Military Dictatorship In Argentina Research Articles

Молодежная политика аргентинской вoенной хунты как часть глобальной консервативной реакции

This article examines the youth policy pursued by the mili-tary junta as part of the general authoritarian strategies used to control public life and to shape mass worldviews during the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). Applying Michel Foucault’s concept of disciplinary power, the author analyses the interaction of military authorities with young people. Particular attention is paid to generational conflict and conservative ideology opposing changes in youth culture. The article also shows how the complex socio-political processes of the last dictatorship in Argentina were linked to the global conservative reaction observed in different countries in the 1970s. The topic touched upon by the author allows for a better understanding of authoritarian practices used to shape social norms, especially when influencing young people.

Born in Translation and Iteration: On the Poetics of João Delgado

João Delgado’s poetry first appeared as an anthology of translated poetry in He’arat Shulaym Issue 1, published in November 2001 in Jerusalem by the artist collective Sala-Manca. The entire issue was devoted to João Delgado. Delgado was a Portuguese-Argentinean poet, born in Lisbon circa 1920 (or not), who left Portugal as a political refugee for Buenos Aires. He disappeared in 1976 during the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976–1983). Since 1976, there has been no trace of his fate, although new fragments of his work are constantly being discovered, translated, and published by the Sala-Manca group. There is no evidence of any originals of his work. Literary critics in Israel praised Delgado’s poetry and art and even identified previously unknown relationships to poets and artists from the European avantgarde. In Sala-Manca’s artistic work, dating back two decades, João Delgado and his heteronyms would have a central role and focus, blurring the boundaries of the group, blurring the fictional with the “real”, and proposing a subjectivity that embraces multiplicity and dispersion. Translating his poetry into Hebrew, a foreign language (to Delgado), and bringing it into print for the first time in neither its original language nor the cultural context in which it was created may be seen as a kind of de-contextualization of the poet’s poetry, since Delgado always kept himself and his oeuvre connected to the immediate surroundings where it was produced. On the other hand, perhaps it is actually this possibility—to “become only in translation”—that is one of the outstanding characteristics of Delgado’s poetry, emblematic of its linguistic and conceptual elasticity. This paper examines João Delgado’s poetic work in relation to Sala-Manca’s artistic work and the way in which both Sala-Manca and Delgado create a “system of life” by being heteronyms of one another, allowing for a multiplicity of identities, and stressing the relation to Others.

Deep ethnography

AbstractStudying atrocities poses many challenges for ethnographers, not least of which is how to represent violent experiences, which often exceed articulation. The atrocities perpetrated during the military dictatorship in Argentina are no exception. Yet, during my fieldwork in Buenos Aires, I found that the violence forcefully surfaced in many ethnographic encounters, as a result of my having accidentally absorbed my interlocutors’ psychoanalytic reasoning into my ethnographic praxis. Everyday psychoanalytic practices used among survivors and the relatives of the disappeared, such as catharsis and working through guilt, filtered through ongoing self‐reflections and served a crucial role in my emerging understanding of an Argentine “ethics of feelings.” I couple this shared psychoanalytic praxis with creative prose as one integral way of practicing an ethnography of violence. Communicating through words that instill rather than explain the vexed feelings engages readers with the indeterminateness of violence and psychic “depths” in Argentina. This way of doing anthropology is what I call deep ethnography—an emergent form of sensing, talking, thinking, and writing about feelings.

"Communication from Afar": The Role of Subversive Mail Art During the Argentine Dirty War, 1976-1983

This paper analyzes the role of mail art by Argentine mail artists Edgardo Antonio Vigo and Graciela Gutiérrez Marx in subverting Argentine fascism and censorship during the Argentine Dirty War from 1976 to 1983. La Guerra Sucia, or “the Dirty War,” was a seven-year period of right-wing military dictatorship in Argentina, following a coup on 24 March 1976, against the government of President Isabel Perón. The U.S. coordinated with the junta and the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance, or Triple A, and the dictatorship “disappeared” and tortured thousands of so-called enemies of the state. Meanwhile, American and Argentine artists maintained fluid communications, empowering resistance to the regime. Vigo and Marx created the boldest work of Argentine mail art with wide distribution in the form of an “artistamp”, helping spread awareness of the disappearance of Vigo’s son, Abel Luis. By using the postal system as a means of communication with the outside world, Marx and Vigo informed other civilians about the disappeared peoples of Argentina and spread anti-nationalist and anti-government ideology. By taking a closer look at Vigo and Marx’s mail art correspondence with Ohio mail artist Harley Francis, this paper investigates mail art as an understudied aspect of lower-level international political resistance against the Argentine military regime.

