Books by Cecilia Sosa
Voices of Democracy. Democracia de voces, 2024
This publication compiles a series of short
presentations that were given on 4th July 2023 as
par... more This publication compiles a series of short
presentations that were given on 4th July 2023 as
part of the plenary session “Voces de la Democracia”
[“Democracy of Voices”] at the Memory Studies
Association (MSA) Annual Conference, held at
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United
Kingdom. It was an honour to host this plenary event
in partnership with the Embassy of the Argentine
Republic in the United Kingdom, and to welcome His
Excellency Ambassador Javier Figueroa and Cultural
Attachée Alessandra Viggiano to Newcastle upon
Tyne.
First and foremost, we would like to thank our six
inspiring and generous participants for agreeing
to share their very personal experiences of, and
reflections on, Argentina’s post-dictatorship
democracy: Félix Bruzzone, Liliana Furió, Luisa
Futoransky, Alejandra Naftal, María Zubelzu, and
Monica Zwaig.
Esta compilación reúne una serie de intervenciones breves
que acontecieron el 4 de julio de 2023 como parte del evento
plenario “Democracy of Voices” [“Voces de la Democracia”]
durante la conferencia anual de la Asociación de Estudios de
la Memoria, que tuvo lugar en la Universidad de Newcastle,
Newcastle upon Tyne, Reino Unido. Fue un honor organizar
esta sesión plenaria en colaboración con la Embajada de la
República Argentina en el Reino Unido, y darle la bienvenida
a Newcastle upon Tyne a Su Excelencia el Embajador Javier
Figueroa y a la Agregada Cultural, Alessandra Viggiano.
Antes que nada, quisiéramos agradecer a las seis personas
que se embarcaron con generosidad en este proyecto,
compartiendo sus experiencias personales y reflexiones en
torno a la democracia posdictatorial: Félix Bruzzone, Liliana
Furió, Luisa Futoransky, Alejandra Naftal, María Zubelzu y
Monica Zwaig.
Memory Studies. Dossier on Queer Memory , 2023
This piece explores why and how the praxis of disobedience, as articulated by the daughters of th... more This piece explores why and how the praxis of disobedience, as articulated by the daughters of the perpetrators of state terrorism during Argentina's last dictatorship (1976-1983), might be read as an instance of queering memory. The analysis focuses on the trajectories of Liliana Furio (a founder member of the Historias Desobedientes collective) and Mariana Dopazo (ex-daughter of one of the dictatorship's most infamous perpetrators) to illustrate the differing ways in which the mandate of blood has been challenged through public acts of defiliation. Based on our documentary project material, we consider the ways in which the emergence of these disobedient daughters enacts a collective 'coming out' and unprecedented disruption of the normative imaginaries of bloodline ties that have traditionally shaped the local aftermath of violence. We argue that their performance of defiliation puts forward a queer arrangement that unsettles the established landscape of human rights activism in Argentina and beyond.
Critical Times , 2022
Special Section: Roundtable on María Pia López's Not One Less: Mourning, Disobedience, and Desire.
Archives of Violence: Case studies from South America, 2021
The report from the British Academy research project ‘Documentality & Display: Archiving and Cura... more The report from the British Academy research project ‘Documentality & Display: Archiving and Curating Past Violence in South America’.
The research
was conducted in Argentina, Chile and Colombia,
and was carried out by a team of four international
researchers, led by Professor Vikki Bell. The focus
was on three important archives, one in each country,
that have documented human rights abuses. In the
cases of Argentina and Chile, these archives concern
the abuses that occurred immediately before and
during military dictatorships that took place in those
countries (in Argentina between 1976 and 1983; in
Chile between 1973 and 1990). In the case of Colombia,
the archive is an institution that has attempted to
address the on-going violence of the armed conflict.
The research aims were: first, to share the stories of the
origins of these archives, which are distinct in each
case, and to offer these histories as ways of
understanding the dynamics at stake within and across
the three countries; secondly, to explore how the
archives have been put to use, with an emphasis on
how they have been and continue to be used by legal
institutions, as well as their educational and artistic
uses; thirdly, to offer recommendations for those who
may be considering or in the process of setting up
comparable institutions in other countries. To facilitate
this, interviewees were asked directly about the
challenges that their work had faced, and where
relevant, how these challenges had been overcome.
Archives of Violence: Case studies from South America, 2021
Executive Summary
Research aims and methods
The report ‘Archives of Violence: Case studies from ... more Executive Summary
Research aims and methods
The report ‘Archives of Violence: Case studies from South America’ draws on a research project funded by the British Academy within its Sustainable Development Programme, which intends to work towards fulfilling the UN’s Sustainable Development ambitions. In particular Goal 16, that seeks to promote ‘peaceful, just and inclusive societies including through building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions’, is relevant to the ambitions of this research project. The research was entitled ‘Documentality & Display: Archiving and Curating Past Violence in South America’. The research was conducted in Argentina, Chile and Colombia, and was carried out by a team of four international researchers, led by Professor Vikki Bell. The focus was on three important archives, one in each country, that have documented human rights abuses. In the cases of Argentina and Chile, these archives concern the abuses that occurred immediately before and during military dictatorships that took place in those countries (in Argentina between 1976 and 1983; in Chile between 1973 and 1990). In the case of Colombia, the archive is an institution that has attempted to address the on-going violence of the armed conflict.
The research aims were: first, to share the stories of the origins of these archives, which are distinct in each case, and to offer these histories as ways of understanding the dynamics at stake within and across the three countries; secondly, to explore how the archives have been put to use, with an emphasis on how they have been and continue to be used by legal institutions, as well as their educational and artistic uses; thirdly, to offer recommendations for those who may be considering or in the process of setting up comparable institutions in other countries. To facilitate this, interviewees were asked directly about the challenges that their work had faced, and where relevant, how these challenges had been overcome.
As a sociological project, we mostly employed face to face qualitative interviews with individuals and sometimes small groups. The interviews were semi-structured and in-depth, lasting an average of two hours. In total, 31 individuals were interviewed in 16 interviews. The team also engaged in library-based research, including at the archives themselves. Additionally, there were research trips to other institutions, and the team interviewed other individuals beyond the archives themselves, to give context and to deepen our understanding.
