Document Type
Panel Presentation
Start Date
18-4-2019 10:45 AM
End Date
18-4-2019 12:00 PM
Keywords
Argentina, Dirty War, Culture, Spanish, Desaparecidos
Biography
My name is Jonathan L McCormick and this paper is for my Spanish Capstone.
Major
Spanish
Advisor for this project
Dr. Christina Burgueño
Abstract
In this paper I want to analyze how people who were born from disappeared parents in Argentina during the “Dirty War” and were given in adoption, reacted when they learnt that their biological parents were disappeared.
The “Dirty War” (1976-1983) was a conflict involving the military and police killing and torturing political enemies. It ended with about 30,000 people killed and/or disappeared. The beginning of the study starts out with a brief history of this conflict and then transitions to the film “The Official History” because this movie inspired me to try to understand the feelings and stances of the adopted children once they learnt about their origin. The story in the film deals with an adoptive mother, Alicia, who struggles to learn about the parents of her daughter, Gaby. This happens when Alicia becomes aware of the crimes committed during the dictatorship and suspects that her daughter could be one of the children taken from their mothers and given in adoption in that period. Its plot is compelling and the use of symbolism further sheds light on the climate of the Dirty War. The reactions of those with disappeared parents are complex and to better understand with the different kind of responses in diverse sources I will use, particularly the testimonies provided by these children in press interviews.
Children with Disappeared Parents
In this paper I want to analyze how people who were born from disappeared parents in Argentina during the “Dirty War” and were given in adoption, reacted when they learnt that their biological parents were disappeared.
The “Dirty War” (1976-1983) was a conflict involving the military and police killing and torturing political enemies. It ended with about 30,000 people killed and/or disappeared. The beginning of the study starts out with a brief history of this conflict and then transitions to the film “The Official History” because this movie inspired me to try to understand the feelings and stances of the adopted children once they learnt about their origin. The story in the film deals with an adoptive mother, Alicia, who struggles to learn about the parents of her daughter, Gaby. This happens when Alicia becomes aware of the crimes committed during the dictatorship and suspects that her daughter could be one of the children taken from their mothers and given in adoption in that period. Its plot is compelling and the use of symbolism further sheds light on the climate of the Dirty War. The reactions of those with disappeared parents are complex and to better understand with the different kind of responses in diverse sources I will use, particularly the testimonies provided by these children in press interviews.
