Layers of Memory in Territory: The Spatialised Construction of Violence in Papagallos (Mendoza, Argentina)

Abstract

These research notes emerge from a collective dialogue articulated through engagement with various projects, teams, and institutions, including research on recent history and memory in Mendoza, collaborative work with the Mendoza Team of Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology, and other experiences.

The analysis focuses on Papagallos, a territory in the piedmont of Mendoza that encompasses sectors of El Challao (Las Heras) and nearby areas of the City of Mendoza. It is a space with diffuse boundaries, whose definition exceeds administrative borders and instead refers to social practices, sedimented memories, and persistent conflicts. Drawing on a polyphony of voices—testimonies of survivors, relatives, community leaders, academics, human rights organizations, feminist research, press records, and territorial observations—the study seeks to trace layers of memory, silences, and memory initiatives that shape the space.

First, a characterization of the geographical and social space of Papagallos is presented; then, emblematic cases across different temporalities are analyzed —before, during, and after the last dictatorship; finally, from the perspective of critical cartographies and feminist counter-cartographies, the paper reflects on the historical continuities in the spatialized construction of violence, and the disputes over memory inscribed in the territory.