The Experience of Loss and Identity Struggles in Post Conflict Narratives: the “children of disappeared” case in Argentina.

Abstract

This thesis analyses post conflict narratives that aim to depict identity struggles and mourning processes of Argentine children of disappeared. Many of these children were born in captivity in illegal detention centres and were illegally appropriated in the line with a systematic plan to steal babies. Their parents were among the thousands of disappeared persons during the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). The children grew up in military families, not knowing anything about their true biological parents until the day they were recovered and found out that their biological family had been looking for them since the moment their own relatives disappeared. The films analyzed in this study give insight into a variety of identity struggles and experiences of loss of these children, as they all experience an identity crisis within a lost situation. Remarkable is that many narratives tend to demonize the raising parents in favour of the biological parents whereas other films demonstrate the very contrary, imaging a reality in which children do not distance themselves from the raising parents and/or even reject their biological family. The narratives in particular demonstrate the different “routes” and choices these children are confronted with concerning identity and loss experiences.