanon nightclub, Avellaneda Train Station and El Olimpo, a former detention centre fi-om the military dictatorship. '' iii^^ '-'ivt f'*i-}i-'-'^i i ''"i' • *k *T)i •« ih iw.' 11 ri'i TABLE OF CONTENTS r . .. I Ac]inowledgements/Reconocimlento vi Spanish Terms and Acronyms vii List of Figures (Maps, Diagrams and Images) xii Ctiapter 1: Represion, Impunidad y Gatillo Facil: An Introduction 1 The Beginning of the Dictatorship 5 Democratization and 'Memoropolitics' 9 The Breaking Point and Emergence of Piquetes 12 Resisting Societal Amnesia 13 Recent Events 14 Chapter 2: Relevant Literature 20 Power Discourse and Memory 22 Memory and Street Art 24 Memory and Place 32 Place Names and Memory 34 Memory and Ideology 37 Memory in the Landscape 40 Spontaneous Memory 45 Contentious Memory 47 Power and Resistance 53 Challenging Dominant Memories through Street Art 57 Selection of Field Sites 66 Data Collection and Methodology 70 Chapter 3: Plazas and Protest: Graffiti of the Plaza Congreso and Plaza de Mayo 85 History of the Plazas 89 The Plazas of the Present 93 Graffiti in the Plaza de Mayo 1 04 Graffiti in the P/aza Congreso 122 Concluding Remarks 127 Chapter 4: Thirty-thousand Calls for Justice: Graffiti and the Spaces of Terror Thirty Years Later 135 Former Detention Centres as Places of Memory 135 ElOlimpo 143 Chapter 5: Memories of Repression and Trauma in the Landscape: Estacion Avellaneda and La Republica Cromanon 161 Estacion Memoria - Memory Station 1 64 Coping with Recent Tragedy at La ^epiiW/ca Cromandrt 175 TYiQ Cromanon Field Site 178 The Graffiti ai Cromanon 178 Discussion of Cromanon Memory Initiatives 1 92 ni . ft* - v».> '\ *<)« in f<'s'^fsj^> J tfc 21, J'». Jl::'^- 6:^ . .TV^ •fi! Chapter 6: Vulnerable Memory and the Street: Transmitting Narratives of Trauma and Injustice 201 Works Cited 218 Appendix A- Image from Pdgina/12 depicting surroundings of Plaza de Mayo 227 \ IV s;:. The System Extermination plan: destroy the grass, pull up every last little living thing by the roots, sprinkle the earth with salt. Afterward, kill all memory ofthe grass. To colonize consciousness, suppress them; to suppress them, empty them ofthe past. Wipe out all testimony to thefact that in this land there ever existed anything other than silence, jails and tombs. It is forbidden to remember. , . v; Prisoners are organized into work gangs. At night they areforced to whitewash the phrases ofprotest that in other times covered the walls ofthe city. The steady pelting ofrain on the walls begins to dissolve the white paint. And little by little the stubborn words reappear. (From Days and Nights ofLove and War by Eduardo Galeano) '''^. ' "-;';- •',f^ .'%: = ,•* ; W 'S <,!; iViU. -" ;- •ui-^' 'ar. "i!!:-^ \ ! *y<3€^'55''4"^ til'r'v; ^«'vs ' ;;«>.,•,,. i5 inv%^;^.;V\ ;v^xj ^.-f-sC mo'll) La memoria es como un obrero que trabaja para establecer cimentos duraderos en medio de las olas /Memory is like a laborer who works to lay cement in the middle ofa torrential downpour. (Marcel Proust)' ' On the wall of Rosario's Museum of Memory during the Fernando Traverso exhibit, September 2005. vi n .iti. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/ RECONOCIMIENTO I must thank a long list of people at Brock University beginning with my supervisor, Mike Ripmeester - for among other things, being the early inspiration for this project (although I'm not sure he knows this), for his patience with my lengthy drafts and my amateur-geographical project; Ana Isla, my second reader, for sharing her Latin American perspective; Sue Spearey - for her continuous support and feedback, for encouraging me to pursue graduate work and for enriching both my undergraduate and graduate courses through her innovative assignments, engaging courses and generous time and feedback; John Middleton - John was the first to nurse my interest in Argentine issues, and was the first of many Brock professors to go out of their way to assist me - after learning of my interest in reading Nunca Mas, John returned fi-om Argentina with a copy for me. He later took me on a field course to Argentina. That experience eventually led to all of this, and then still later, to my collaborative project and internship with the Programa Rosario Habitat in Rosario. David Butz for reading drafts of my thesis and keeping me on track fi-om the beginning; Sheila Young, for facilitating my internship in Argentina; Linda Landry and Virginia Wagg for their administrative support; Loris Gasparotto for his wonderfiil maps; Of course, my classmates - for their support, feedback and enthusiasm; Finally, none of this work would have been possible without the financial support I received fi-om Brock University, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canada Corps University Partnership Program. I am gratefiil to The Programa Rosario Habitat, the entire huge team, but in particular, Ricardo Biasatti, Silvia Comero, Silvina di Nucci, other members who were so generous with their information about Rosarino graffiti, Danilo Canal and especially Gonzalo Compaiiy. Gonza deserves special mention for his knowledge of memory work in Argentina. He challenged me on numerous occasions, ultimately making this a better project. But above all, I thank him for his fiiendship. I want to acknowledge Silvia Varchetta - for hosting me at her house, for her limitless assistance in some of the locations most important to this study, for her assistance in deciphering messages and to providing a great deal of contextual information; Jose Luis Fassac - for his longstanding support of my research and assistance while I conducted my fieldwork in 2005, but also for his assistance during my trip to Buenos Aires in 2003, for the photos he took for me when I was away fi-om Argentina, and for going out of his way to make sure that I saw some of the city's most important graffiti; David and Astride - for driving me around to various murals, and being so supportive of my project; I would also like to thank all those others in Argentina who deciphered graffiti, translated messages, pointed me in the right direction, suggested modifications to the project or accompanied me to various sites. I am also very gratefiil for the endless support of my family. Lastly, I want to thank my fiancee, Mark, for his unconditional love and support. Vll Ui-' ';/ 1.; ' r I'-S ,:u •. T-X . >t :'.v'5 SPANISH TERMS AND ACRONYMS Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo: Grandmothers oi Plaza de Mayo. ALCA: Area de Libre Comercio de las Americas (Free Trade Area of the Americas - FTAA). Free trade zone which would unite thirty- four nations of the Western -, Hemisphere, or all of the countries of the Americas with the exception of Cuba. >, AMIA: Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina, Jewish Community Centre in Buenos Aires. The AMIA was the site of a deadly explosion in 1 994. APHAC: Asociacion Padres de Hijos Asesinados en Cromanon (Association of Parents of Children Murdered in Cromanon). Argendnazo: See also 'caserolazo.^ Large uprising in December 2001 in response to economic crisis. _ Callejeros: Literally means 'those of the street,' however it is also the name of a popular Argentine band. The band is from the Buenos Aires area and is now infamous because it was playing at the Republica Cromanon nightclub on December 30, 2004 when a flare set off by a fan caused the building to catch fire. The fire killed 194 young people. However, because the victims of the fire were Callejero fans, in death, they have come to be referred to by the band's name.