Gendered Haunting and the Cultural Memory of Mexico’s Armed Struggles

• In Event: Embodied Narratives: The Cultural Politics of Memory in Transnational Latin America

Abstract

This paper explores the gender politics of memory in cultural representations of Mexico’s armed insurgencies (1960-1980s). The cultural memory of Mexico’s guerrilla organizations is gendered as masculine, erasing women’s involvement in these histories. By examining interviews I conducted with former guerrilleras, this paper centers on the gender dynamics of Mexico’s guerrillas and what cultural texts can inform us about the legacy of state repression. Ultimately, the oral narratives I examine allude to a gendered haunting that results from the disavowal of women’s participation in the armed insurgency and the eradication of these (gendered) subjectivities from Mexico’s national consciousness.

Presenter

• Viviana Beatriz MacManus, University of Maryland, Baltimore County