Key findings
The archives each have complex histories entwined with the social and political dynamics of the countries and times in which they have been established. The report takes each archive in turn in order to explain these histories. We adopted this approach in order not to lose the context and the nuances of the stories we gathered at each locale. That said, we can say that there are issues that are shared between all three institutions. These included the following: the importance of ethics and confidentiality; the fragility of the archival institution, at all stages, and in terms of both state and non-state financial support; the complexities of archival systems and the navigation of the materials; the challenges of safety and care for those working at and for these institutions; the issue of how to delimit the archive’s scope with limited resources; the question of how to facilitate and maintain access to the collections; how to preserve vulnerable documents; the question of ownership of the archives; the importance of support networks and relationships with other archives and collecting institutions such as museums; the role of research originating from within the archives; the relationship to users of the archives, including victims’ families, groups and lawyers; the relationship of the archive to law, both its status as an entity in law and as a resource for use within legal cases and processes; the involvement of photographers and artists within and as users of the archives.
The conclusion offers some more general conceptual areas for discussion around the archive, suggesting that the dynamics at stake revolve around key questions that we answer in relation to the three archives. These are: What is an archive? When is an archive? Who owns the archive? Who is the archive for? What is the future of an archive? These questions point to the most important questions that have surrounded, and continue to surround, the conceptualisation and institutionalisation of the archives studied here.
In seeking to offer recommendations that could be useful elsewhere, a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ in building and archive of violence is offered. These recommendations have been extrapolated from the interviews, that is, they are inspired by them but do not use direct quotations. They are offered here in the hope that they may contain useful advice or spark productive conversations elsewhere.
Estudios Sociológicos, 2019
Desapariciones, en plural, evoca una realidad cuyo carácter remite a la extensión, al desbordamie... more Desapariciones, en plural, evoca una realidad cuyo carácter remite a la extensión, al desbordamiento del lenguaje, de los hechos y del sentido que devela un fenómeno que no se limita ya a las fronteras de los regí-
menes dictatoriales: la desaparición forzada de personas. El libro, editado por Gabriel Gatti, propone nuevos usos y apropiaciones locales de esta categoría tan común en parte importante del orbe. Nos permite leer la experiencia de miles de sujetos eliminados y ocultados de los marcos humanitarios en diferentes espacios y tiempos.
Los mil pequeños sexos. Intervenciones críticas sobre políticas de género y sexualidades Ed. Mariano López Seoane, EDUNTREF: Buenos Aires (2019), ISBN 978-987-4151-63-6. , 2018
The aftermath of Argentina's last dictatorship (1976-1983) has traditionally been associated with... more The aftermath of Argentina's last dictatorship (1976-1983) has traditionally been associated with narratives of suffering, which recall the loss of the 30,000 civilians infamously known as the "disappeared". When democracy was recovered, the unspoken rule was that only those related by blood to the missing were entitled to ask for justice. This book both queries and queers this bloodline normativity. Drawing on queer theory and performance studies, it develops an alternative framework for understanding the affective transmission of trauma beyond traditional family settings. To do so, it introduces an archive of non-normative acts of mourning that runs across different generations. Through the analysis of a broad spectrum of performances - including interviews, memoirs, cooking sessions, films, jokes, theatrical productions and literature - the book shows how the experience of loss has not only produced a well-known imaginary of suffering but also new forms of collective pleasure.
Book Chapters by Cecilia Sosa
Staging Difficult Pasts Transnational Memory, Theatres, and Museums , 2023
Two decades ago, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett proposed thinking of the museum as a 'theatre, a m... more Two decades ago, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett proposed thinking of the museum as a 'theatre, a memory place, a stage for the enactment of other times and places, a space of transport, fantasy, dreams' (1998: 139). Since then, different elaborations have been produced to account for the provocative encounter between museums and theatres, including the note of alarm raised by Johannes Birringer, who argued that participation has become the current fetish in museums and galleries and visitors are just compelled to follow the script (2011: 48). In parallel, from the field of cultural memory, museums have been thought of as sites of political engagement where affiliate and empathic narratives can be created and displayed for public consideration and debate (Assmann 2014, Landsberg 2004, Arnold-de Simine 2019). Museums can be thought of as strategic spaces for developing affiliative narratives in response to traumatic pasts (prosthetic memories) and experiential and immersive forms of engagement for wider audiences, who might not necessarily be contemporary to those historical events. With these intersectional considerations in mind, I analyse a series of performative interventions that took place in ESMA Memory Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2019 under the title, 'Pasados Conflictivos en Escena' (Conflictive Pasts on Stage). These events were part of the project 'Staging Difficult Pasts: Of Narratives, Objects and Public Memory', where I was employed as a postdoctoral researcher. The first of these, The Impossible Scene, was a site-specific performative installation created by Polish visual artist and theatre director Wojtek Ziemilski. The second, Cuarto Intermedio: Guía práctica para audiencias de lesa humanidad (Recess: A Practical Guide for Trials Against Humanity), created by local artists, proposed a guided tour around the ESMA trials that investigate the crimes committed inside the Museum during the dictatorship. As part of our project, Recess could be performed in the very place of the crime for the first time.
MemoSur/MemoSouth: Memory, Commemoration and Trauma in Post-Dictatorship Argentina and Chile, edited by Adam Sharman, Milena Grass Kleiner, Anna Maria Lorusso and Sandra Savoini, 2017
In Specters of Marx (1994), Jacques Derrida argues that learning how to live is not a lesson that... more In Specters of Marx (1994), Jacques Derrida argues that learning how to live is not a lesson that one discovers from life. Rather, it is something that comes from the dead, or better from the borders between life and death. In my presentation, I propose that Argentina’s aftermath of violence also offers the possibility of learning how to live collectively after loss. Drawing upon the process that opened up after a military regime of terror caused some 30,000 citizens to vanish, infamously known as los desaparecidos, I show how different ways of dealing with trauma has shed light on different experiences of reparation. In order to develop this argument, I focus on Aparecida (2015), an autobiographical book written by the journalist Marta Dillon, which tells the story of her mother, Marta Taboada, kidnapped in 1977 and whose fate remained unknown for decades. In 2010, her remains were recovered. I argue that Dillon’s book is embedded in the public culture of the Kirchnerist years (2013-2015), a controversial political period in which the past was rewritten and in which many of its symbols reappeared; like Taboada’s body. During that time, grief became both a right and an official duty. While positioning Aparecida within a broader series of postmemorial productions, I contend that many of these controversial narratives managed to challenge the duty to remember while encouraging wider audiences to share in grief. Usually relying on playful and ironic imaginaries, the production these younger generations offered empowering and non-victimizing accounts of trauma in which humour was also present.
