Abstract

The 1982–1983 period marked the end of Argentina’s last dictatorship, one of the most brutal in history, and a difficult time of transition for the country from dictatorship to democracy following defeat in the 1982 Falklands/malvinas War. Using the theoretical framework of critical discourse analysis, which approaches media as constructing rather than mirroring social reality and driven by the interests behind them, this article explores representations of Argentina’s last dictator, Leopoldo Galtieri, within broader discourses on nationalism in three newspapers that supported the regime. The methodological framework of the study is mixed, combining qualitative elements of the discourse-historical approach with corpus tools for an investigation into collocations and metaphors employed. Findings suggest that linguistic and discursive features used in relation to Galtieri change over the course of the year, reflecting shifting discourses on nationalism and Argentina’s period of socio-political crisis.