Testimonies



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  • Victoria

    The way a body remembers AFFECTIVE MEMORY

    Victoria’s father was kidnapped and killed by an armed guerrilla group in Argentina in 1974. She feels she is the official keeper of her father’s memory and believes she is one of the few witnesses to the type of person he really was. Though she made conscious attempts to forget the violence she saw and experienced, Victoria’s body functions as a powerful agent in signposting her painful past.

  • Cristina

    Dreaming AFFECTIVE MEMORY

    Cristina still dreams about her husband Carlos who was forcibly disappeared during the 1976-1983 Argentine military dictatorship. Her story shows the endless impact the disappearance of her husband has had on her life and the ways in which she has been able to make sense, with time, of her conflicting emotions.

  • Noemi

    Survivor mentality AFFECTIVE MEMORY

    Noemi’s partner Eduardo was forcibly disappeared by the Argentine military junta in 1977. The years following Eduardo’s disappearance were extremely difficult for Noemi and her two children. She talks about the impact of his disappearance on her life.

  • Eliana

    DNA Dilemma ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE

    Eliana’s sister Evangelina was forcibly disappeared by the Argentine military junta in 1976 and has never been found. Eliana finds herself contemplating an unbearable future predicament. While she goes forward with the process of submitting her DNA in the hope of finding the remains of her sister, she wonders whether her actions will really deliver her what she is seeking – relief from knowing with certainty where the remains of her sister are.

  • Graciela

    Disappearance – A Lifetime Commitment ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE

    Graciela’s partner Ricardo was forcibly disappeared by the Argentine military junta in 1976. She says that being a family member of a disappeared person requires a lifetime commitment to remembering loved ones.

  • Buscarita

    Keeping Hope Alive ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE

    Buscarita is a member of the Argentine organization Las Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo which searches for up to 500 missing children who were taken from their illegally imprisoned mothers after their birth and given to Argentine military families or to those with close military ties. Buscarita talks about the daily challenges facing the members of the organisation while searching for their grandchildren.

  • Graciela

    Haunting Photographs HAUNTING

    Graciela’s partner Ricardo was forcibly disappeared by the Argentine military junta in 1976. Graciela believes the uncertainty about what happened to her partner will never leave her and she has never been able to go fully through a process of grieving as a result. It is unsettling to see herself ageing in photographs while the face of Ricardo remains frozen in time.

  • Nenina

    Language and the Legacy of Historical Violence HAUNTING

    Nenina’s partner José was forcibly disappeared by the Argentine military junta in 1977. Here she talks about how new words and phrases sprang out of the dictatorship era and have been assimilated into everyday language in Argentina.

  • Cristina

    Haunting Attachments HAUNTING

    Cristina’s husband Carlos was forcibly disappeared by the Argentine military junta in 1976. She talks about the overpowering sense of uncertainty, vulnerability, survivor guilt and shame that comes with being a loved one of a disappeared person.

  • Barbara

    The desire for social and legal recognition of memories MEMORY AND JUSTICE

    Barbara’s journalist father José Miguel was killed by the armed guerrilla movement in Argentina in 1976. While she finds talking about her father is to recuperate his memory, she feels stigmatised and publicly shamed because of the presumed role her father played in the terror inflicted by the Argentine military.

  • Noemi

    The reality of permanent disappearance MEMORY AND JUSTICE

    Noemi, an author who has written about the female partners of the disappeared in Argentina, has no knowledge about where the remains of her disappeared partner Eduardo, lie. She talks about how devastated she was on hearing the story of one woman who knew about her partner’s final moments.

  • Graciela

    The pendulum theory MEMORY AND JUSTICE

    Graciela’s partner Ricardo was forcibly disappeared by the Argentine military junta in 1976. Here she talks about the degree of injustice and impunity that the families of the disappeared have faced since Argentina’s return to democratic rule in 1983.

  • Silvia

    The limits of justice MEMORY AND JUSTICE

    Silvia’s father was kidnapped and killed by the armed guerilla movement during the period of political violence in the lead-up to the 1976 Argentine military coup. When her father’s murderer died, Silvia felt no relief. Her story shows how her life ever since has not been one of renewal, but one of endurance.

  • Nenina

    Laughter as resistance MEMORY AND RESISTANCE

    Laughter was an act of defiance used by those who were disappeared within the Argentine military’s illegal detention centres. Nenina and her friends continue to use black humour with each other as a way of remembering the violence of the period without having to recall the actual violence.

  • Rima

    Calling for freedom MEMORY AND RESISTANCE

    Rima was one of 55 human rights activists who demonstrated on the streets of Damascus in Syria in 2011. Rima talks about how elated she felt at hearing her voice calling for freedom.

  • Cristina

    Naming as Memory MEMORY AND RESISTANCE

    Cristina’s husband Carlos was forcibly disappeared by the Argentine military junta in 1976. Never having recovered her husband’s bodily remains, Cristina publicly mentions her husband’s name as a way of keeping his memory alive.

  • Cristina

    Blending into the surrounds TRAUMATIC DISPLACEMENT

    Cristina’s husband Carlos was forcibly disappeared by the Argentine military junta in 1976. Cristina describes her life on the run with her children in Buenos Aires in the days leading up to his arrest.

  • Rima

    Forced to flee TRAUMATIC DISPLACEMENT

    Rima was part of the first Syrian National Coalition delegation to the United Nations in Geneva in 2014. Here she talks about fleeing Syria for Jordan.

  • Nenina

    Life in exile TRAUMATIC DISPLACEMENT

    Nenina was forced into exile in Spain during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina. She reflects on her life in exile.

  • Noemi

    Destruction of the self and social unit VIOLENCE, MEMORY & IDENTITY

    Life for those after the disappearance of a loved one is traumatic, particularly for children. Noemi talks about the enduring and destructive impact the disappearance of her partner Eduardo has had on her identity, family unit and social relations.

  • Silvia

    Altered identity VIOLENCE, MEMORY & IDENTITY

    Silvia’s father was kidnapped and killed by the armed guerilla movement during the period of political violence in the lead-up to the 1976 military coup in Argentina. Silvia talks about the ways in which the death of her father and the violence she personally experienced has altered her life.

  • Victoria

    Trauma and group identity VIOLENCE, MEMORY & IDENTITY

    Victoria’s father was kidnapped and killed by an armed guerrilla group in Argentina in 1974. She talks about the everyday challenges she and her family continue to face.

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