Memoria en disputa

The Memorial da Luta pela Justiça as a Space for Resistance and Identity

Abstract

This article presents a case study on the project of the future Memorial da Luta pela Justiça, located in the former Military Courts building in São Paulo, analyzing it as a site of memory, located in the former Military Courts building in São Paulo, as a place of memory and its role in preserving political memory and constructing collective identities. Through the reframing of a space previously associated with repression during the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship (1964-1985), the Memorial serves as a device for denunciation, symbolic reparation, and elaboration of collective trauma. The study examines the symbolic and political disputes surrounding this heritage space, drawing on theorists such as Pierre Nora, Elizabeth Jelin, and Estela Schindel, to understand how places of memory contribute to the formation of historical and civic consciousness. The research highlights the importance of the Memorial as an instrument for Human Rights education and as a strategy of resistance against forgetting, inserting itself in the contemporary debate on public memory policies in Brazil.