Resumo

GRAVANTE, Tommaso. Enforced disappearance and cultural trauma in Mexico: the Ayotzinapa movement. Convergencia [online]. 2018, vol.25, n.77, pp.13-28. ISSN 2448-5799.  https://doi.org/10.29101/crcs.v25i77.9728.

The disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa in 2014 breathed life into a broad social movement. What occurred this time to generate a broad mobilization of citizens? To answer this question, I believe we need to understand why and how Mexican society has framed the Ayotzinapa events. My starting hypothesis is that the Ayotzinapa events have produced a social process of collective trauma, and I will support this with Jeffrey Alexander’s proposal of cultural trauma, rarely used when analyzing collective action. The analysis is based on ethnographic work carried out over one year (September 2014-2015) during the different demonstrations to show solidarity with the parents of the disappeared students, which were held in Mexico City, and 70 interviews held at the national demonstration on 26th September 2015 to commemorate a year since the 43 rural teachers’ college students went missing.

Palavras-chave : victim movements; cultural trauma; enforced disappearance; emotions; violence.