Restitution of indigenous ancestors, uncomfortable heritage, and ways of seeing violence in Argentina

Abstract

The indigenous demands made in Argentina in recent decades for the restitution of their ancestry to museums and other institutions have given rise to the making of several films and photographic exhibitions. The aim of this paper is to reflect on these images as “machinery for the production of sensibilities”, examining the politics of light in the representation and administration of violence and the affects and effects they have on the reconstruction of a past that demands justice on the part of the original peoples. I examine the images dedicated to making public the violence and racism involved in these heritagization processes and the implications, discomforts and positionings that these disturbing memories generate among the Mapuche in Patagonia, in order to discuss the category of “uncomfortable”, “dissonant” or “difficult heritage”, as heritage linked to exercises of human rights violations has been defined.