Commemoration practices of the Dirty War in Mexico

Abstract

This paper presents some results of an ethnographic research, that during the last three years has been dedicated to record and analyse the practices of commemoration of the "dirty war" (guerra sucia) in Mexico. This involves articulating the memories of both violence and resistance. Strategies used by Mexican government during the dirty war, expressed a policy of fear —criminalization of protest, murder, forced disappearance and torture—; at the same time, resistance strategies form civil society such as marches, protests, tributes and commemorative days are presented.