Abstract

FIGUEROA MUNOZ LEDO, Adriana Araceli. Reflecting upon Places of Memory: The Use of Hashtag on Twitter. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2020, vol.15, e444.  Epub Mar 05, 2021. ISSN 1870-4115.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2020.v15.444.

This essay analyzes the use of the hashtag symbol (#) on Twitter as a place of memory and a space for constructing memory. It is based on cases related to the first anniversary of the September 9, 2017 earthquake in Mexico and the fourth anniversary of the forced disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa. It discusses the hypotheses of classical scholars studying memory and its relevance to analyze socio-digital networks as potential places of memory and/or vectors that configure memory. It concludes that the use of hashtag constitutes a place of memory and articulation for groups that are generally silenced or made invisible. Nonetheless, the use of hashtag is not free of censorship or exclusion. These reflections may also be applied to how some digital spaces lead to data sources that are useful to History, articulated by voices that are considered unofficial.

Keywords : Historical memory; Internet; web 2.0; socio-digital networks.