The Collaboration of the Argentine Military Dictatorship with the Governments of Guatemala and Honduras in their ‘Fight against Subversion’ (1980–3)

AbstractThis article addresses one of the instances of the transnationalisation of state terrorism that took place at the end of the Cold War in Latin America. It examines the collaboration of the Argentine military dictatorship with the governments of Guatemala and Honduras in their ‘fight against subversion’ (1980–3) through previously unexplored archives. It presents the different degrees and forms of inter-governmental collaboration, the people responsible, the time frame, and the institutions, seeking to elaborate on the role of this collaboration in the repressive processes of each nation's historical experience. In general terms, this article contributes to transnational studies of the right wing during the recent history of the Latin American Cold War.

Carnival and iustitium in Ana María Shua’s ‘Fiestita con animación’

Rejected by the publisher when originally written, the short story ‘Fiestita con animación’, by Ana María Shua provides an allegory of the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983), relating Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the carnival or carnivalesque with the legal concept known as the state of exception, as developed by Giorgio Agamben. Specifically, the text offers a subtle representation of enforced disappearance (‘desaparición forzada’) to be interpreted in line with Agamben’s readings on the homo sacer (the sacred man). Consequently, carnival and the state of siege - namely, martial law - are equivalent as a temporary stop on rights or on the law.

Testimonio teatral de la violencia contra las mujeres en la dictadura argentina: NN 12 de Gracia Morales

This research paper focuses on Hispanic contemporary theatre and the representation of violence against women during the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). With this aim, it analysed NN 12 (2008), written by Gracia Morales, which examines the topic of violence perpetrated by the State, especially sexual and obstetric. To demonstrate how theatrical fiction has the capacity of creating new subjectivities based on the historical reality and argue its vindicative capacity, a critique and comparative analysis of the text NN 12 and the spoken and written testimony of women who were tortured and, in most cases, were assassinated during the Argentinian dictatorship was undertaken.

Preservation and Accessibility of the Audiovisual Document of the Trial of the Argentine Military Junta

AbstractThis research note outlines the current state of preservation and accessibility of an audiovisual document that contains complete video footage of the Trial of the Argentine Military Junta, whose verdict in 1985 found the accused guilty of crimes against humanity perpetrated during the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976–1983).The project of digitization is the result of a joint effort by the University of Salamanca, the Argentine human rights organization Memoria Abierta, and the judges involved in the case, with the support of the Argentine Cámara Nacional de Apelaciones en lo Criminal y Correccional Federal. Its two main objectives are to preserve and provide open access to the audiovisual document. To date only digitized preservation has been attained, a nonetheless remarkable achievement. Despite legislation dates enforcing the protection of the parties involved in the trial, and the absence of legal constraints, open access to the document has not been obtained.

Transitional Justice measures implemented in Argentina: their psychosocial impact

Terrorism carried out by State forces is the most reprehensible action to be taken because the power and resources of a country are used to generate terror. Such power and resources are aimed at reaching certain political goals instead of serving the citizens. Transitional Justice has raised complex debates related to democratisation, human rights and the reconstruction of the State and its institutions after periods of severe social conflict. After the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983), different transitional justice mechanisms were implemented to cope with the consequences of the State’s collective violence: Truth Commission, criminal trials, institutional reforms, as well as reparatory gestures. A descriptivecorrelational study of group difference was developed, with a non-experimental cross-sectional design. It was aimed at analysing the psychosocial impact of transitional justice measures taken in Argentina. The study was conducted on a non-probabilistic sample composed of 576 participants. Findings support the effectiveness of combined Transitional Justice measures, the weakness of recognition of criminal acts and apologies, and significant differences in terms of violence affectation.
 Received: 20 September 2021Accepted: 25 November 2021

Death of a Subaltern: Melodrama, Class and Victimhood in Muerte de un ciclista (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955) and La mujer sin cabeza (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)

This article provides a comparative analysis of Muerte de un ciclista (dir. Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955) and La mujer sin cabeza (dir. Lucrecia Martel, 2008). It argues that both films use the hit-and-run motif to address class difference, but also to reflect on key historical events such as the Spanish Civil War and the desaparecidos during the last military dictatorship in Argentina. The article analyses how both films adopt and rework conventions of melodrama to produce a critique of the bourgeoisie from within. Finally, it contends that each film negotiates differently its affiliation to the melodramatic mode.

Intervenciones afectivas al archivo materno en "La caja Topper" de Nicolás Gadano

Through the study of the autobiographical novel La caja Topper by Nicolas Gadano (2019), this article addresses the uses of the archive in the narratives of the children of victims ––in a broad sense–– of the last Argentine military dictatorship. Following the theoretical propositions of Jacques Derrida, Sara Ahmed, and Adriana Cavarero, we analyze the interventions that Gadano makes on the objects that his mother kept in a sneaker box as memorabilia of the family exile experience. First, we study the way in which the old box and the objects contained in it function as a matriarchive. Second, we analyze the operations that Gadano performs on the materiality, content, and ordering of the objects in the box, which produces a generational transfer of authority over the archive. Finally, we conclude that, through his fidelity to the maternal affective style, the author disassembles the traditional model of emotional labor division, reshaping the links between gender, generations, and memory.

