The Return of Objects: History, Material Culture and Traumatic Political Events

Since the beginning of this century, numerous books or monographs have been published in academic journals that deal with the study of the past through objects, a field of work that is in excellent editorial health. These proposals have proved remarkably effective for historical research, for its dissemination, as well as for the performance of memory policies. Although they show as much diversity as there are possible subjects to deal with, they are especially useful in the approach to traumatic political events. The first section of this article attempts to understand the reasons behind the emergence of objects in the historians' imagination. The second deals with their presence in traumatic historical events and their potential to help understand, represent or explain these episodes. The third deals with the singularity acquired by objects marked by traumatic political events and the emotional charge that permeates them, especially because of their link to the victims, and reflects on how this emotional charge contributes to making these objects repositories of memory. The article concludes with a final coda that reviews the content of the text and explores the conflicts that can arise in relation to the issues discussed, such as the risks of trivialization or fetishism and the difficult balance between the documentary value and the emotional potential of objects linked to traumatic political events.