The construction of Congolese-Belgian relations in apologies. A discourse analysis of letters over colonial past

Simona Lastrego; Sara Aguirre; Nicolas Van der Linden

doi:10.5565/rev/qpsicologia.1897

La construcción de las relaciones congoleño-belgas en apología. Un análisis del discurso sobre el pasado colonial

Autores/as

Simona Lastrego Université Libre de Bruxelles
Sara Aguirre Université Libre de Bruxelles https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2261-863X
Nicolas Van der Linden Université Libre de Bruxelles https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1288-948X

Resumen

Las disculpas han atraído la atención de las ciencias sociales, sugiriendo la necesidad de que las figuras políticas se disculpen por las injusticias históricas del endogrupo. Sin embargo, Bélgica aún no se ha disculpado públicamente por su pasado colonial en el Congo. En 2019, una empresa belga lanzó un concurso que ofrecía a los ciudadanos belgas la posibilidad de escribir una carta de disculpa por el pasado colonial. En este artículo, analizamos cartas seleccionadas por la empresa y examinamos cómo los autores describen el endogrupo y el exogrupo. Basándonos en la psicología discursiva, analizamos cómo se construyen los dos grupos sociales mediante la regularidad y variabilidad en el uso de dispositivos discursivos por parte de los autores. Los resultados muestran que la mayoría de los recursos discursivos se utilizan para mantener una distinción entre los dos grupos. Se discuten las similitudes y diferencias entre las cartas en términos de relaciones intergrupales.

Palabras clave

Disculpas públicas, Grupo social, Análisis discursivo, Ciencias sociales

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Biografía del autor/a

Simona Lastrego, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Scientific collaborator at Université Libre de Bruxelles. She holds a PhD in Social Psychology. Presently, she is the director of the School climate observatory of the Ministry of Education for the French community of Belgium.

Sara Aguirre, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Scientific collaborator and gender and diversity officer of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She holds a European PhD in Psychology, an MA in gender studies and an MA in migration and intercultural relations.

Nicolas Van der Linden , Université Libre de Bruxelles

Part-time lecturer at Université Libre de Bruxelles and part-time Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at Modus Vivendi, a non-profit organization providing harm reduction services for people who use drugs.