Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo

El pasado en función del presente

Abstract

This article sets out to explore the ways in which some accounts of the association “Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo” in Argentina may have sutured senses that had been lacerated by a social catastrophe; and what effects they produce on memory processes contributing to reshaping collective identities. We are specifically interested in describing and analyzing the narratives about militancy of their disappeared children to understand how it relates to the way they build a narrative of themselves, which forms a “narrative of meaning” that seeks to restore and rebuild what was broken. Also, we want to ask how the centrality of a familiarist tone –in filial and biological terms– may contribute to a paradoxical effect by which empathy and detachment could be built at once.