Genetic testing to restore the human right to identity in post-dictatorship Argentina: Ethical, legal, and social issues.

The last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983), committed egregious violations of human rights, including torture assassinations and disappearance of 30,000 political dissidents as well as friends and relatives. This included hundreds of pregnant women who were kept in clandestine detention centers and killed after delivering their babies in abject conditions. The succeeding democratic governments applied forensic genetics at the Banco Nacional de Datos Genéticos to identify the estimated 500 children stolen at birth and being reared by military families with suppression of their identity. The first genetic identification was in 1984 of a 6 years old, while the latest was in 2019 of a 44 years old, completing so far 130 identifications along 35 years of post-dictatorship. The ethical, legal, and psycho-social complexities of restoration of genetic identity after years of appropriation and suppression of identity in the Argentine context, is discussed at length. Evidence indicates that after initial psychological distress, most individuals that had their true genetic identity restored experienced relief by learning the truth and reuniting with their biological families. Many "recovered grandchildren" are socially and politically involved in progressive causes and express pride for the social activism of their disappeared parents. The role played by genetics in support of the right to identity in Argentina has set an example of social responsibility of science in defense of human rights.

Límites y paradojas de una fotografía de prensa: análisis de una foto de Madres de Plaza de Mayo durante la dictadura militar en Argentina

Este artículo aborda la historia de una fotografía que se utilizó como símbolo de una posible reconciliación entre las Madres de Plaza de Mayo y la dictadura militar en Argentina. El 5 de octubre de 1982, ocho organismos de derechos humanos convocaron en forma conjunta a una movilización en reclamo por la aparición con vida de los detenidos-desaparecidos. Ese día se produjo una fotografía que aparentaba mostrar un abrazo entre un policía y una madre. La fotografía tuvo inmediata trascendencia mediática y se utilizó para sostener una supuesta política de reconciliación entre las organizaciones de derechos humanos y las fuerzas represivas que, en los hechos, jamás existió. Sus usos e interpretaciones permiten analizar tanto las limitaciones como las posibilidades de la fotografía periodística a la hora de constituirse como prueba y, al mismo tiempo, como símbolo de un acontecimiento. El carácter polémico y el éxito en términos periodísticos y fotográficos ubican esta imagen como un objeto de estudio privilegiado para analizar la relación entre dictadura, medios y fotografía, así como para reflexionar sobre la capacidad de una imagen para disputar el sentido histórico de un hecho y de influir en la opinión pública.

Reajustes de la violencia en una novela, su adaptación al cine y un remake: 'El secreto de sus ojos'

En este trabajo se propone atender a un aspecto poco transitado en los estudios sobre transtextualidad: el tránsito de un texto literario a uno fílmico (El secreto de sus ojos) y la relación que establecen con un remake (El secreto de una obsesión), adoptando una tipología que contempla las categorías de la readaptación, el remake simple y la adaptación compuesta o mixta. Se incide para ello en la representación de la violencia, de acuerdo con la distinción postulada por Steven Pinker (que sigue a Thomas Hobbes) sobre las causas del conflicto humano, y se considera, por una parte, la construcción de los personajes, y por otra, la forma en que se muestran las imágenes. De este modo, se analizan los necesarios reajustes que se llevan a cabo en dos contextos muy distintos: la etapa previa a la Dictadura Militar Argentina de 1976 (término en el que se mueven de forma variable la novela de Sacheri de 2005 y la película de Campanella de 2009) y la hipervigilancia antiterrorista tras los atentados del 11-S (en la versión de Billy Ray de 2015).

Hijos en escena. Teatro y posmemoria en la Argentina de la postdictadura

Desde hace casi dos décadas, el teatro se ha convertido en un excelente canal para que los hijos de quienes desaparecieron durante la última dictadura militar argentina articulen sus trabajos de duelo y búsqueda identitaria. Esta explosión de obras de teatro de “segunda generación” se concreta en la década del 2000, con el nacimiento del movimiento Teatro x la identidad. Tras asentar las bases conceptuales de la posmemoria y cartografiar otras acciones performativas realizadas por los hijos, me centro en algunas de las obras más representativas de Txi: Instrucciones para coleccionistas de mariposas (Eva Pérez, 2002), Hija de la dictadura militar (Lucila Teste, 2008), La búsqueda (Anabella Valencia, 2005) o Una caja blanca (Andrés Binetti, 2005). Mi propósito es establecer los modos con que estos jóvenes dramaturgos apelan a un pasado traumático del que, por edad, no conservan ningún recuerdo. Se trata en la mayoría de los casos de obras teatrales cuyas historias son marcadamente personales y subjetivas, cuando no claramente autobiográficas.

