Whose Silence? Hearing Echoes of Disembodied Trauma (Argentina)

Abstract

The military junta in Argentina conducted a political firestorm during the 1970s which has come to be known as “Argentina’s dirty war.” During this time, more than 30,000 Argentinian citizens died, including many women and children. Most simply “disappeared,” taken away by night and never heard of again. Forty years later, several places involved in the “dirty war” are being opened to the public as memorials of this violent time. A sociologist from Brock University in Canada spoke with us about the many layers of silence that continue to envelop these sites. Her investigation is further enriched by several linguistic strata that she experienced personally, as a political refugee from Angola. This chapter explores the ways in which every experience may be infused with silence.