Who is to Be Remembered? Mortuary Memory in a Context of Politics of Death

Abstract

This article analyses different memory practices among subalternized populations, in their struggle against violence and forgetfulness. We thus observed the processes toward the production of three pieces of mortuary homage, as well as vandalization and/or destruction of some among them, erected by social movements and/or institutions. We highlight how necropolitics against the racialized and subalternized populations of the city appears as a foremost element in their forms of remembrance. Among the homages identified in the research, three were selected to stage this discussion: the statues in honor of the fallen students, in what became known as the 'Realengo Massacre'; the inscriptions made on the site where the late Councilor Marielle Franco was ambushed and assassinated; and the monument in honor of the victims of the 'Jacarezinho Massacre'. We pay particular attention to how memory is expressed in space, depending on the involvement and the objectives of memory agents. We argue that materialities are currently a cornerstone to understanding the memory practices under analysis, particularly with regard to the agency of concerned objects and subalternized social groups. We conclude that such groups, owing to their specific socio-political circumstance, offer a historical opportunity for the defense of human rights and memorial justice.