Tragedy, the destiny of bones

policies of ashes and exhumation

Abstract

By dialoguing with the historical perspective adopted by Raymond Williams in his analysis of the tragic experience, this article investigates the connections that exist between the present time and tragedy. Based on political disputes that operate based on the pair memory-oblivion, this analysis focuses on the practice of exhumation as a basis to comprehend the possibility of tragedy in contemporary times. Such practice is understood here as a procedure that allows the opening of an agonistic sphere of political tension by establishing rupture and violence regarding the deceased’s memory and traces. Thus, we bring into view episodes from the Brazilian democratic opening (1975-1985) that emphasize the dialogue between State, culture, and the production of narratives over the country. Lastly, by approximating this period to the governmental project endorsed by 2018’s election, we border on the senses of contemporary tragic experience and the structure of a political architecture that despises the gesture of exhumation for defending historical oblivion and the irreversibility of ashes.