Disobedience and narratives of affiliation. On the Escritos desobedientes

Abstract

In May 2017, in the context of the ruling of the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice better known as the “2x1” (Law 24.390), which sought to reduce the sentences of the repressors tried and convicted, the voices of a collective called Historias desobedientes (Disobedient Histories) began to be heard. The publication in 2018 of the book Escritos desobedientes. Historias de hijas, hijos y familiares de genocidas por la memoria, la verdad y la justicia, opened a new instance in the social task of constructing historical memory regarding the crimes committed during the dictatorship of the National Reorganisation Process (1976-1983). This paper sets out to analyse the particular status acquired by some of the writings included in the volume, testing the limits of literary discourse in a variety of ways. With a critical look at the "ethics of restitution" elaborated by Dominique Viart, the analysis focuses on the literary and linguistic resources that verbalise the rupture of filial ties. These texts, in their assumed disobedience, energise the work of individual and family mourning for the benefit of post-dictatorial social conscience, especially in times of systemic impunity.