Tabulate, recall, remember

The refoundation of Argentina in José Rivera Indarte’s Tablas de sangre

Abstract

This article examines Argentine letrado José Rivera Indarte’s overlooked Tables of Blood (1843) as a unique example of the Spanish American mid-nineteenth century desire to refound the Nation. Adapting and enlarging critically the theoretical proposals of Adriana Cavarero and Thomas Laqueur, the article reads the Tablas not only as an influential and precursory interpretation of Rosismo, but also as the written construction of an “Argentine nation”, precisely when it did not exist. In order to do so, the concept of “horrorism” is advanced so as to shed light onto the Tablas’ description of the Regime, while the concepts of “necro-nominalism” and “necro-geography” are used to analyze their creation of a “victimized nation”.