Published by the end of the Kirchnerist years, Dillon’s book demonstrated how grief could announce forms of exhilaration, effervescence and empowerment. In this sense, I argue that a seemingly minor text can teach us something in relation to kinship, mourning and pleasure, not only in the context of contemporary Argentina but also in broader scenarios affected by loss. While embodying a queer, insurgent voice for upcoming times, Dillon’s book ultimately helps to illuminate a more inclusive politics of grief for expanded scenarios.
No More Drama , 2011
ACT 1: A NEW LINEAGE
Saturday night. A committee of trendy youngsters, dressed
up in a vintage ... more ACT 1: A NEW LINEAGE
Saturday night. A committee of trendy youngsters, dressed
up in a vintage - modern style, perhaps slightly over - conscious
of their intellectual look, gathers at the front of the Centro
Cultural Rojas, a public venue that belongs to Buenos Aires
University on the sleepless Corrientes Avenue. The occasion
is the premiere of LA ESCUÁLIDA FAMILIA, Lola Arias’s
first theatre production. The piece was translated for foreign
audiences as A KINGDOM, A COUNTRY OR A WASTELAND
IN THE SNOW. Arias is 24 and looks like a modern fairy. Her
background is already impressive: actress, writer, author of
a book of poems entitled Las Impúdicas (Shameless), and
a charming series of songs full of fire and weapons. It is
October 2001 in Argentina. It is raining heavily and the city
centre is flooded with cartoneros, those struggling to survive
off others’ waste, who, after a decade of extreme neo - liberal
policies, seem to have fallen beneath the human.
Journal Articles by Cecilia Sosa
Latin Amerian Perspectives, 2021
Argentina's neoconservative backlash (2015-2019) has rather paradoxically been marked by an unpre... more Argentina's neoconservative backlash (2015-2019) has rather paradoxically been marked by an unprecedented entanglement of ongoing memory struggles and a recent feminist awakening. A critical reading of this entwining traces the queer reworking of dictatorship trauma during the Kirchnerist administrations (2003-2015) and explores the way the post-2015 cycle nurtured a feminist irruption that contested long-standing forms of patriarchy. The feminist movement Ni Una Menos has transitioned from victimization to joy. Albertina Carri's lesbian-porn fictional film Las hijas del fuego (2018) can be read as an expression of a novel amalgam of disappearance, sexuality, and politics. The spirit of contagion radiated by the film sheds light on the "revolution of the daugh-ters" now taking place in the streets.
La reacción neoconservadora de Argentina (2015-2019) se ha visto paradójicamente marcada por una vinculación sin precedentes entre las luchas de memoria en curso y un reciente despertar feminista. Una lectura critica entrelaza una reelaboración queer del trauma de la dictadura durante las administraciones kirchneristas (2003-2015) a la vez que explora la forma en que el ciclo post-2015 alimentó una irrupción feminista impugnó viejas formas del patriarcado. El movimiento feminista Ni Una Menos ha pasado de la victimización a la alegría. La ficción pornográfica lésbica Las hijas del fuego (2018), de Albertina Carri, se puede leer como la expresión de una nueva amal-gama de desaparición, sexualidad y política. El espíritu de contagio irradiado por la película arroja luz sobre la "revolución de las hijas" que tiene lugar en las calles.
http://mezosfera.org/performing-future-affiliations-in-argentine-spaces-of-memory/#disqus_thread, 2019
This article focuses on three of Argentina’s most emblematic state-funded memory “museums” (for w... more This article focuses on three of Argentina’s most emblematic state-funded memory “museums” (for want of a less tricky term): the former-ESMA Museum of Memory in Buenos Aires; “La Perla” complex on the outskirts of Córdoba (Argentina’s third city, located some 600km from Buenos Aires in the center of the country); and the Provincial Memory Archive (formerly known as the “Department of Police Information” or “D2”), also located in the city of Córdoba. Rather than thinking of these museums in the normative sense, as clearly demarcated spaces in which both narratives, archives, and objects recalling the traumatic past become crystallized and static, we argue that these spaces have been created and curated in ways that make them vital contemporary sites of encounter and, as a result, live agents of political engagement and change. To illustrate this, we discuss here a constellation of four activities and encounters that have taken place in the aforementioned memory museums in the past year.
Primer Acto. Cuadernos de Investigación Teatral, 356, enero-junio., 2019
Sus producciones no son sólo eventos teatrales sino verdaderos acontecimientos sociales y políti... more Sus producciones no son sólo eventos teatrales sino verdaderos acontecimientos sociales y políticos. En quince años de carrera, la directora teatral, escritora y actriz argentina Lola Arias ha trabajado sobre las huellas que pasados traumáticos disímiles imprimen en la vida contemporánea. Ha logrado poner en escena las resonancias actuales de las dictaduras latinoamericanas de los 70, una guerra remota en el Atlántico Sur, y hasta recreó las huellas de la segunda guerra mundial a través de la desaparecida República Democrática Alemana. Sus maquinarias teatrales funcionan como experimentos sociales, acuciantes y lúdicos, que introducen una temporalidad estallada. Antes que performers individuales es posible ver un colectivo intercambiando roles, ropa, fotos, juguetes, bailando o cantando juntos en escena. Así, los protagonistas reales de aquellos acontecimientos traumáticos logran producir narrativas de lo público que atentan contra todo archivo oficial. Eventualmente, nuevas comunidades se recrean frente a los ojos del espectador. Si bien la prensa internacional ha ponderado el poder sanador del trabajo de Arias, no hay narrativas únicas en escena, sino huellas de conflictos sin resolución. La memoria se inscribe en el presente como parte de un proceso constante de reescritura y reinvención. Entonces, los fragmentos del pasado que parecerían enterrados contraatacan para interpelar al espectador con un nuevo sentido de responsabilidad transnacional.
Uploads
Books by Cecilia Sosa
presentations that were given on 4th July 2023 as
part of the plenary session “Voces de la Democracia”
[“Democracy of Voices”] at the Memory Studies
Association (MSA) Annual Conference, held at
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United
Kingdom. It was an honour to host this plenary event
in partnership with the Embassy of the Argentine
Republic in the United Kingdom, and to welcome His
Excellency Ambassador Javier Figueroa and Cultural
Attachée Alessandra Viggiano to Newcastle upon
Tyne.
