Queering Acts of Mourning in the Aftermath of Argentina’S 1976-1983 Dictatorship
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Performance, Kinship and Archives: Queering Acts of Mourning in the Aftermath of Argentina’s 1976-1983 Dictatorship Cecilia Sosa PhD in Drama Queen Mary, University of London January 2012 Abstract In the aftermath of Argentina’s last dictatorship (1976-1983), the organisations created by the relatives of the disappeared deployed the trope of a ‘wounded family’. The unspoken rule was that only those related by blood to the missing were entitled to ask for justice. This thesis queers this biological tradition. Drawing from performance studies and queer theory, it develops an alternative framework for understanding the transmission of trauma beyond bloodline inscriptions. It shows how grief brought into light an idea of community that exceeds traditional family ties. In order to demonstrate this, the thesis builds an archive of non-normative acts of mourning. This archive crosses different generations. The introduction utilises the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo’s statement ‘Our Children gave birth to us’ as the departure for a non-biological linage. Chapter 1 shows how the black humour that informs H.I.J.O.S., the association created by the children of the disappeared, works as a form of affective reparation in the face of loss. Chapter 2 proposes a dialogue between Los Rubios (Albertina Carri, 2003), M (Nicolás Prividera, 2007) and La mujer sin cabeza (Lucrecia Martel, 2008) to show how these films manage to displace the normative cult of the victim. Chapter 3 conceives the cooking sessions that take place at ESMA former detention camp as a form of conversion of this site of death. Chapter 4 explores Lola Arias’ Mi vida después (2009) as an intergenerational artefact for the transmission of trauma on- and off-stage. Chapter 5 considers Félix Bruzzone’s novella Los topos (2008) as the announcement of a new language of kinship. In conclusion, the thesis argues that the aftermath of violence not only produced pain but also new forms of pleasure. Ultimately, it sheds light on a new sense of ‘being together’ that has emerged in the wake of loss. 2 Table of Contents Abstract 2 List of Illustrations 4 Note on Style and Referencing System 4 Acknowledgments 5 Introduction 11 Chapter 1: Black Humour and the Children of the Disappeared 42 Chapter 2: Undoing the Cult of the Victim: Three Films in Dialogue: Los 71 Rubios (Albertina Carri, 2003), M (Nicolas Prividera, 2007) and La mujer sin cabeza (Lucrecia Martel, 2008) Chapter 3: Cooking in Hell: The Conversion of ESMA’s Former 100 Detention Camp Chapter 4: Lola Arias’ Mi vida después (2009): Performance of Blood 129 and the Attire of Memory Chapter 5: Family, Politics and Emotions: Los topos (2008) and 158 Kirchner’s Death Conclusion: The Recovery of the House 185 Bibliography 214 Filmography 229 3 List of Illustrations Figure 1. Arqueología de la Ausencia (Lucila Quieto, 1999-2001) 211 Figure 2. Los Rubios (Albertina Carri, 2003) 211 Figure 3. Hebe de Bonafini cooking at ESMA former detention camp 212 Figure 4. Mi vida después (Lola Arias, 2009) 212 Figure 5. Los Topos (Félix Bruzzone, 2008) 213 Figure 6. Monument to Escape (Dennis Oppenheim, 2001; Parque de la 213 Memoria, Buenos Aires) Note on Style and Referencing System This thesis follows the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) Style Guide. Except when official transcripts are provided, original quotes in Spanish of interviews, films, books and plays are included in footnotes. 4 Acknowledgements Writing this thesis has been (mainly) a joy and the most exciting intellectual adventure I have ever undertaken. This journey would not have been possible without the help, support and enthusiasm of many people and institutions. All my gratitude goes firstly to Catherine Silverstone and Maria Delgado, my outstanding supervisory team at the Department of Drama at Queen Mary, University of London. They have been the first and the last readers of this thesis. Their priceless advice, guidance and critical feedback have been fundamental. The match has been perfect. Catherine’s intellectual delicacy and sophisticated engagement have been a constant challenge for building a queer framework to approach Argentina’s aftermath of violence. Her critical and enthusiastic encouragement has been irreplaceable. After a shared delight for Argentine arts saw our paths cross, Maria’s invaluable expertise and intellectual strength has furnished this scholarship with precision, clarity and rigour. Her continuous clean-cut advice has become my inherited editorial strategy. Thank you both for the time, the patience, and the enormous support. I am indebted to you both. I am extremely grateful to Queen Mary’s Department of Drama for hosting, supporting and funding this research. Its talented, thrilling and disparate community of performance artists and scholars provided me with the most cheerful and inspiring environment in which to develop