Introduction: The Second Generation in Contemporary Argentina

Abstract

The Introduction places contemporary debates surrounding cultural memory and postmemory within the context of post-dictatorship Argentina. Close attention is paid to how various actors on the national stage—for example, ex-militants, ex-military officers, human rights organisations, writers and directors—have sought to present themselves at different stages of this historical trajectory as victims of the dictatorship’s repression. Three significant issues related to contemporary Argentine cultural memory are highlighted: debates surrounding the objectivity, or ‘truth’, of memory; tensions inherent in the transmission of this memory from one generation to the next; and the application of European theories of cultural memory in the Argentine context. An analysis of Albertina Carri’s Los rubios (2003) is used to introduce the four key concepts that will be explored in the subsequent chapters of the monograph.