MEMORY, RACISM AND POLITICS

An analysis of 1912, Voces para un silencio, by Gloria Rolando, 2010-2013

Abstract

Our objective is to check the filmic representations of an episode that occurred in Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century, which was the persecution, arrest and killing, carried out by the government of José Miguel Gómez (Liberal Party), of members of the Independiente de Color Party, organization that intended to combat racism in the different institutional spheres of the country. The theme was analyzed in the series in three documentaries, with about an hour each, entitled 1912, Voces para un silencio, directed by Gloria Rolando between 2010 and 2013, in the context of the centenary of the repression. The filmic analysis of the series will be carried out within the field of studies between Cinema and History, and will have the purpose of checking three dimensions of the work. The first will be about the mobilized documents and speeches, which combine institutional documents, photographs, songs, newspaper pages and cartoons. The second will discuss the selection of protagonists, especially historians and black women from the past and present century. The third will focus on racial themes discussed in different historical moments of the Cuban past presented in the trilogy. Our hypothesis is that the series seeks to legitimize the theme of racism on the island in national historiography, with the support of denouncing voices of the unveiled past. The theme was analyzed in the series in three documentaries, with about an hour each, entitled 1912, Voces para un silencio, directed by Gloria Rolando between 2010 and 2013, in the context of the centenary of the repression. The film analysis will aim to check three dimensions of the series. The first will be about the mobilized documents and speeches, which combine institutional documents, photographs, songs, newspaper pages and cartoons. The second will discuss the selection of protagonists, especially historians and black women from the past and present century. The third will focus on racial themes discussed in different historical moments of the Cuban past presented in the trilogy. Our hypothesis is that the series seeks to legitimize the theme of racism on the island in national historiography, with the support of denouncing voices of the unveiled past. As a theoretical basis, we will dialogue with distinguished thinkers such as Jacques Rancière, Michael Pollack, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Hayden White, Aline Helg and Alejandro de la Fuente.