my project. Special thanks go to Nicholas Ridout for the theatrical perspective on the world, for his inspiration and for the unpublished materials which he has made available to me. Thanks also to Jen Harvie, Nadia Davids, and Dominic Johnson for challenging me in different ways. Thanks to my friends and colleagues Simone Louse Hancox, Johanna Linsley, Eirini Poulaki, Mar Diestro-Dopido, Brian Lobel, Helena Walsh, Justin Hunt, Owen Glyndwr Parry, Tiffany Watt-Smith, Margherita Laera, Una Bauer, Theron Schmidt, Elyssa Vergant and Rachel Gomme for giving my work surprising and unforeseen wings. Thanks to the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme (ORSAS) for covering my international fees. Thanks to the University of London Central Research Fund and the 5 Society for Latin American Studies for supporting my fieldwork trips to Argentina. Thanks to SCUDD, IOHA and SLAS for the conference scholarships. Early versions of some of the materials included in this project have already been published in different forms. The queer framework presented in the Introduction and the analysis of the film Los Rubios (Albertina Carri, 2003) inform a chapter in The Memory of State Terrorism in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay published by Palgrave.1 I have examined Madres of Plaza de Mayo’s performance in an article published in Memory Studies, from a different perspective to that in this thesis – namely as an mourning installation comparable to Louise Bourgeois’ Spiders.2 I have published on Lucrecia Martel’s La mujer sin cabeza (2008) in Theory, Culture and Society Annual Review 2009; nonetheless material from the interview with the director only appears in this thesis.3 My contribution for the volume No More Drama has given me the invaluable opportunity to include Lola Arias’s work within a collection of essays that brings together commentaries on major world theatre directors.4 A short review of Arias’s production Mi vida después has been published in E-misférica.5 I am grateful to all the publishers for their interest in my work. This project would not have been possible without a network of Argentine artists and activists who shared stories, jokes, fears, critiques and enthusiasm. A huge thanks to Mariana Eva Pérez, Paula Maroni, Charly Pisoni, Nina, Ricardo Dios, Lucila Quieto, Carolina Golder, Andrés Centrone, Victoria Ginzberg, and Julián Troksberg. 1 Cecilia Sosa, ‘Queering acts of mourning in the aftermath of Argentina’s dictatorship: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and Los Rubios (2003)’) The Memory of State Terrorism in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay ed. by Vincent Druliolle, and Francesca Lessa (New York: Palgrave, 2011), pp. 63-85. 2 Sosa, ‘On Mothers and Spiders: A Face-to-Face Encounter with Argentina’s Mourning’ in Memory Studies, 4.3 (2011) 63-72. 3 Sosa, ‘A Counter-narrative of Argentine Mourning. The Headless Woman (2008), by Lucrecia Martel’ in Theory, Culture & Society, 26.7-8 (2009), 250-262. 4 ‘Sosa, Lola Arias: Expanding the Real’ in No More Drama (Dublin: Project Press, 2011), pp. 46-66. 5 Sosa, ‘Mi vida después (2009): Non-Kin Affects in Post-Dictatorial Argentina’ in E-misférica 7.2 ‘After Truth’ (2011), http://hemi.nyu.edu/hemi/en/e-misferica-72/sosa [accessed 13 December 2011] 6 Thanks to Lola Arias and all the amazing crew of Mi vida después: Carla Crespo, Vanina Falco, Blas Arrese Igor, Mariano Speratti, Pablo Lugones and Liza Casullo. Each interview was invaluable. Thank you, Vani for being so brave! Thanks to Hebe de Bonafini for cooking in hell. Thanks to Albertina Carri, Nicolás Prividera and Lucrecia Martel for the art. Thank-you, H.I.J.O.S for the black humour. Thank-you, Félix Bruzzone for Maira. Thanks to Bobby Baker for discussing with me in London strange cooking lessons taking place at a former detention camp in Argentina. Thanks to Vikki Bell, former supervisor at the Sociology Department at Goldsmiths for being a wonderful friend and ‘blonde’ accomplice in all the Argentine projects. Thanks to my friend Carrie Hamilton for illuminating my life and work with her amazing activist spirit. Thanks for the pleasures of politics, the mourning dog and the fabulous readings of many chapters of this thesis. Thanks to Alejandra Serpente for her strength, loyalty and companionship throughout the projects we have undertaken together, including a book, a conference, a special issue… what next? Thanks to Valentina Salvi for being my overseas friend and colleague and priceless referent in grounding contested memory issues. Thanks to Dr. Coquita Tabbush for preparing the terrain, anticipating the pain and sharing the pleasures of academic life. Thanks to my friend Paula Porroni, sharp and amusing reader and proofreader of many chapters of this thesis and all other narratives of life. 7 Thanks to Mathias Danbolt for the temporal drag, the queer politics and the beautiful nuances of this cross-temporal friendship. Thanks to Viqui Irrisarri for getting involved in all the adventures of life.