The Memory of the Argentina Disappearances

Memory of the Argentina Disappearances examines the history of the production, public circulation, and the interpretations and reinterpretations of the Nunca Ms report issued by Argentinas National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP). It was established in 1983 by constitutional president Ral Alfonsn to investigate the fate of thousands of people who had been disappeared by the state during the seventies. Upon publication in 1984, Nunca Ms became a bestseller, was translated into several languages and won greater public importance when the military juntas were brought to trial and the court accepted the report as key evidence. The reports importance was further enhanced with the adoption of CONADEP and Nunca Ms as models for truth commissions established in Latin America, and when it was postulated as a means for conveying an awareness of this past to Argentinas younger generations. This book contributes to understanding the political processes that led to Nunca Ms becoming the way in which Argentines remembered the disappearances and the countrys political violence, and how its meaning is modified by new interpretations. Given the canonical nature of Nunca Ms, the book sheds light on the most substantial changes and the continuities in Argentinas social memory of its recent past.