Dolore privato, richiesta di giustizia e memoria politica. Madri e Nonne di Plaza de Mayo in Argentina

Abstract

Memory as a social concept may be declined both theoretically and empirically. In the first case, it raises a number of questions related to the interconnectionbetween individual and collective identities. In the second, it may be adopted as a an interpretive tool to be used in the empirical analysis of social processes. Both perspective (theoretical and empirical) will be adopted here in order to understand the social and political relevance of memory and its recover in present-day Argentina. The human rights movement operating in Argentina since 1976, is our focus, conceived here as an instances of the employment of social memories as a political tool. As an example of the social recovery of memory as a political instrument, the organization of Madres (Mothers) and Abuelas (Grandmothers) de Plaza de Mayo. Those organizations adopt creative methods to make memory and the past, having been socially reconstructed by the regime, as a form of political struggle and vindication.