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WCED Lecture. Memorializing Rebels, Martyrs, and Heroes in Argentina, 1966-83

Jennifer L. Schaefer, Weiser Emerging Democracies Postdoctoral Fellow, U-M
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
4:00-5:30 PM
1636 School of Social Work Building Map
Jennifer L. Schaefer is an Emerging Democracies Postdoctoral Fellow for the 2016-17 academic year. During her affiliation with the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies, Schaefer will work on a project that examines how modernization campaigns around the 1978 World Cup shifted the social and economic geographies of Buenos Aires and redefined expectations towards public space. This study, “The Reorganized City: Urbanization, Modernization, and the 1978 World Cup in Argentina,” considers how ideas of the future and generational inheritance drove urban planning, construction, and use. Drawing on archival documents, audiovisual recordings, and oral histories, this project analyzes the construction of new highways required to transport fans to the matches, the installation of television facilities necessary to transmit matches live and in Argentina’s first color broadcast, and the renovation of existing stadiums to meet international standards. Engaging with recent scholarship that examines processes of inclusion and exclusion during international events, the project will contribute to broader discussions around claims to the ownership of public space. Her current research focuses on cultural articulations of political change in modern Argentina.

Prior to beginning the fellowship at the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies, Schaefer served as visiting assistant professor of history at Emory University and interim director of the Emory Writing Center. She received her Ph.D. in history from Emory University in 2015.

Schaefer's lecture will explore the topic of her in-progress book manuscript. Between 1966 and 1983, a series of military dictatorships and authoritarian civilian governments in Argentina limited political participation. During these decades, police and military forces responded violently to peaceful public demonstrations as well as armed revolutionary acts. When protesters or guerrillas were killed or injured in clashes with the military and police, their peers publicly memorialized them as martyrs and heroes in the struggle against authoritarian repression. This lecture examines how the identities of rebel, martyr, and hero intertwined in public commemorative acts and how they iterated values that sustained political communities under authoritarian pressure. Analyzing intersections between political life and mourning, and examining practices of commemoration that blurred the lines between live and grieved bodies, the lecture considers how and why protesters continued to put their bodies at risk to challenge authoritarian practices.
Building: School of Social Work Building
Event Type: Lecture / Discussion
Tags: Democracy, History, International, Latin America, Politics
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies, International Institute, Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia

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The International Institute’s centers sponsor numerous conferences, lectures, exhibits, and cultural performances throughout the year. These events are designed to educate the university community and the public about global issues and inspire discussion and dialogue. 

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