Mnemonic Practices on Social Media

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

2. Chapter 1. Introduction

   Ana Lúcia Migowski da Silva

   Abstract

   In this introductory overview, the reader finds evidence of the variability of meanings involving the Brazilian dictatorship. It provides a brief historical contextualisation of the period and situates the current status of the engagement of Brazilians on social media. Analysing appropriations of social media in mnemonic practices involved in articulating discourses about the past is the main task undertaken here. Therefore, this chapter introduces the concept of “mnemonic practices”—what we do regarding the past—and their contemporary socio-technical character. Methodological and ethical reflections account for the complexity of conducting this analysis while avoiding potential threats concerning the study of contentious issues.

3. Chapter 2. Memories and Media: Concepts and Practical Dimensions

   Ana Lúcia Migowski da Silva

   Abstract

   In order to understand how the Brazilian dictatorship became an unsettled and disputed issue, it is essential to reflect on processes and mechanisms of sense-making about the past. Therefore, this chapter discusses the foundations of the study of memory and the relationship between memory and history in attributing meaning to the practical past (Hayden White). This relational character of memory materialises itself in mnemonic practices and products (Olick and Robbins) that are observable through representations and discourses about the past. Media are fields of practice where the externalisation and objectification of such processes occur. The chapter also presents the potentialities and constraints of mnemonic practices in a digitally mediated communication context, taking the current relevance of socio-technical entanglements for the performance of mnemonic practices.

4. Chapter 3. Memories of the Brazilian Dictatorship

   Ana Lúcia Migowski da Silva

   Abstract

   This chapter provides an overview of perceptions and attitudes toward the Brazilian dictatorship. Perspectives presented here expose the impact of mediation regimes in the meanings carried on and articulated to the present. While overlapping mediation regimes gave rise to traces and opportunities for learning about the past, the lack of articulation also prompted struggles for legitimacy in the present. The war of words following the politics of amnesty that characterised the transitional process in Brazil has been the source of contemporary cultural and political disputes. Social media functions as mediascapes where unresolved issues find room for public articulation.

5. Chapter 4. Methodological Considerations and Analytical Steps

   Ana Lúcia Migowski da Silva

   Abstract

   Social media analysis is a complex process, full of opportunities and challenges for capturing a representative sample of mnemonic practices and products. In this chapter, the methodological steps involved in this research resulted in a combination of grounded (Charmaz) and discourse theory (Laclau and Mouffe). The qualitative analysis of samples collected from 32 Facebook pages allowed for identifying the articulation of meanings and their socio-technical character. Furthermore, the categorisation of these pages into four types of mnemonic actors (critical of the dictatorship, supportive of the military regime, government initiatives, and projects conceived by professional historians) gave clues for understanding contemporary figurations of memory emerging within social media.

6. Chapter 5. Discourses and Socio-technical Articulations

   Ana Lúcia Migowski da Silva

   Abstract

   Facebook is a field of discursivity where experiences, knowledge, identity, and interactions initiated in previous mediation regimes converge and clash. Here, the role of this socio-technical platform in the articulation, both in terms of equivalence and difference, of meanings surrounding the Brazilian dictatorship is presented. Discursive formations that settle meanings in specific contexts, identified in four categories of mnemonic actors, are discussed. Practices involving confrontation, antagonism, and perplexity are the main issues identified throughout the analysed discourses.

7. Chapter 6. Mnemonic Affordances and Socio-technical Practices on Facebook

   Ana Lúcia Migowski da Silva

   Abstract

   The concept of affordance supports the analysis of mnemonic practices. Affordances emerge from what users perceive they can do within socio-technical environments. It hints at how and why particular practices, which are often also part of larger discourses about the past, emerge or get externalised in social media. Two mnemonic affordances, visibility and confrontation, are the primary relational aspects impacting how the Brazilian dictatorship acquires meaning within Facebook. Specific cases illustrating this conceptualisation are presented and serve as inspiration for understanding further case studies. The role of conspiracy theories, filter bubbles, and other platformed logics are particularly relevant in this context.

8. Chapter 7. Concluding Remarks

   Ana Lúcia Migowski da Silva

   Abstract

   This research aimed to understand contemporary remembrance processes regarding the Brazilian dictatorship. Different and complementary mediation regimes impacted the kinds of knowledge and experience concerning the historical period. The potential of social media in articulating meanings emerging from this process by affording situations of visibility and confrontation among underarticulated perspectives has been particularly discussed. Socio-technical dynamics that privilege presence and engagement to the detriment of formal historical evidence have been described as some of the factors impacting contemporary ways of making memories. Finally, it points to the need to find ways of dealing with such processes to guarantee political justice and human rights in fragile democracies and highly digitised societies such as Brazil.

9. Backmatter