Los temas de la memoria colectiva del Golpe de Estado de 1976 en función de la ideología y las generaciones

Abstract

El recuerdo del Golpe de Estado de 1976 en Argentina ofrece una oportunidad para estudiar los procesos de formación y composición de la memoria colectiva. En el trabajo que se informa se estudió cómo los contenidos del recuerdo del golpe son afectados por dos factores: las generaciones que lo recuerdan y la ideología política de los participantes. Con este objetivo, se solicitó a 52 participantes argentinos y de ambos sexos que completaran una tarea de Recuerdo Libre entorno a los hechos del Golpe de Estado de 1976. Se dividió la muestra en dos grupos de 26 sujetos, uno estuvo compuesto por personas que vivieron durante esos años (mayores de 48 años) y el otro, por personas de una generación que no vivió aquella época (menores de 30). Se consideró también la ideología política de los participantes (Izquierda o Derecha). Se utilizó un enfoque de análisis descriptivo, centrado en analizar el contenido del recuerdo, considerando qué temas / ideas principales lo conformaban. Los resultados muestran una mayoría de temas comunes al recuerdo de los distintos grupos. Estos elementos comunes conformarían una memoria nacional del golpe. También muestran que la generación y la ideología política promueven temas / ideas principales propios de cada grupo. Aquellos de la generación mayor recordaron más temas / ideas principales de tipo contextual y emocional / afectivo. Los de la generación menor recordaron en mayor medida los hechos acontecidos durante la dictadura. Los sujetos del grupo de Izquierda recordaron temas / ideas principales vinculados a la violencia de Derecha y más aspectos contextuales que los del grupo de Derecha. Se propone que hay un sistema de memoria nacional que operaría en los sujetos y que es afectado por las metas y objetivos de cada grupo.

Argentina, as well as others Latin American countries, lived through a military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. Because of the magnitude of its consequences, it is a period of the Argentinean history that isstill discussed by its citizens and that has a place in the educational curricula of the country now. Moreover, its current importance is evident, for example, asshown in the ongoing trials for the responsibilities of the crimes committed by the militaries so many years ago, and the frequent news of people recovering theirstolen identity after being born in captivity during those years and being raised by families that appropriated them. A collective memory of the events taking place over those years is in the process of constitution and development. As people talk about it, as new information isspread on the news, asjustice works over those committing the terrible crimes during that period in Argentina, a collective memory of the 1976 coup d’état takes shape. One aim of the present work was to contribute to the study of the collective memory of the coup d´état of 1976 in Argentina. Even though this issue has received attention in previousstudies, an empirical approach towards it that focuses on the discourse of the memories of the participants, conforms a new contribution. Another aim of this study was to contribute to the study of collective memory from a psychological perspective. Recalls of the coup d´état of 1976 in Argentina offer one of those opportunities to study the processes of formation and constitution of collective memory. In the presentstudy, we are interested in studying how the contents of the recall of the coup d´état are affected by two specific factors: generations and ideology. Our interest is to study how similar and different are the memories for those events for different generations of citizens. We are basically considering those who lived through those years and those who learned about those same events indirectly, through books, documentary, news, etc. We are also interested in studying how much political ideology can affect the recall of those events. In that, we considered the basic ideological distinction between left and right. The dependent variable was a concrete aspect of the content of the recall: themes/ main ideas.Atotal of 52 subjects participated in the study. The sample was divided in two groups, one of which was constituted by subjects who lived-through those years. This was the older generation group. The other group conformed the younger generation and was integrated by subjects that didn’t live through those years because they were not yet born. At the same time, people from the left and right ideologies composed each of these two groups. Participants completed a Free Recall Test, where we asked them to recall all of what they could remember about the events around March 24, 1976. We focused on analyzing the content of the recall, considering the themes/ main ideasthat configured it. There are common elements of the recall that seem to configure a national memory of the coup d´état. However, generations and political ideology promoted themes / main ideas typical of each group. Those of the older generation remembered more contextual and emotional / affective themes / main ideas. Those of the younger generation remembered more facts that took place during the military dictatorship. People with a left wing ideology remembered more themes / main ideas related to the ‘Right wing violence’ and more contextual aspects than those with a right wing ideology. A national memory system that would operate in the citizens and that is affected by the goals of each group is proposed.