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Accepted Paper:

'Tragedy Cromagnon': metamorphosis and coexistence of two shrines, the popular and the official  
Damian Cioce (Instituto Superior de Formación Docente)

Paper short abstract:

The 'Cromagnon' was a nightclub in Buenos Aires, where 194 people died violently, en masse. Survivors made aesthetic and symbolic elements, Catholic and pagan, and a popular altar was turned into a mixed shrine, added to an official shrine named 'Memorial Square'. With both shrines existing together, the official one underwent a process of a new signification and symbolisation transmitting a sense of identity.

Paper long abstract:

"Cromagnon Republic" was a nightclub dedicated to rock concerts, located in the district of Balvanera, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In this nightclub, 194 people died violently during a live concert of the national-rock band "Callejeros" on 30th December 2004. This catastrophe is a tragedy of mass death. To the survivors, this death opened a mournful phase during which they were burdened with special duties: to mourn and manifest their pain in different ways. These duties are expressed in the aesthetic and symbolic elements - both catholic and pagan - that turned a popular altar into a mixed shrine. Apart from this popular shrine, also an official shrine was built by the State, and named "Memorial Square". Both shrines co-exist, but the official one is undergoing - by those who built the first one - a process of new signification and symbolization with particular characteristics and is transmitting a sense of membership and individuality. To resume, the 'Cromagnon' death has a specific meaning for the collective consciousness of the survivors and their relatives. It is an object of different cultural manifestations: producing different and contestating popular and official expressions in the city. By Lic. Damián Pedro Cioce, Lic. Ana Gabriela Muñiz and Prof. José María Narváez.

Panel W055
The public memorialisation of death: spontaneous shrines as political tools
  Session 1