“Digital Memories” conducted an interdisciplinary analysis of the practice of disappearances in Mexico, from the period of the so-called ‘dirty war’ to the current crisis of disappearances associated with the country’s ‘war on drugs’, focusing on four broad axes of enquiry. We examined the phenomenon of disappearances in its historical and present-day forms, and the struggles for memory around the disappeared in Mexico. We addressed the political dimensions of disappearances, focusing on the specificities that this practice acquires in the context of the counterinsurgency struggle of the 1970s and the so-called ‘war on drugs’. From a legal perspective, we situated the issue within the framework of human rights law by examining the legal aspects of disappearances. Finally, we explored the social movement led by the relatives of the disappeared. This analysis offers an integral understanding of the historical, socio-political and legal context of the phenomenon of disappearances in Mexico.
Situated in this broader context, “Digital Memories” analysed the Ayotzinapa’s case with an ecological approach to the activism and the constructions of collective memory, which allowed us to understand how the different components of the digital ecology are intertwined and make sense. Departing from the main hashtags used in Twitter, we applied quantitative methods and multimodal analysis to trace these hashtags in the media ecology, including other platforms as well as performances, documentaries, films and street actions. The analysis shows not only the way in which the digital media ecology performs meaning through the flows and interactions of its distinct components, but also the underlying connections between present and past. The findings challenge some of the most widespread assumptions about Mexico as a country “without memory”, as well as about the relationship between social media described in terms of its instantaneity and immediacy and the role of such media as mnemonic agents.
Regarding the conceptualization of digital memory, the project thoroughly examined the debate and concluded that it is marked by a fundamental ambiguity regarding the definition of ‘digital memory’. This ambiguity concerns the different ways in in which each of the terms –‘memory’ and ‘digital’, as well as the relationship between the two– are conceptualized. The different conceptions underlying the definition involve two types of memory at play in the debate: a memory defined in computational terms (‘computational memory’), and a memory defined in anthropocentric terms (‘human memory’). The essence of the debates concerns the relationship between the two: whether the two are conceived in opposite ways; whether they function in terms of analogy, one acting as a model for the other; or whether, although they are not identical, there is no principled difference between the two and, consequently, in contemporary media ecology, they cannot be thought of separately. Based on this hypothesis, and drawing on an understanding of concepts as ‘dynamic tools’ we delved into the underlying assumptions of the distinct visions of ‘memory’ and ‘digital’. This approach shed light into the ruptures and continuities between the previous broadcast era and the contemporary semiotic environment determined by the ubiquity of digital media.
