Digital Storytelling and the Dispute over Representation in the Ayotzinapa Case

Abstract

Comparison of the narratives of civil society and the federal government on YouTube and Twitter in the case of the disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa, Mexico, allows the identification of the codes of representation being disputed in this emblematic case of violation of fundamental rights. Digital storytelling that goes viral and across media offers the possibility of organizing protest in the offline world. Its reflective attributes favor the visibility of injustice and permanence on the local and global agenda and in some cases exert pressure on social actors and authorities to establish mechanisms to resolve the conflict. La comparación de las narrativas sobre la sociedad civil y el gobierno federal en YouTube y en Twitter en el caso de la desaparición de los 43 estudiantes en Ayotzinapa, Mexico, nos permite identificar los códigos de representación en disputa en este caso emblemático de violación de los derechos humanos. Los relatos digitales que se vuelven virales y pasan a otros medios ofrecen la posibilidad de organizar la protesta en el mundo fuera de la Red. Su capacidad de reflejar ayuda a visibilizar la injusticia, manteniéndola como tema importante en las agendas locales y globales, y en algunos casos también ayuda a ejercer presión sobre los agentes sociales y las autoridades para establecer mecanismos que puedan resolver los conflictos.

The same old story – or not? How storytelling can support inclusive local energy policy

“…Instead, all participants tried to contribute constructively to the discussions. Nevertheless, at this same workshop during the brainstorming sessions, there was a tendency by some participants to point at other (non-present) stakeholders as holding significant responsible, rather than focussing on the responsibilities of those in the room, as also found in the literature about storytelling and land recuperation conflicts [94,95].…”

Fue el estado (‘It was the state’): Embodied practices of memory and the re-writing of Mexico’s genealogy of violence

“…According to a Mexican blog on technology and politics (Gutiérrez, 2016), the hashtag ‘#FueElEstado’ became the fourth most important hashtag on Twitter 1 day after the performance, and remained one of the most used hashtags for 6 months. Moreover, the analysis of Meneses Rocha and and Castillo-González (2018: 275) of the civil society’s narratives on YouTube and Twitter after the attack concluded that the Mexican state, as a whole and not individual officers, was constructed as the responsible actor, with the phrase fue el estado taking a leading role in online conversation. Mandolessi (2018), in her analysis of books, documentaries, digital platforms and photographic projects around the topic of Ayotzinapa, arrives at the same conclusion.…”

State Violence, Capital Accumulation, and Globalization of Crime: The Case of Ayotzinapa

“…Others have expressed the views of artists, activists, and intellectuals who condemned the state as mainly responsible (Aguilar and Albertani, 2015; López Castellanos, 2015). In addition, there are studies that specialize in official testimonies and statements (Hernández, 2017; Illades, 2015), studies from the perspective of violence (Bartra, 2015), and one study of the way social networks influence protests (Meneses and Castillo-Gonzalez, 2018).…”