Anthropology Departmental Lecture – Trusting the past, mis/dis/trusting the state: emotions, alt-right politics and the work of justice in Argentina

Abstract

In this lecture, Dr Noa Vaisman explores the notion of trust as it exists in state-citizen relations in Argentina. Through several ethnographic situations that took place over the past few years, she examines the stance many victims, their family members and personnel of the judiciary hold that the state can be and at the same time cannot be trusted to provide proper, impartial, response to the demand for justice in the long aftermath of the last military dictatorship (1976-1983). This paradoxical position, while seemingly incorporating incompatible cognitive and affective dispositions, is key to understanding the nature of justice making in the context of the ongoing trials of crimes against humanity in the country. The recent querying of the past through acts of dictatorship-denial and, since December 2023, an alt-right political campaign aimed at dismantling state institutions and political practices that contended with past crimes, raise the stakes even further. Together this historical trajectory highlights the role that hope and the three-prong model of trust she proposes play in maintaining societal co-existence. 

For further information contact Professor Nayanika Mookherjee (nayanika.mookherjee@durham.ac.uk)