Surviving Forced Disappearance in Argentina and Uruguay Identity and Meaning [Hardcover]

Based on extensive fieldwork that began in Argentina, this book asks how detained and disappeared persons inhabit the categories that international law has constructed to mark, judge, understand, and repair the horror.Introduction: Sociology from the Gut 1. A Catastrophe for Identity and Meaning. Forced Disappearance, Modernity, and Civilization 2. Activists of Meaning. Bringing Order to Ruins, Remaking Bodies, Undoing Traumas... 3. Moral Techniques. Recovering Disappeared Identities through Forensic Anthropology 4. The Meaning-Preserving Machinery of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo 5. Art and Science Struggling with the Absence of Meaning 6. Noisy Silences. The Testimonial Work of the Former Detained-Disappeared 7. Serious Parodies. 'Children of' Inhabiting (More or Less Joyfully) the Absence 8. Transnationalization of the Detained-Disappeared, Social Creativity, and Other Unintended Consequences of Forced Disappearance

'Through solid sociological and historical research, Gabriel Gatti has made a major contribution to the study of the detained-disappeared in Latin America.' - Danilo Martuccelli, Professor of Sociology, Universit? Paris 5-Sorbonne, France

'From his place as both relative of disappeared persons and sociologist, Gatti has written a powerful and unsettling account of the journey to understand and theorize the causes and effects of forced disappearances. Substantiated by rich data gathered through rigorous fieldwork, the author weaves sophisticated theoretical analysis with his own reflections about the emotions and the questions that the process prompts, and how these challenge his solid academic study. Pointing to the validity and limitations of dominant discourses, this work is a compelling call for the need to incorporate new ideas, languages, and ways of representing to study disappearances and the strategies to survive them.'- Susana Kaiser, Associate Professor of Media Studies and Latin American Studies, University of lI