10.3. Poetry Of Resistance, Resistance Of Poetry: Exploring The Intimacies Of Memory And Revolution Through Juan Gelman

Loading Session...

Session Information

Description of the roundtableTwo days following the election of far-right presidential candidate, Javier Milei, the Argentine newspaper, Página 12, published the following verses from Juan Gelman’s poem, “My Beloved Buenos Aires” to its Instagram page with the caption, RESISTANCE: “One must learn to resist./ Not to leave nor to stay/ to resist,/ although it’s certain/ that there’ll be more sorrow and oblivion.” Originally appearing over sixty years ago, the re-emergence of these lines serve to conjure the whole of Gelman’s oeuvre, and his activism, both inextricably linked to the period of State terrorism the military coup d’etat instituted fifty years ago and the long struggle for justice that followed its end. In this roundtable, we explore why it makes sense to return to Gelman at this critical juncture, in the wake of Milei’s win; and what this return suggests about the politics of memory and the labor of poetry, especially in a context clearly haunted by an authoritarianism that expresses itself in novel ways under the guise of democratic order, not only in Argentina but also around the world. By speaking to these and related questions through Gelman's work, we seek to shed light on broader theoretical questions about the intimacies of memory and a poetics of resistance. As scholars of memory and literature, we ask: What might the poetic imagination offer the labor of recollection? Is the labor of poetry that of recollection? How does the poetry of past resistance shape collective memory, informing struggles against the unfreedom of today’s world? Arianna Afsari, University of Michigan Lisa Rose Bradford, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata Silvia Tandeciarz, William & Mary Fernando Valcheff García, University of Michigan

ChairArianna Afsari

Art, Literature, Film, Media, and Other Representations Roundtable

31-07-2026 15:45 - 17:15(America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires)

Venue : SV304 Available Seats : 40

20260731T1545 20260731T1715 America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires 10.3. Poetry of Resistance, Resistance of Poetry: Exploring the Intimacies of Memory and Revolution through Juan Gelman SV304 MSA Buenos Aires 2026 buenosairesconference@memorystudiesassociation.org