Disappearing Acts:

Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina's "Dirty War

Duke University Press, 1997 - Performing Arts - 309 pages

In Disappearing Acts, Diana Taylor looks at how national identity is shaped, gendered, and contested through spectacle and spectatorship. The specific identity in question is that of Argentina, and Taylor’s focus is directed toward the years 1976 to 1983 in which the Argentine armed forces were pitted against the Argentine people in that nation’s "Dirty War." Combining feminism, cultural studies, and performance theory, Taylor analyzes the political spectacles that comprised the war—concentration camps, torture, "disappearances"—as well as the rise of theatrical productions, demonstrations, and other performative practices that attempted to resist and subvert the Argentine military.
Taylor uses performance theory to explore how public spectacle both builds and dismantles a sense of national and gender identity. Here, nation is understood as a product of communal "imaginings" that are rehearsed, written, and staged—and spectacle is the desiring machine at work in those imaginings. Taylor argues that the founding scenario of Argentineness stages the struggle for national identity as a battle between men—fought on, over, and through the feminine body of the Motherland. She shows how the military’s representations of itself as the model of national authenticity established the parameters of the conflict in the 70s and 80s, feminized the enemy, and positioned the public—limiting its ability to respond. Those who challenged the dictatorship, from the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo to progressive theater practitioners, found themselves in what Taylor describes as "bad scripts." Describing the images, myths, performances, and explanatory narratives that have informed Argentina’s national drama, Disappearing Acts offers a telling analysis of the aesthetics of violence and the disappearance of civil society during Argentina’s spectacle of terror.

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Disappearing acts: spectacles of gender and nationalism in Argentina's ...

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abductions actors Alicia Partnoy Antigona Argentine armed forces atrocity audience authoritarian became Beto brutal Buenos Aires civil coup Creon cultural death desaparecidos desire Dirty disappeared discourse Doris Sommer drama Eduardo enemy Evita fantasies female body feminine feminist feminized figure Galindez Gambaro gender Griselda Gambaro Hebe de Bonafini historical Horacio Verbitsky human rights ideological Irene della Porta Isabelita junta junta leaders Latin American look Madres masculinist masculinity military male military's misogyny montoneros motherhood mothers narrative national identity organized pain participate Partnoy's Paso Patria Pavlovsky Pavlovsky's Pepe Per6n performance Peron peronist person Photo play playwrights Plaza de Mayo pleasure political Polynices population position proceso Raznovich represent representation role scenario script sexual silence soccer society soldier Sophocles space spectacle spectators staged story struggle subversion Teatro Abierto terror testimonial theatre theatrical tion torture victims violence visible watching woman women writing

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References from web pages

JSTOR: Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in ...
Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina's "Dirty War". Bart Lewis. Hispania, Vol. 82, No. 4, 785-786. Dec., 1999. ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0018-2133(199912)82%3A4%3C785%3ADASOGA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T

Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in ...
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Publications: Diana Taylor: Tisch School of the Arts at NYU
Skip to content. Tisch Home Page · Admissions · Student Affairs · Special Programs · Calendar · Support Tisch · Departments · Administration & Faculty...
admin.tisch.nyu.edu/ object/ ps_pub_taylor.html

Dirty Wars & Democracy F2002
Diana Taylor, Disappearing Acts : Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina's “Dirty War” (Durham: Duke University Press), 1997. ...
www.oberlin.edu/ faculty/ svolk/ 293f02syllabus.htm

robert_potter
Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina's Dirty War. Durham,NC: Duke University Press, 1997. Wasson, John. ...
www1.sdu.dk/ Hum/ midlab/ theatre/ papers/ Robert_Potter.html

Index to Volume 50 - Theatre Journal 50:4
Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina's "Dirty War." Rev. David Román. 277-79. Vorlicky, Robert. Tony Kushner in Conversation ...
muse.jhu.edu/ journals/ theatre_journal/ v050/ 50.4vol_index.html

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About the author (1997)

Diana Taylor is Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College. She is coeditor of Negotiating Performance, also published by Duke University Press.

Bibliographic information

Title	Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina's "Dirty War
Author	Di Taylor
Edition	illustrated, reprint
Publisher	Duke University Press, 1997
ISBN	0822318687, 9780822318682
Length	309 pages
Subjects	Performing Arts › Theater › General Performing Arts / Theater / General

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