Cited by 3Memory, violence, and historyPolitical and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin AmericaArgentine historical studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 45 of the 45 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 24 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

“They Must Have Done Something Wrong…”: The Construction of “Subversion” as a Social Category and the Reshaping of Identities Through Body and Dress (Argentina, 1976–1983)

Salerno, Melisa A.·2009·Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology

Abstract

(Dialog between reporter Sandra de la Fuente and movie maker Fernando Trueba, who is currently making a film on the life and death of Brazilian piano player Tenório Cerqueira at the hands of Argentinean military forces – De la Fuente 2006, the translation is mine).

Overview

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TL;DR

The chapter argues that Argentina’s 1976–1983 military government constructed “subversion” as a stigmatized social category and materialized it through bodily appearance and dress, then used kidnapping, detention, torture, dress changes, and disappearance to reshape prisoners’ identities. It combines official discourse analysis, survivor testimony, and forensic clothing analysis to show how dress served both repression and, in forensic contexts, evidence of execution and identity erasure.

Key findings

  • Official discourses divided Argentinians into military forces, “good” citizens, and “subversive” citizens; “subversion” was framed as terrorism/disease and stigmatized through appearance, first as military-style uniforms, weapons, and pamphlets, later as informal dress, untidiness, long hair, beards, jeans, and bright colors.
  • In clandestine detention, military forces used enforced nakedness, torture, dress changes, blindfolds/hoods/chains, and code names to break identities and resistance; nakedness also prevented suicide and facilitated torture, while dress changes detached prisoners from prior life and prevented recognition.
  • Forensic analysis of the EAAF collection from Lomas de Zamora cemetery examined 297 pieces of fabric and leather from 79 garments and shoes associated with 38 bodies; 12 bodies had clothes different from those witnesses said they wore when last seen, 8 had none, and 18 had few pieces.
  • Garments showed bullet holes, tears, and possible blood stains; blindfolds and ties indicated victims were executed rather than killed in confrontations, and the “recovery process” at ESMA required prisoners, especially women, to alter appearance toward neatness and makeup as a sign of recovery.

Methods

  • Qualitative historical-archaeological analysis combining official documentary sources (e.g., Junta Militar, Ejército Argentino, CONADEP), survivors’ testimonies, and an archaeological clothing collection.
  • The clothing collection was recovered by the Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF) at Lomas de Zamora cemetery, Buenos Aires; witness descriptions of last-seen clothing were compared with garments found on bodies, alongside documentary, osteological, and genetic studies by EAAF.
  • Theoretical framework uses “active appropriation” of Bourdieu, Foucault, Goffman, and others, with concepts of domination/resistance, social categorization, stigma, and dress as material culture/bodily practice.

Limitations

  • The author states that discussion, rejection, and reinterpretation of official discourses are out of scope; future work should study experiences of men, women, elderly, young people, ethnic and religious minorities in clandestine detention centers, as well as persecuted groups’ acts of resistance.
  • Evident from the text: the analysis relies on a specific forensic collection from Lomas de Zamora and selected testimonies/official sources, so findings may not generalize to all detention centers or all persecuted groups; the chapter focuses on military strategies rather than prisoners’ self-representations or resistance.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/978-1-4419-0679-3_7

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

52 Own interpretation · 38 No basis given · 15 Sources not found · 10 Not checked yet · 5 No full text of the sources · 5 Own result

Show all 65 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 30
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 37
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 2
60 of 60
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The documentary sources and survivors' testimonies used in the study accurately report the discourses and events they describe.

    “Survivors' testimonies and fragments of clothing recovered by the Argentinean Forensic Anthropology Team provide the evidence needed to achieve this goal.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The study of corporeality and material culture can contribute to broadening the understanding of repression in Argentina and other Latin American countries.