First and foremost, we would like to thank our six
inspiring and generous participants for agreeing
to share their very personal experiences of, and
reflections on, Argentina’s post-dictatorship
democracy: Félix Bruzzone, Liliana Furió, Luisa
Futoransky, Alejandra Naftal, María Zubelzu, and
Monica Zwaig.
Esta compilación reúne una serie de intervenciones breves
que acontecieron el 4 de julio de 2023 como parte del evento
plenario “Democracy of Voices” [“Voces de la Democracia”]
durante la conferencia anual de la Asociación de Estudios de
la Memoria, que tuvo lugar en la Universidad de Newcastle,
Newcastle upon Tyne, Reino Unido. Fue un honor organizar
esta sesión plenaria en colaboración con la Embajada de la
República Argentina en el Reino Unido, y darle la bienvenida
a Newcastle upon Tyne a Su Excelencia el Embajador Javier
Figueroa y a la Agregada Cultural, Alessandra Viggiano.
Antes que nada, quisiéramos agradecer a las seis personas
que se embarcaron con generosidad en este proyecto,
compartiendo sus experiencias personales y reflexiones en
torno a la democracia posdictatorial: Félix Bruzzone, Liliana
Furió, Luisa Futoransky, Alejandra Naftal, María Zubelzu y
Monica Zwaig.
The research
was conducted in Argentina, Chile and Colombia,
and was carried out by a team of four international
researchers, led by Professor Vikki Bell. The focus
was on three important archives, one in each country,
that have documented human rights abuses. In the
cases of Argentina and Chile, these archives concern
the abuses that occurred immediately before and
during military dictatorships that took place in those
countries (in Argentina between 1976 and 1983; in
Chile between 1973 and 1990). In the case of Colombia,
the archive is an institution that has attempted to
address the on-going violence of the armed conflict.
The research aims were: first, to share the stories of the
origins of these archives, which are distinct in each
case, and to offer these histories as ways of
understanding the dynamics at stake within and across
the three countries; secondly, to explore how the
archives have been put to use, with an emphasis on
how they have been and continue to be used by legal
institutions, as well as their educational and artistic
uses; thirdly, to offer recommendations for those who
may be considering or in the process of setting up
comparable institutions in other countries. To facilitate
this, interviewees were asked directly about the
challenges that their work had faced, and where
relevant, how these challenges had been overcome.
Research aims and methods
The report ‘Archives of Violence: Case studies from South America’ draws on a research project funded by the British Academy within its Sustainable Development Programme, which intends to work towards fulfilling the UN’s Sustainable Development ambitions. In particular Goal 16, that seeks to promote ‘peaceful, just and inclusive societies including through building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions’, is relevant to the ambitions of this research project. The research was entitled ‘Documentality & Display: Archiving and Curating Past Violence in South America’. The research was conducted in Argentina, Chile and Colombia, and was carried out by a team of four international researchers, led by Professor Vikki Bell. The focus was on three important archives, one in each country, that have documented human rights abuses. In the cases of Argentina and Chile, these archives concern the abuses that occurred immediately before and during military dictatorships that took place in those countries (in Argentina between 1976 and 1983; in Chile between 1973 and 1990). In the case of Colombia, the archive is an institution that has attempted to address the on-going violence of the armed conflict.
The research aims were: first, to share the stories of the origins of these archives, which are distinct in each case, and to offer these histories as ways of understanding the dynamics at stake within and across the three countries; secondly, to explore how the archives have been put to use, with an emphasis on how they have been and continue to be used by legal institutions, as well as their educational and artistic uses; thirdly, to offer recommendations for those who may be considering or in the process of setting up comparable institutions in other countries. To facilitate this, interviewees were asked directly about the challenges that their work had faced, and where relevant, how these challenges had been overcome.
As a sociological project, we mostly employed face to face qualitative interviews with individuals and sometimes small groups. The interviews were semi-structured and in-depth, lasting an average of two hours. In total, 31 individuals were interviewed in 16 interviews. The team also engaged in library-based research, including at the archives themselves. Additionally, there were research trips to other institutions, and the team interviewed other individuals beyond the archives themselves, to give context and to deepen our understanding.
Key findings
The archives each have complex histories entwined with the social and political dynamics of the countries and times in which they have been established. The report takes each archive in turn in order to explain these histories. We adopted this approach in order not to lose the context and the nuances of the stories we gathered at each locale. That said, we can say that there are issues that are shared between all three institutions. These included the following: the importance of ethics and confidentiality; the fragility of the archival institution, at all stages, and in terms of both state and non-state financial support; the complexities of archival systems and the navigation of the materials; the challenges of safety and care for those working at and for these institutions; the issue of how to delimit the archive’s scope with limited resources; the question of how to facilitate and maintain access to the collections; how to preserve vulnerable documents; the question of ownership of the archives; the importance of support networks and relationships with other archives and collecting institutions such as museums; the role of research originating from within the archives; the relationship to users of the archives, including victims’ families, groups and lawyers; the relationship of the archive to law, both its status as an entity in law and as a resource for use within legal cases and processes; the involvement of photographers and artists within and as users of the archives.
The conclusion offers some more general conceptual areas for discussion around the archive, suggesting that the dynamics at stake revolve around key questions that we answer in relation to the three archives. These are: What is an archive? When is an archive? Who owns the archive? Who is the archive for? What is the future of an archive? These questions point to the most important questions that have surrounded, and continue to surround, the conceptualisation and institutionalisation of the archives studied here.
In seeking to offer recommendations that could be useful elsewhere, a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ in building and archive of violence is offered. These recommendations have been extrapolated from the interviews, that is, they are inspired by them but do not use direct quotations. They are offered here in the hope that they may contain useful advice or spark productive conversations elsewhere.
menes dictatoriales: la desaparición forzada de personas. El libro, editado por Gabriel Gatti, propone nuevos usos y apropiaciones locales de esta categoría tan común en parte importante del orbe. Nos permite leer la experiencia de miles de sujetos eliminados y ocultados de los marcos humanitarios en diferentes espacios y tiempos.
Book Chapters by Cecilia Sosa
Published by the end of the Kirchnerist years, Dillon’s book demonstrated how grief could announce forms of exhilaration, effervescence and empowerment. In this sense, I argue that a seemingly minor text can teach us something in relation to kinship, mourning and pleasure, not only in the context of contemporary Argentina but also in broader scenarios affected by loss. While embodying a queer, insurgent voice for upcoming times, Dillon’s book ultimately helps to illuminate a more inclusive politics of grief for expanded scenarios.
