Trauma, memoria y cuerpo: Narrativas testimoniales de mujeres colombianas (1985--2000)
Item
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Title
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Trauma, memoria y cuerpo: Narrativas testimoniales de mujeres colombianas (1985--2000)
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:7d7df18c28fe:11408
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identifier
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11024
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Creator
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Lopez, Constanza,
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Contributor
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Magdalena Perkowska
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Date
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2011
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Language
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Spanish
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Latin American literature | Womens studies | Latin American studies | Escritoras colombianas | Historia | Insurgencia | Palacio de Justicia | Teoría feminista | Testimonio
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Abstract
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In the midst of the seemingly endless conflict affecting Colombia, women have had to endure great losses. About half of all the displaced people in the country are women; their bodies have been considered as spoils of war, many have been detained illegally, tortured and killed, and some have simply disappeared. They have also suffered the deaths, kidnappings and disappearances of their husbands, children and other loved ones. In response, many have taken the lead in denouncing impunity and claiming reparation, they have filled the streets demanding protection from the state, and they have formed organizations for peace and justice. A few have written their personal memories, and by doing so, they have made visible the pain and wounds of the nation.;This dissertation explores a testimonial narrative that has emerged out of this conflict. It specifically deals with the decades of the eighties and nineties when the Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19) was active in the country. My work studies four testimonial texts -- Razones de vida (2000) by Vera Grabe, Escrito para no morir: bitacora de una militancia (2000) by Maria Eugenia Vasquez, Cita en el Cafe La Bolsa (1998) by Mary Daza Orozco and Noches de humo: como se planeo y ejecuto la toma del Palacio de Justicia (1988) by Olga Behar -- and examines how these authors challenge the official versions of violence in Colombia. Refusing to obliterate history, they opt instead to re-write and destabilize it, by questioning the dominant political and historical discourses. I approach these narratives with the aid of theories of memory, trauma, violence and gender and recent feminist scholarship on autobiography and testimonio. In my analysis, I argue that these texts join a wide range of female narratives from Latin America and around the world that challenge totalizing discourses. They are exemplary for vividly illustrating the trials that women undergo in situations of conflict and war, including those who have themselves been combatants. They are also accounts of women who ultimately chose peace over war, and an exploration of the implications this choice has had for themselves and for the future of the nation.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Hispanic & Luso Brazilian Literatures & Languages
