Argentina's haunted collective memory
During the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983) around 30,000 people, mostly political dissidents, were kidnapped, tortured, killed and made to disappear. ERC grantee Kirsten Mahlke analyzed the haunting effect on Argentinian society of this mass forced disappearance as well as how it is presented in contemporary literature.
This violent period in the Argentinian history is still present in the people's collective memory. The uncertain status of the Disappeared (“los Desaparecidos”) has resulted in continuing trauma in the Argentinean society. Prof. Mahlke and her team combined literary studies with political science and social anthropology to examine the different ways in which the Disappeared shaped the Argentinian society. For the first time, specific attention is paid to the ways in which fantastic narrative characterizes the narratives of terror and, moreover, whether the fantastic as a mode of cultural communication, tradition, and art disseminates rather than counteracts the experience of horror.
To understand this, the team interviewed more than 100 individuals - terror victims and relatives, neighbours, lawyers - as well as analysed oral reports and literature, theatre plays, religious rituals, judicial documentation and spatial dimension of terror. The results of the research show that the uncertainty about the faith of the Disappeared has created a specific socio-political and scientific field. Moreover, the Argentine model of dealing with forced disappearances has had effect in other countries affected by similar forms of violence.
The impressive reactions to this project on a political and societal level reflect its high significance and impact. Prof. Mahlke and her team were invited by Argentinean President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and many other public stakeholders outside the scientific community. The team also presented their research and findings in a TV series for an Argentine educational TV channel.
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