Saturday night. A committee of trendy youngsters, dressed
up in a vintage - modern style, perhaps slightly over - conscious
of their intellectual look, gathers at the front of the Centro
Cultural Rojas, a public venue that belongs to Buenos Aires
University on the sleepless Corrientes Avenue. The occasion
is the premiere of LA ESCUÁLIDA FAMILIA, Lola Arias’s
first theatre production. The piece was translated for foreign
audiences as A KINGDOM, A COUNTRY OR A WASTELAND
IN THE SNOW. Arias is 24 and looks like a modern fairy. Her
background is already impressive: actress, writer, author of
a book of poems entitled Las Impúdicas (Shameless), and
a charming series of songs full of fire and weapons. It is
October 2001 in Argentina. It is raining heavily and the city
centre is flooded with cartoneros, those struggling to survive
off others’ waste, who, after a decade of extreme neo - liberal
policies, seem to have fallen beneath the human.
Journal Articles by Cecilia Sosa
La reacción neoconservadora de Argentina (2015-2019) se ha visto paradójicamente marcada por una vinculación sin precedentes entre las luchas de memoria en curso y un reciente despertar feminista. Una lectura critica entrelaza una reelaboración queer del trauma de la dictadura durante las administraciones kirchneristas (2003-2015) a la vez que explora la forma en que el ciclo post-2015 alimentó una irrupción feminista impugnó viejas formas del patriarcado. El movimiento feminista Ni Una Menos ha pasado de la victimización a la alegría. La ficción pornográfica lésbica Las hijas del fuego (2018), de Albertina Carri, se puede leer como la expresión de una nueva amal-gama de desaparición, sexualidad y política. El espíritu de contagio irradiado por la película arroja luz sobre la "revolución de las hijas" que tiene lugar en las calles.
presentations that were given on 4th July 2023 as
part of the plenary session “Voces de la Democracia”
[“Democracy of Voices”] at the Memory Studies
Association (MSA) Annual Conference, held at
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United
Kingdom. It was an honour to host this plenary event
in partnership with the Embassy of the Argentine
Republic in the United Kingdom, and to welcome His
Excellency Ambassador Javier Figueroa and Cultural
Attachée Alessandra Viggiano to Newcastle upon
Tyne.
First and foremost, we would like to thank our six
inspiring and generous participants for agreeing
to share their very personal experiences of, and
reflections on, Argentina’s post-dictatorship
democracy: Félix Bruzzone, Liliana Furió, Luisa
Futoransky, Alejandra Naftal, María Zubelzu, and
Monica Zwaig.
Esta compilación reúne una serie de intervenciones breves
que acontecieron el 4 de julio de 2023 como parte del evento
plenario “Democracy of Voices” [“Voces de la Democracia”]
durante la conferencia anual de la Asociación de Estudios de
la Memoria, que tuvo lugar en la Universidad de Newcastle,
Newcastle upon Tyne, Reino Unido. Fue un honor organizar
esta sesión plenaria en colaboración con la Embajada de la
República Argentina en el Reino Unido, y darle la bienvenida
a Newcastle upon Tyne a Su Excelencia el Embajador Javier
Figueroa y a la Agregada Cultural, Alessandra Viggiano.
Antes que nada, quisiéramos agradecer a las seis personas
que se embarcaron con generosidad en este proyecto,
compartiendo sus experiencias personales y reflexiones en
torno a la democracia posdictatorial: Félix Bruzzone, Liliana
Furió, Luisa Futoransky, Alejandra Naftal, María Zubelzu y
Monica Zwaig.
The research
was conducted in Argentina, Chile and Colombia,
and was carried out by a team of four international
researchers, led by Professor Vikki Bell. The focus
was on three important archives, one in each country,
that have documented human rights abuses. In the
cases of Argentina and Chile, these archives concern
the abuses that occurred immediately before and
during military dictatorships that took place in those
countries (in Argentina between 1976 and 1983; in
Chile between 1973 and 1990). In the case of Colombia,
the archive is an institution that has attempted to
address the on-going violence of the armed conflict.
The research aims were: first, to share the stories of the
origins of these archives, which are distinct in each
case, and to offer these histories as ways of
understanding the dynamics at stake within and across
the three countries; secondly, to explore how the
archives have been put to use, with an emphasis on
how they have been and continue to be used by legal
institutions, as well as their educational and artistic
uses; thirdly, to offer recommendations for those who
may be considering or in the process of setting up
comparable institutions in other countries. To facilitate
this, interviewees were asked directly about the
challenges that their work had faced, and where
relevant, how these challenges had been overcome.
Research aims and methods
The report ‘Archives of Violence: Case studies from South America’ draws on a research project funded by the British Academy within its Sustainable Development Programme, which intends to work towards fulfilling the UN’s Sustainable Development ambitions. In particular Goal 16, that seeks to promote ‘peaceful, just and inclusive societies including through building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions’, is relevant to the ambitions of this research project. The research was entitled ‘Documentality & Display: Archiving and Curating Past Violence in South America’. The research was conducted in Argentina, Chile and Colombia, and was carried out by a team of four international researchers, led by Professor Vikki Bell. The focus was on three important archives, one in each country, that have documented human rights abuses. In the cases of Argentina and Chile, these archives concern the abuses that occurred immediately before and during military dictatorships that took place in those countries (in Argentina between 1976 and 1983; in Chile between 1973 and 1990). In the case of Colombia, the archive is an institution that has attempted to address the on-going violence of the armed conflict.
The research aims were: first, to share the stories of the origins of these archives, which are distinct in each case, and to offer these histories as ways of understanding the dynamics at stake within and across the three countries; secondly, to explore how the archives have been put to use, with an emphasis on how they have been and continue to be used by legal institutions, as well as their educational and artistic uses; thirdly, to offer recommendations for those who may be considering or in the process of setting up comparable institutions in other countries. To facilitate this, interviewees were asked directly about the challenges that their work had faced, and where relevant, how these challenges had been overcome.
As a sociological project, we mostly employed face to face qualitative interviews with individuals and sometimes small groups. The interviews were semi-structured and in-depth, lasting an average of two hours. In total, 31 individuals were interviewed in 16 interviews. The team also engaged in library-based research, including at the archives themselves. Additionally, there were research trips to other institutions, and the team interviewed other individuals beyond the archives themselves, to give context and to deepen our understanding.
