Central Cemetery in Neiva (Huila): The setting where manifold memories are activated, reinterpreted and disputed

Abstract

Through an ethnographic analysis of Central Cemetery in the city of Neiva (Huila), this text proposes to exemplify how cemeteries are privileged settings for the embodiment, organization and resignification of the manifold memories Neivan society collectively build and imagine in order to represent themselves in a dispute for identities and remembrance. They mirror what they are, have been, and aim at being. Those memories may be traced through the battle of signs, the persistence of hegemonies, the nation’s narrative, the bipartisan imprint, tenacity and the horror of the armed conflict, popular claims, the desire for a miracle, the vindication of affection, resistance, regional identity, the ephemeral, the transcendent and oblivion.

Keywords

• Neiva Cemetery
• manifold memories
• spatial organization
• popular practice.