By means of its reign of terror upon the population of Argentina, including the systematic abduction of babies, the Argentine military dictatorship of 1976-1983 resulted in a catastrophic inversion of the status quo. Unwilling to accept the loss of their grandchildren and, to that end, the loss of normality, the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo emerged as a group of worried grandmothers demanding to know the whereabouts of their grandchildren. Through the assistance of genetic analysis technology, the Abuelas work to locate the grandchildren in the demand that they be restituted to their \"true identities.\" Although they claim to work only in the interests of the grandchildren, this thesis attempts to uncover the Abuelas' personal interests that lie within their location. By analyzing the discourse surrounding the work of Abuelas, particularly their insistence upon a politics of truth, this thesis works to understand the anxieties that the loss of the grandchildren and, to that end, the social institutions that have been dismantled by their abduction conjure. Unwilling to accept the loss of their grandchildren, the Abuelas have institutionalized a standardized path of processing trauma that grants them collective power yet is symptomatic of a persistent state of melancholia.
"},{"label":"Degree","value":["Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors"]},{"label":"Author-supplied Keywords","value":["Identity","Family","Dictatorship","Junta","Argentina","Grief","Mourning","Anxiety","Catastrophe","Grandmothers de Plaza de Mayo","Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo","Melancholia"]},{"label":"Administrative Note","value":"Drupal Node ID: 23756