Nomenclatura: aproximaciones a los estudios hispánicos

“Acts of Remembering”

Introduction

The articles published in “Acts of Remembering,” the inaugural issue of Nomenclatura: aproximaciones a los estudios hispánicos examine the ephemerality of memory and the ways in which writers and filmmakers create a sense of collective memory or a memoryscape upon which future generations can reflect. Memory, a subject so often associated with geographies of horror and repression, raises the question: how can horror be represented without being recreated? The articles in this edition bring together diverse perspectives on trauma, testimony, historical memory, and counterhegemonic discourse, providing an analysis of not only how we remember, but also how literary reconstructions of memory inform present day debates such as the Ley de memoria histórica in Spain. An analysis of testimonial literature looks at the nuances of how writing trauma recreates from diverse perspectives such historical moments as the massacre of Tlatelolco in Mexico or the dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile. Official histories are also contested in the marginal literature of Brazil, providing a space in which debate and reflection are possible.

These articles approach history from the margins, looking at literature and the role of women in Civil War Spain, the concept of queer trauma in contemporary Argentinean film, and the role of Socialist Party electoral videos in the democratic transition in Spain. These acts of remembering influence and inform contemporary memory discourse, and show the importance of witnessing artistically and creatively the horrors of the past.

Alice Driver and Rebbecca Pittenger