Key findings
The archives each have complex histories entwined with the social and political dynamics of the countries and times in which they have been established. The report takes each archive in turn in order to explain these histories. We adopted this approach in order not to lose the context and the nuances of the stories we gathered at each locale. That said, we can say that there are issues that are shared between all three institutions. These included the following: the importance of ethics and confidentiality; the fragility of the archival institution, at all stages, and in terms of both state and non-state financial support; the complexities of archival systems and the navigation of the materials; the challenges of safety and care for those working at and for these institutions; the issue of how to delimit the archive’s scope with limited resources; the question of how to facilitate and maintain access to the collections; how to preserve vulnerable documents; the question of ownership of the archives; the importance of support networks and relationships with other archives and collecting institutions such as museums; the role of research originating from within the archives; the relationship to users of the archives, including victims’ families, groups and lawyers; the relationship of the archive to law, both its status as an entity in law and as a resource for use within legal cases and processes; the involvement of photographers and artists within and as users of the archives.
The conclusion offers some more general conceptual areas for discussion around the archive, suggesting that the dynamics at stake revolve around key questions that we answer in relation to the three archives. These are: What is an archive? When is an archive? Who owns the archive? Who is the archive for? What is the future of an archive? These questions point to the most important questions that have surrounded, and continue to surround, the conceptualisation and institutionalisation of the archives studied here.
In seeking to offer recommendations that could be useful elsewhere, a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ in building and archive of violence is offered. These recommendations have been extrapolated from the interviews, that is, they are inspired by them but do not use direct quotations. They are offered here in the hope that they may contain useful advice or spark productive conversations elsewhere.
menes dictatoriales: la desaparición forzada de personas. El libro, editado por Gabriel Gatti, propone nuevos usos y apropiaciones locales de esta categoría tan común en parte importante del orbe. Nos permite leer la experiencia de miles de sujetos eliminados y ocultados de los marcos humanitarios en diferentes espacios y tiempos.
Published by the end of the Kirchnerist years, Dillon’s book demonstrated how grief could announce forms of exhilaration, effervescence and empowerment. In this sense, I argue that a seemingly minor text can teach us something in relation to kinship, mourning and pleasure, not only in the context of contemporary Argentina but also in broader scenarios affected by loss. While embodying a queer, insurgent voice for upcoming times, Dillon’s book ultimately helps to illuminate a more inclusive politics of grief for expanded scenarios.
Saturday night. A committee of trendy youngsters, dressed
up in a vintage - modern style, perhaps slightly over - conscious
of their intellectual look, gathers at the front of the Centro
Cultural Rojas, a public venue that belongs to Buenos Aires
University on the sleepless Corrientes Avenue. The occasion
is the premiere of LA ESCUÁLIDA FAMILIA, Lola Arias’s
first theatre production. The piece was translated for foreign
audiences as A KINGDOM, A COUNTRY OR A WASTELAND
IN THE SNOW. Arias is 24 and looks like a modern fairy. Her
background is already impressive: actress, writer, author of
a book of poems entitled Las Impúdicas (Shameless), and
a charming series of songs full of fire and weapons. It is
October 2001 in Argentina. It is raining heavily and the city
centre is flooded with cartoneros, those struggling to survive
off others’ waste, who, after a decade of extreme neo - liberal
policies, seem to have fallen beneath the human.
La reacción neoconservadora de Argentina (2015-2019) se ha visto paradójicamente marcada por una vinculación sin precedentes entre las luchas de memoria en curso y un reciente despertar feminista. Una lectura critica entrelaza una reelaboración queer del trauma de la dictadura durante las administraciones kirchneristas (2003-2015) a la vez que explora la forma en que el ciclo post-2015 alimentó una irrupción feminista impugnó viejas formas del patriarcado. El movimiento feminista Ni Una Menos ha pasado de la victimización a la alegría. La ficción pornográfica lésbica Las hijas del fuego (2018), de Albertina Carri, se puede leer como la expresión de una nueva amal-gama de desaparición, sexualidad y política. El espíritu de contagio irradiado por la película arroja luz sobre la "revolución de las hijas" que tiene lugar en las calles.
Abstract This article constitutes the diary of a documentary in the making, one that aims to create a cinematic map of the local imaginaries of post-dictatorship transition. The unfolding project it charts uses film as a medium-both its reception by audiences and its creative potential as a mode of documenting and expressing social phenomena artistically-in order to map and produce fresh understanding of the multifaceted and layered, polysemous set of social imaginaries of the memory of Argentina's civic-military dictatorship and the ensuing post-dictatorship transition to democracy. This cinematic journey into the Dantesque labyrinth of the imaginary unfolds in the liminal space between the imagination and the real. In doing so, intimate lived experience resonates through public displays of trauma and pleasure, taking us into a yet-to-be-defined space that is neither documentary nor fiction.
the Directors: Dialogues Between New Argentine Cinema & Theatre, held in
2013 at Senate House in London. A joint venture between the Institute of Latin American Studies and the Institute of Modern Languages Research, both part of the University of London, the screenings were open to the general public and were designed to explore the dialogues and exchanges taking place between the so-called New Argentine Cinema and the less-well-known New Argetine Theatre. The series was the first time that such a diverse range of experimental productions had been shown in the United Kingdom alongside conversations with the young directors, who were either present at the venue or interviewed via video conferences on the day of the screenings.
I first provide an overview of the interventions that took place at ESMA within the Kirchnerist period (2003-2015). Second, I bring into play some cultural productions of the new generations, as well as performances and philosophical ruminations regarding the asado as a main theme in the local culture. Finally, I put these materials in the larger context of memory politics to explore how food-reunions – and expanded tables-- might work as a public pathway for a collective digestion of grief. The question that is ultimately at stake is how to kindle alternative hospitalities and dialogues in landscapes marked by loss. Might the spectrum of activities that took place at the former ESMA during the Kirchnerist years suggest a new conviviality for the aftermath of violence?
jumper touches upon the theatrical piece Mi vida después (2009), the film Los rubios (2003) and the TV show 23 Pares (2012). This body of work speaks about unconventional forms of care, which have emerged out of grief. It also traces the emergence of a
new language to deal with loss. Ultimately, I suggest that disparate forms of ‘affective reparation’ have made room for a queer system of kinship beyond bloodline ties.
