La fotografía en la reconstrucción del pasado reciente argentino: El dictador Videla reza en una misa en la Capilla Stella Maris, 1981

Abstract

This article discusses some of the complex relationships between photography, politics and historical studies taking the historical meaning of a press photograph published in 1981 as the main focus. The article first examines the photograph’s role in the construction of a journalistic discourse which legitimises the military regime, and then reviews the course of meanings and readings that the photo will acquire in certain contexts. Hence it will inquire into how these meanings and readings are interwoven in the reconstruction of Argentina’s recent past, providing the photo with a documentary and symbolic potential which is not usually present in historical research.

Keywords

• dictatorship
• Image
• photojournalism
• history; photography