20th century argentine history
A01=Rita Arditti
adoption legislation
argentina
argentine history
argentine politics
Author_Rita Arditti
Category=JBSF
Category=JBSF1
Category=JKV
Category=JPVH
Category=JPWG
Category=NHK
convention on the rights of the child
culture of impunity
detective
detention centers
dictatorship
dirty war
disappeared children
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
grandchildren
grandmothers
historical amnesia
human rights
latin american history
living disappeared
military junta
national genetic data bank
plaza de mayo
pursuit of justice
right to identity
tyranny
united nations
Product details
- ISBN 9780520215702
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 19 Apr 1999
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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From the book: "I want to touch you and kiss you'. You are my mother's sister and only one year older; you must have something of my mother in you' - A found child after being returned to her family. "Searching for Life" traces the courageous plight of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of women who challenged the ruthless dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. Acting as both detectives and human rights advocates in an effort to find and recover their grandchildren, the Grandmothers identified fifty-seven of an estimated 500 children who had been kidnapped or born in detention centers. The Grandmothers' work also led to the creation of the National Genetic Data Bank, the only bank of its kind in the world, and to Article 8 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 'right to identity', that is now incorporated in the new adoption legislation in Argentina. Rita Arditti has conducted extensive interviews with twenty Grandmothers and twenty-five others connected with their work; her book is a testament to the courage, persistence, and strength of these 'traditional' older women.
The importance of the Grandmothers' work has effectively transcended the Argentine situation. Their tenacious pursuit of justice defies the culture of impunity and the historical amnesia that pervades Argentina and much of the rest of the world today. In addition to reconciling the 'living disappeared' with their families of origin, these Grandmothers restored a chapter of history that, too, had been abducted and concealed from its rightful heirs.
Rita Arditti is part of the Core Faculty at the College of Graduate Studies of the Union Institute. She is coeditor of Test-Tube Women--What Future for Motherhood? (1984) and Science and Liberation (1980). She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
