Being with Raúl

Territorial marks in a popular neighborhood of Córdoba Capital, Argentina

Abstract

In the following text I seek to ethnographically describe, through photographs, the grotto of a murdered young man in Los Cortaderos neighborhood in Córdoba city (Argentina). I will emphasize on how they to implement specific commemoration strategies, within this territorialization, where photography plays a special role in naming and putting a face on the person who is remembered. I understand that there is a correlation between the popular patrimonialization processes about death and the exacerbation of the violence contexts in which they are registered (Flores Martos, 2014; Blair, 2007; and others). In this context, I am wondering about the purpose of the photographic image in these memory construction processes (Da Silva Catela, 1999). To account for that, I will share the ethnographic experience of the “Gordo Raúl” grotto. It should be noted that this work is part of my Anthropological Sciences PhD thesis, which is called “Violent deaths and disappearances in popular sectors of Córdoba. An anthropology on photographs and memories in altars, grottos, and banners”, and is directed by Natalia Bermúdez, PhD/Prof.