Subjectivity (2015) 8, 358–381. doi:10.1057/sub.2015.14
novella written by Félix Bruzzone, to explore how its dark and bitter style ‘countersigns’ (in Derrida’s terms) bloodline ties while suggesting a more fluid entanglement among kinship, loss and political heritage. Ultimately, I contend that humour has not only provided a creative means of political empowerment for those who have been persistently constructed into victimizing narratives. Rather, it has become the surface and medium of an experience of iteration, displacement and contagion across expanded audiences.
Through understanding the different ways in which a disappearance matters, the book and its authors open up the possibilities for the category to have a life beyond what was initially thought of.
Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 40, Number 1, February 2018, pp. 229-233
(Review)
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press
https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2018.0010
investigation of Argentina’s female, feminist icons – its femicons, as the author names them – who both precede and surpass the figure of Eva. The volume offers a novel theatrical and sociological approach to contemporary devotional practices and the different modes of performing
female iconicity in local and transnational contexts.
http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1853-001X2018000100016&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es
trauma from a new perspective. While queer theory may not appear to be the most obvious lens through which to view trauma, Sosa synthesizes Butler’s and Sedgwick’s writings on queer theory and Taylor’s work on performance in Argentine society in an entirely original theoretical framework that provides an extremely productive tool for the critical analysis of texts and performances relating to Argentina’s dictatorship.
trauma from a new perspective. While queer theory may not appear to be the most obvious lens through which to view trauma, Sosa synthesizes Butler’s and Sedgwick’s writings on queer theory and Taylor’s work on performance in Argentine society in an entirely original theoretical framework that provides an extremely productive tool for the critical analysis of texts and performances relating to Argentina’s dictatorship.
Malena La Rocca y María Luisa Diz (Revista del Núcleo de Estudios sobre Memoria). El dossier incluye textos de Alicia Del Campo / Lola Proaño Gómez / María Gabriela Aimaretti / Maximiliano Ignacio de la Puente / Verónica Perera. También una entrevista a Katherine Hite sobre los sitios de memoria.
Sección reseñas al final.
In Queering Acts of Mourning in the Aftermath of Argentina’s Dictatorship: The Performances of Blood (2014) Cecilia Sosa asks: ‘Can the rehearsal of trauma bring us pleasure in the present?’ (1). Sosa’s study joins a list that includes books by Gabriel Gatti, Elizabeth Jelin, Susana Kaiser, Ana Ros, and Diana Taylor, that examine intergenerational transmission of trauma related to the last dictatorship in Argentina. Sosa develops a unique challenge to a pillar of official and unofficial human rights memory and identity politics. She questions the legitimacy of what she defines as the ‘wounded family’, or human rights activists that use their victim status as a source of ‘pedigree’ and as an exclusive right to publicly mourn the disappeared while silencing other non-biological forms of collective mourning. Sosa utilizes a blend of memory studies, queer studies, and performance studies to understand non-normative feelings of kinship. She makes a convincing argument that pleasure is possible and is vital to understanding how grief can be shared by expanded sectors of civil society. The book
focuses on a tendency in recent texts and performances primarily by the post-dictatorship generation that act as, to use Sara Ahmed’s term, ‘killjoys’ to the traditional victimizing narrative that continued during the Kirchner administration.
Agrupados en tres secciones (“Desapariciones: pensando sobre la expansión, las posibilidades y los límites de un concepto transnacionalizado”; “Apariciones: comunidades locales de víctimas y tecnologías internacionales de atención al dolor”; “Texturas de la desaparición: duelos, sangre, despojos, ausencias”) los trece textos de este volumen trabajan sobre la categoría, la desnaturalizan, le retiran su capa de obviedades. Atienden a cómo el tiempo la transforma o la pervierte, a cómo hace que los que se la apropian se muevan, a cómo crea comunidades imposibles de dolientes, de muertos en vida, pero sin embargo vivos.
El libro está editado por Gabriel Gatti y cuenta con las contribuciones de Alejandro Castillejo, Cecilia Sosa, César Múñoz, Daniel Feierstein, Élisabeth Anstett, Étienne Tassin, Gabriel Gatti, Gustavo Germano, Ignacio Irazuzta, Isabel Piper, Kirsten Mahlke, Pamela Colombo, Rosa-Linda Fregoso y Virginia Vecchiol
en América Latina’ se basa en un proyecto de
investigación financiado por la British Academy y su
Programa para el Desarrollo Sustentable, que busca
alcanzar los objetivos de desarrollo sustentable de la
ONU. El objetivo 16, que busca promover ‘sociedades
pacíficas, justas e inclusivas mediante la construcción
de instituciones eficaces, responsables e inclusivas’
es especialmente importante para las metas de este
proyecto de investigación. Esta investigación titulada
‘Documentalidad y exhibición: Archivo y curación del
pasado violento en Suramérica’ fue llevada a cabo en
Argentina, Chile y Colombia, por un equipo
compuesto por cuatro investigadores internacionales,
liderados por la profesora Vikki Bell. El foco estuvo
puesto en tres importantes archivos que han
documentado abusos de los derechos humanos, uno
en cada uno de estos países. En los casos de
Argentina y Chile, se eligieron archivos que
documentaron los abusos ocurridos inmediatamente
antes y durante las dictaduras militares ocurridas en
esos países (en Argentina entre los años 1976 y 1983;
en Chile entre 1973 y 1990). Mientras que, en el caso
de Colombia, el archivo elegido es una institución
que ha intentado abordar la violencia del conflicto
armado que en la actualidad continúa en curso.
Los objetivos que se propuso esta investigación eran
los siguientes: primero, contar las historias de cómo
se originaron estos archivos, las que eran diferentes
en cada caso, y dar cuenta que estas historias
permitían entender las dinámicas que estaban en
juego al interior y que cruzaban a los tres países;
segundo, explorar como han sido utilizados estos
archivos, poniendo énfasis en cómo han sido y como
continúan siendo utilizados por instituciones legales,
como también los usos que se les ha dado en el
campo artístico y educacional; tercero, formular
recomendaciones para quienes estén considerando o
estén en el proceso de poner en marcha
organizaciones similares en otros países. Para facilitar
este proceso, los entrevistados fueron consultados
directamente sobre los desafíos que habían
enfrentado en sus trabajos, y cuando era pertinente,
cómo habían sido superado esos desafíos.