LA REFUNDACIÓN DE LA LÍNEA DEL HORIZONTE URBANO: PARQUE DE ESPAÑA, MBM ARQUITECTES (1979-1992)

Partiendo del papel mediador de la arquitectura en la vida cotidiana de los seres humanos, el presente artículo reflexiona sobre la acción mediadora del Parque de España en Rosario (Argentina), proyectado por los arquitectos Martorell, Bohigas y Mackay, como proyecto reconciliador entre tierra y agua, arriba y abajo, público y privado. Esta obra, realizada en la ribera central de la ciudad, en un histórico sector ferroportuario, posibilita reconectar la costa inferior del río Paraná con el nivel superior de sus barrancas a través de una intervención atenta a las componentes históricas de identidad rosarina. El Parque de España se constituye como punta de lanza de la reconversión del frente fluvial central de la ciudad que, si bien se comienza a gestar en los últimos años de dictadura militar en Argentina, se configura desde una nueva mirada del papel del proyecto urbano como generador de espacio público de carácter democrático. Este proyecto resulta así un laboratorio empírico del modelo Barcelona, en el cual se desarrolla un nuevo diálogo en el habitar de la ciudad, transformando un imaginario vinculado a estar de espaldas al río a configurar una nueva barranca arquitectónica, balcón al río Paraná y su delta, instaurando una nueva cota cero.

El problema de la productividad en Argentina: perspectivas locales y transnacionales entre el primer peronismo y el frondicismo

The purpose of this article is to examine the issue of labor productivity in Argentina through the positions supported by the State and the employers, as well as the positions emanating from international agencies, particularly the International Labor Organization, in order to determine the local specificities andtransnational convergences. The time period analyzed ranges from the first Peronism (1946-1955), the self-styled military government Revolución Libertadora (1955-1958) and the government of Arturo Frondizi (1958-1962). This last period corresponds to the most advanced state and business policies on the subject. It is argued that the persistence of various perspectives that coexisted between employees and employers, may have allowed workers to negotiate more favorable working conditions at the plant level, in the context of significant struggles to avoid the loss of the conquests obtained during the first Peronism. This explains that the so-called “productivity problem” will reappear in Argentina as an unresolved dispute until the last Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.

Peronist trade unionism, the barra brava of Chacarita Juniors, and the Argentine dictatorship

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the links between football, politics, and the organized labour movement in 1970s’ Argentina. The case study of Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors of Buenos Aires offers a unique lens for the study of Peronist influences in the world of football, and especially the involvement of trade union leaders and their violent methods in football clubs. Starting with Cecilio Conditi of the Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado (state employees’ union) in the 1940s, the syndicalist presence in Chacarita Juniors reached a peak during the presidency of Salvador Zucotti of the Sindicato de Obreros Molineros (millers’ union) in the 1970s, a time of growing violence within and outside football stadiums. Analysing Zucotti’s presidency enables a rethinking of the relations between the brutal Argentine military dictatorship, determined to stamp out any trace of Peronism, and the local football clubs and their limits.

“Israel is not Switzerland”: The Impact of Political Violence in Israel on Historically Traumatized Argentinian Immigrants

This study explores the long-term impact of childhood political trauma on the lives of adult Jewish-Argentinian immigrants who experienced trauma during the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976–1983), and who subsequently immigrated to Israel. Given the ongoing political instability in Israel, one of the purposes of this study was to determine whether prior political trauma made subjects more vulnerable to negative emotional and behavioral manifestations when living in a similarly violent situation, or whether it instead gave them tools to navigate that situation. The theoretical framework draws from Simich and Beiser’s (2011) paradigm, which includes factors for immigrant mental health across pre- and post-migration phases, which results in an assumed range of possible long-term negative and/or positive outcomes for mental health in adulthood. A narrative approach method was applied when interviewing 15 participants, and thematic textual analysis centered on the behavioral and emotional manifestations of these immigrants’ experiences in their current lives as adults. Findings revealed that participants’ present-day experiences included a variety of both negative and positive long-term emotional and behavioral reactions to ongoing political violence in Israel. These are located between two extremes: at the negative end of the scale, severe emotional and behavioral manifestations, while at the positive end, positive emotional and behavioral manifestations. This study concludes with recommendations for future research on the intersection between prior political trauma and exposure to political violence in the host country, as well as on the experience of this under-researched population.

Two Years of Historias Desobedientes: Daughters and Sons of Genocide Perpetrators of the Military Dictatorship in Argentina

To write about this phenomenon is to share in the grief. Years ago, I penned a series of articles on the literature of the desaparecidos, the murdered victims of the Argentine military dictatorship...