Imágenes recientes de la "Conquista del Desierto". Problemas de la memoria en la impugnación de un mito de origen

Abstract

This article refers to the problem of political memory in Argentina through recent controversial interventions of the narrative about the so-called The Conquest ofthe Desert, the military enterprise that resulted in the domination of indigenous people in Patagonia in 1879. These interventions, that range from a public space takeover —on allegorical monuments- to some works of visual artists, make reference to the last military dictatorship as well as to some recent political facts in Argentina. The case is analyzed as the process of transformation of one of the civilizing narratives of modem Argentina that placed the military figure in its center. This figure starts to be displaced by the critical discourse about the violation of human rights perpetrated by last dictatorship (1976-1983) and, therefore, it modifies the hegemonic discourse of the national genealogy established by conservative traditions in our country.