Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
This article compares the Madres de Plaza de Mayo in Argentina and the Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (AFDD) in Chile to examine how women transformed their identities as mothers, wives, and daughters into strategies of political resistance under military dictatorship. It argues that maternal imagery, public mourning, and the transformation of private grief into collective defiance enabled women-led human rights organizations to challenge authoritarian regimes while strategically drawing on gender roles those regimes sought to enforce. The article traces the emergence of both organizations, their occupation of public space, hunger strikes, legal action, and engagement with international human rights networks. It also considers differences in state repression and post-dictatorship justice in Argentina and Chile while emphasizing the movements’ shared demands for truth, justice, and memory. Through this comparison, the article highlights how gendered strategies of resistance reshaped human rights activism in the Southern Cone and contributed to enduring struggles over enforced disappearance, accountability, and democratic memory.
Included in
Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Latin American History Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Latina/o Studies Commons, Social Justice Commons, Terrorism Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Comments
Originally published in Notes from the Field: CLACLS Conference Proceedings, Summer Fellows 2025, Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS), The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 2026, pp. 41–48. The complete conference proceedings are available in CUNY Academic Works: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/clacls_pubs/130/