Cry For Me, Argentina: The Performance of Trauma in the Short Narratives of Aida Bortnik, Griselda Gambaro, and Tununa Mercado

Inspired by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo’s work for memory and justice, Cry for Me, Argentina is an interdisciplinary study that draws on Latin American literary, trauma, performance, and cultural studies to analyze the narrative of three Argentine women writers/activists - Aida Bortnik, Griselda Gambaro, and Tununa Mercado - whose work reveals the traumatic repercussions of the Dirty War (1976-83) and cultivates a narrative space for working through traumatic impact of the era: the grave losses of human life (30,000 disappeared individuals), the breakdown of civil liberties, and the ongoing struggles these problems have perpetuated. Dr. Levine argues that the work of all three authors emphasizes the imperative to restore the dialogical principal obliterated by repressive authoritarian regimes. By doing so within their narrative, they cultivate a performance space in which they incite the reader to participate in the process of mourning, working toward social justice and healing.