We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Unveiling the Truth through Testimony: The Argentinean Dirty War.
- Authors
Spahr, Adriana
- Abstract
Between 1975 and 1983 Argentina experienced the worst internal conflicts of its entire history. The rise of the military power started during the last period of Isabel Peron's government and continued through the military takeover from 1976-1984. The excuse for overthrowing the weak Argentinian democracy was to destroy the monstrous guerrilla fighters who wanted to destroy the foundations of Western and Christian society in Argentina. The media and society in general supported the military's point of view. As a result, the guerrilla fighters along with anyone who disagreed with those in power were persecuted and exterminated in monstrous ways by the military and other members of the Argentinian security forces. Soon, the ones who ate the monsters became worse monsters: thousands of Argentinians became desaparecidos [the disappeared]. These measures allowed the new monster to keep detainees in secret locations in terrible living conditions until they decided to kill them. Fortunately, some of these detainees survived and after the return of democracy in 1984, they began to share their traumatic experiences with the country. Their testimonies removed the blindfold that had fallen on Argentinian society during the time of the dictatorship. It is the aim of my paper to analyse the way in which testimonies (written and oral) have contributed not only to unveiling the truth but also, to give voice to the silenced - that is revealing the monstrosity of official history and replacing it with a (re)writing that better reflects the atrocities of one of the darkest periods in Argentinian history.
- Subjects
MILITARY history of Argentina; GUERRILLAS; MILITARY relations; PERON, Isabel, 1931-; DEMOCRACY; TWENTIETH century; HISTORY
- Publication
At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries, 2018, Vol 91, p21
- ISSN
1570-7113
- Publication type
Article