Por su carácter de proyecto sociológico, llevamos a
cabo principalmente entrevistas cualitativas, cara a
cara, con individuos, y en ocasiones con pequeños
grupos. Se realizaron entrevistas semi estructuradas y
en profundidad con una duración promedio de dos
horas. En total, 31 individuos fueron entrevistados en
16 entrevistas. El equipo igualmente llevó a cabo
trabajo de revisión de documentos en la biblioteca, y
en los archivos mismos. Adicionalmente, se realizaron
viajes de investigación para visitar las instituciones
estudiadas, y el equipo entrevistó a otros individuos
que no pertenecían a los archivos para comprender
mejor el contexto y profundizar el conocimiento
sobre el tema.Cada archivo estudiado consta de historias complejas
que se entrelazan con las dinámicas sociales y
políticas de los países en donde se emplazan, y el
momento en que fueron creados. Para poder explicar
estas historias, en presente informe analiza cada uno
de los archivos por separado. Se adoptó este enfoque
para no perder los contextos y particularidades de los
relatos recogidos en cada lugar. Ahora bien, hay
aspectos que son compartidos por las tres
instituciones, entre los que se cuentan: la importancia
otorgada a la ética y la confidencialidad; la
precariedad de la institución archivística, en todas sus
etapas, y en términos de apoyo financiero tanto
público como privado; las complejidades de los
sistemas archivísticos y de navegación para búsqueda
de documentos e información; los desafíos de la
seguridad y el cuidado de quienes trabajan en y para
estas instituciones; el asunto de cómo delimitar el
alcance del archivo con recursos limitados; la
pregunta sobre cómo facilitar y mantener el acceso a
las colecciones; el cómo preservar documentos
vulnerables; la discusión sobre la propiedad de los
archivos; la importancia de las redes de apoyo y las
relaciones con otros archivos e instituciones que
poseen colecciones como los museos; el papel de la
investigación que se origina desde dentro de los
archivos; la relación con los usuarios de los archivos
incluidas las familias de las víctimas, grupos y
abogados; la relación de los archivos con la ley, tanto
en su condición de entidad jurídica como de recurso
para ser utilizado en casos y procesos legales; la
participación de fotógrafos y artistas desde dentro y
como usuarios de los archivos.
La conclusión brinda algunas áreas conceptuales más
generales de discusión en torno al archivo, sugiriendo
que las dinámicas en juego giran en torno a
preguntas claves que respondemos en relación a los
tres archivos. Estas son: ¿Qué es un archivo? ¿Cuando
se hace un archivo? ¿De quién es el archivo? ¿Para
quién es el archivo? ¿Cuál es el futuro de un archivo?
Estas preguntas apuntan a las cuestiones más
importantes que han rodeado y continúan rodeando
la conceptualización e institucionalización de los
archivos aquí estudiados.
En la búsqueda de formular recomendaciones que
pudiesen ser útiles en otras partes, ofrecemos un
listado de ‘qué hacer y qué no hacer’ a la hora de
elaborar un archivo sobre violencia. Estas
recomendaciones han sido extrapoladas de
entrevistas, es decir, están basadas en ellas, pero no
utilizan citas literales. Son entregadas aquí con la
esperanza de que puedan convertirse en consejos
útiles o susciten conversaciones productivas en
otros lugares.
Research aims and methods
The report ‘Archives of Violence: Case studies from South America’ draws on a research project funded by the British Academy within its Sustainable Development Programme, which intends to work towards fulfilling the UN’s Sustainable Development ambitions. In particular Goal 16, that seeks to promote ‘peaceful, just and inclusive societies including through building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions’, is relevant to the ambitions of this research project. The research was entitled ‘Documentality & Display: Archiving and Curating Past Violence in South America’. The research was conducted in Argentina, Chile and Colombia, and was carried out by a team of four international researchers, led by Professor Vikki Bell. The focus was on three important archives, one in each country, that have documented human rights abuses. In the cases of Argentina and Chile, these archives concern the abuses that occurred immediately before and during military dictatorships that took place in those countries (in Argentina between 1976 and 1983; in Chile between 1973 and 1990). In the case of Colombia, the archive is an institution that has attempted to address the on-going violence of the armed conflict. The research aims were: first, to share the stories of the origins of these archives, which are distinct in each case, and to offer these histories as ways of understanding the dynamics at stake within and across the three countries; secondly, to explore how the archives have been put to use, with an emphasis on how they have been and continue to be used by legal institutions, as well as their educational and artistic uses; thirdly, to offer recommendations for those who may be considering or in the process of setting up comparable institutions in other countries. To facilitate this, interviewees were asked directly about the challenges that their work had faced, and where relevant, how these challenges had been overcome. As a sociological project, we mostly employed face to face qualitative interviews with individuals and sometimes small groups. The interviews were semistructured and in-depth, lasting an average of two hours. In total, 31 individuals were interviewed in 16 interviews. The team also engaged in library-based research, including at the archives themselves. Additionally, there were research trips to other institutions, and the team interviewed other individuals beyond the archives themselves, to give context and to deepen our understanding.
Key findings
The archives each have complex histories entwined with the social and political dynamics of the countries and times in which they have been established. The report takes each archive in turn in order to explain these histories. We adopted this approach in order not to lose the context and the nuances of the stories we gathered at each locale. That said, we can say that there are issues that are shared between all three institutions. These included the following: the importance of ethics and confidentiality; the fragility of the archival institution, at all stages, and in terms of both state and non-state financial support; the complexities of archival systems and the navigation of the materials; the challenges of safety and care for those working at and for these institutions; the issue of how to delimit the archive’s scope with limited resources; the question of how to facilitate and maintain access to the collections; how to preserve vulnerable documents; the question of ownership of the archives; the importance of support networks and relationships with other archives and collecting institutions such as museums; the role of research originating from within the archives; the relationship to users of the archives, including victims’ families, groups and lawyers; the relationship of the archive to law, both its status as an entity in law and as a resource for use within legal cases and processes; the involvement of photographers and artists within and as users of the archives. The conclusion offers some more general conceptual areas for discussion around the archive, suggesting that the dynamics at stake revolve around key questions that we answer in relation to the three archives. These are: What is an archive? When is an archive? Who owns the archive? Who is the archive for? What is the future of an archive? These questions point to the most important questions that have surrounded, and continue to surround, the conceptualisation and institutionalisation of the archives studied here. In seeking to offer recommendations that could be useful elsewhere, a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ in building and archive of violence is offered. These recommendations have been extrapolated from the interviews, that is, they are inspired by them but do not use direct quotations. They are offered here in the hope that they may contain useful advice or spark productive conversations elsewhere.