Blog Post 3: Katharine Barrett
In what ways is our identity a performance in and of itself?
When I first learned about las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, it was through a high school Spanish class. I had done an entire research report on the Dirty War in Argentina, and the activism cultivated by the mothers of the desaparecidos (the disappeared) was incredibly inspiring and also gut-wrenchingly saddening. Now, as a Hispanic Studies major at Bowdoin, I have learned quite a bit about the dictatorship of Videla, and the militaristic removal / "reorganization" of a huge population of Argentina in the late 70s and 80s. I have also gained insight on the movement of mothers, their organization's growth, and the use of genetic testing to make such a tangible impact on their fight to find grandchildren.
However, I had never considered the ways in which feminism, maternal identity, and performance played a role in their activism. I hadn't noted the performance element of using white hair kerchiefs symbols to unify the movement and augment the peaceful and almost passive nature of the movement as it began compared to where it is now. I am newly considering the way that catholic, conservative notions of motherhood both shaped their fury and provided their security in this protest. The arguably paternalistic expectation that mothers always know "where are your children? what are they up to?" became a weapon for their movement. They were able to reshape their image as mothers to adorn themselves with power and demand answers about their children and grandchildren. In this way, identity, the trope of being a faithful and dedicated mother, is a performance that they can manipulate to gain the respect and support of their audiences - whether that be the Argentinian dictatorship, or foreign powers such as the US.
While thinking about the children of the desaparecidos: the young kids, toddlers, and even infants of "dissident rebels" to the Argentinian dictatorship who were attained and murdered without a trace -- the notion of identity and performance comes into play again. These children were redistributed to wealthy oligarchs of the Videlian government's favor who either couldn't have children themselves, or were simply gifted with the opportunity of "shaping" Argentina's young minds "correctly" or according to Videla's idealized Argentina. These powerful couples took on the false identity of parenthood, for la Patria (the nation), performing a role that was not their identity to begin with but came to be. The reorganized children similarly found themselves in new identity roles, with new parents, realities, and duties to perform, often without remembering their past identity to begin with.
Both elements of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo make me wonder about the role of identity in performance, and bring me to think about our first readings of the semester, and how performing as one's own character can be a powerful tool to shape social change, both for the better or for the worse.
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My image this week to consider is an additional feminist Latinx/Hispanic icon, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. A prolific writer of fiction, poetry, and "cartas" (letters) that functioned as political/socially informative essays, Sor Juana was one of the first female authors to be published in the Hispanic world (living and writing in New Spain / México in the 17th century). Her iconography and art representing her image is used as a pro-feminist, pro-education for women, and anti-censorship symbol throughout Mexico, South/Central America, and Chicano movement in the US.
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