(Re) Thinking the Past Through Performance: the (Re) Construction of Militant Childhood Imaginaries in the Post-Dictatorship Of
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University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 2018 (Re) thinking the Past through Performance: The (Re) construction of Militant Childhood Imaginaries in the Post-Dictatorship of Argentina’s Cultural Production from 2003-2015 Stephanie Rubi Orozco University of South Carolina Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Orozco, S. R.(2018). (Re) thinking the Past through Performance: The (Re) construction of Militant Childhood Imaginaries in the Post- Dictatorship of Argentina’s Cultural Production from 2003-2015. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/4832 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. (Re) thinking the Past through Performance: The (Re) construction of Militant Childhood Imaginaries in the Post-Dictatorship of Argentina’s Cultural Production from 2003-2015 by Stephanie Rubi Orozco Bachelor of Arts University of Nevada, 2009 Master of Arts University of Nevada, 2013 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Spanish College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2018 Accepted by: Mercedes López-Rodríguez, Major Professor María Mabrey, Committee Member Andrew C. Rajca, Committee Member Rocío Zalba, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Stephanie Rubi Orozco All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION To my childhood adventures locked away in boxes full of old archives and photographs, and to my husband’s and children’s memories which dwell in a library full of selfies, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts . iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many ways to express my gratitude and appreciation. First, I want to thank my family. I thank my mother for the years of dedication, support, and love. To my siblings. To my husband, Jorge. It has been a long journey and I could have never done it without you. To my children, Mia, Jonah, and Tali. The work presented before you is proof that all things are possible. You were the spring of my inspiration. The innocence of your divine countenances reassured me that there is beauty beyond the wraths of terror. I want to thank my many professors at the University of South Carolina, for welcoming me into the worlds of your fascination and inspiration—Cervantes, Bolaño, Guaman Poma—and took me into words I would have never visited without you, la Guerra civil española, el horror en México, la conquista española, y con José Martí y los excluidos del Puente de Brooklyn. Thank you Dr. María Mabrey, Dr. Diego Rivera- Hernández, Dr. Francisco Sánchez. Gracias Dr. Isis Sadek. I also want to thank, Dr. Rocío Zalba, and Dr. Andrew Rajca for the time you have taken to read and analyze my work. Finally, I want to especially give my thanks to Dr. Mercedes López-Rodriguez. I will always cherish your wise words and counsel. You once told me that all you ever wanted was to receive your Doctoral Degree and you enjoyed every minute of your opportunity to do so. Those words have resonated so deeply in me, that I have strived my best to complete one of my dreams. You have been a fountain of inspiration. I thank you for always making time to sit with me and inspire me to do my best. iv ABSTRACT Burdened by the atrocities of Argentina’s coup d’état (1976-1982), many children of persecuted parents were forced to live as clandestine hideaways. In recent decades, adult survivors who experience the dictatorship as clandestine children have become primary protagonists, seeking to (re)construct past experiences through the creation of visual and textual productions. In attempt to (re)create their experience in hiding; such adults propose an alternative non-conventional image of a witnessing childhood under military rule as the child of prosecuted parents. For such children, life in secrecy meant having to find refuge from state officials seeking to eliminate their parents. It demanded strict obedience, discipline, and careful maneuverings of behaviors and adhere to strict performative practices—taking upon them new identities, while attempting to deceive military officials, and appeal to a sense of normalcy amongst close family, friends, and public surroundings for the safety and protection of entire families. As such, children had to perform childhood in its literal sense, to protect themselves and those around them from the terror seeking to destroy them. The use of performative childhood in this research, works to highlight the performative accounts of non-normative behaviors of survival and militancy within the constraints of living in clandestinidad. My approach to the politics of memory in post dictatorship is to propose a performative reading of childhood—to (re)think and (re)imagine child identities of what children in hiding had to live and fluidity of their identities. Through the understanding of child witnessing and personal experiences as participating actors within life in secrecy, v this group of survivors regain ‘ownership’ of their own experiences. The cultural productions chosen in this research contain primary accounts of children living in secrecy. These consist of Laura Alcoba’s novel The Rabbit House written in 2008, and Marcelo Piñeyro’s film Kamchatka (2002) and Benjamin Avila’s film Infancia Clandestina (2011) . vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: WORKING WITH THE IMAGINARY AND PERFORMANCE ........................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 2: THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: REMEMBERING THE PAST IN THE KIRCHNER ERA (2002-2015)………………………………………………...80 CHAPTER 3: PERFORMING MILITANCY IN LAURA ALCOBA’S THE RABBIT HOUSE .................................................................................................... 137 CHAPTER 4: PERFORMING SURVIVAL THROUGH EPIC HEROES AND PLACES: CHILDHOOD IN MARECELO PIÑEYRO’S KAMCHATKA (2002) AND BENJAMINÁVILA’S INFANCIA CLANDESTINA (2011) ........................................... 194 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 263 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 275 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Matías de Pozo as Matías (left) and Milton De La Canal as Enano (Simón) (right) in Kamchatka (2002) ........................................................................................... 215 Figure 4.2 Inside Matías’ book: Harry Houdini and his brother Kamchatka (2002 ) ...... 222 Figure 4.3 Ricardo Darin in Kamchatka (2002) .............................................................. 224 Figure 4.4 Matías de Pozo as Matías in Kamchatka (2002) ........................................... 233 Figure 4.5 Drawing of Che Guevara in Infancia Clandestina (2011) ............................. 247 Figure 4.6 Teo Gutiérrez Moreno as Juan/Ernesto in Infancia Clandestina (2011) ....... 249 Figure 4.7 Juan/Ernesto in Infancia Clandestina (2011) ................................................ 259 viii INTRODUCTION Since the military coup d’état, Argentina’s military Junta positioned itself as the “father figure of the nation, ruling over a feminized and child-like population” (Bystrom and Werth 428). The Junta’s power and control over the nation resulted in absolute vigilance to maintain order and discipline over the Argentine people while instituting values of complete obedience and loyalty. To survive the wraths of terror it meant “‘being Argentinean’” or “‘being seen as’” Argentine as Diana Taylor suggests (Taylor 93). Consequently, the opposition needed a way to continue to work against the regime under disguise. Performance, in its theatrical sense, served as a tactical tool for individual, particularly, those presumably targeted by the regime to protect themselves and stay out of the fray. It gave refuge to individuals as a way to ‘appear’ as ordinary as possible in order to stay away from the military’s ruling eye. Diana Taylor in Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina’s “Dirty War” (1997) suggests that everyone that lived under military rule was performing, “everyone was trying to look the part that offered them security and relative invisibility (if they wanted to stay out of the fray) or access and information (if they were somehow involved). Even those who did not participate in the political struggle, but who wanted to affect some kind of social change, found that they too had to dress up” (Disappearing Acts 109). For the opposition, this meant that individuals needed to impersonate, pretend, and