    “This research attempts to broaden the understanding of repression in Argentina and other Latin American countries, stressing the contribution that the study of corporeality and material culture could make to the subject.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Torture changes physical constitution, leaving perceptible traces on people's bodies - scars and burns, among others.

    “Torture changes physical constitution, leaving perceptible traces on people's bodies - scars and burns, among others.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    We often feel that the clothes we wear constitute an extension of ourselves.

    “For this reason, we often feel that the clothes we wear constitute an extension of ourselves.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    In Western society, identities reside in individual bodies.

    “In Western society, identities reside in individual bodies.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The impossibility of finding and identifying the bodies causes anxiety.

    “The impossibility of finding and identifying the bodies causes anxiety.”
6 of 6

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

1 of 1

Citations

Cites

Show all 43 references

Research works printed but not linked: 24

  1. Actis, M., Aldini, C., Gardella, L., Lewin, M., and Tokar, E., 2006, Ese Infierno. Conversaciones de Cinco Mujeres Sobrevivientes de la ESMA. Altamira, Buenos Aires.
  2. Acuto, F. and Gifford, Ch., 2005, Lugar, Arquitectura y Narrativas de Poder: Experiencia y Percepción en los Centros Inkas de los Andes del Sur. Arqueología Suramericana 3(2):135–161.
  3. Armus, D., 2000, El Descubrimiento de la Enfermedad como Problema Social. En Nueva Historia Argentina, Vol. 5, El Progreso, la Modernización y sus Límites (1880–1916), edited by M. Lobato, pp. 507–551. Sudamericana, Buenos Aires.
  4. Asociación Patriótica Argentina, 1978, Argentina y sus Derechos Humanos. Libertad, Buenos Aires.
  5. Asociación Unidad Argentina, 1998, Subversión. La Historia Olvidada. Documento Histórico. AUNAR, Olivos.
  6. Beaudry, M., Cook, L., and Mrozowski, S., 1991, Artifacts and Active Voices. Material Culture as Social Discourse. In The Archaeology of Inequality, edited by R. McGuire and R. Paynter, pp. 150–191, Blackwell, London.
  7. Bourdieu, P., 1989, O Poder Simbólico. Bertrand Brasil, Río de Janeiro.
  8. Diana, M., 2006, Mujeres Guerrilleras. Sus Testimonios en la Militancia de los Setenta. Booket, Buenos Aires.
  9. Edholm, F., 1993, The View from Below: Paris in the 1880s. In Landscapes: Politics and Perspectives, edited by B. Bender, pp. 139–168. Berg, Oxford.
  10. Flügel, J., 1964, Psicología del Vestido. Paidós, Buenos Aires.
  11. Foucault, M., 1980, Power/Knowledge; Selected Interviews and Other Writings, Pantheon Books, New York, NY.
  12. Kwint, M., 1999, Introduction: The Physical Past. In Material Memories, edited by M. Kwint, C. Breward and J. Aynsley, pp. 1–16. Berg, Oxford.
  13. Le Breton, D., 1995, Antropología del Cuerpo y la Modernidad. Nueva Visión, Buenos Aires.
  14. Leone, M., 1988, The Georgian Order as the Order of Merchant Capitalism in Annapolis, Maryland. In The Recovery of Meaning. Historical Archaeology in the Eastern United States, edited by M. Leone y P. Potter, pp. 235–261. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
  15. McGuire, R., 1988, Dialogues with the Dead. Ideology and the Cemetery. In The Recovery of Meaning, edited by M. Leone y P. Potter, pp. 435–480. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
  16. Norverto, L., 2004, Limpios, Prolijos y Saludables: La Concepción de Higiene en la Infancia a Fines del 1800. In Higienismo, Educación y Discurso en la Argentina (1870–1940), edited by M. Di Liscia y G. Salto, pp. 89-109. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa, Santa Rosa.
  17. Potteiger, M. and Purinton, J., 1998, Landscape Narratives. Wiley, New York, NY.
  18. Rella, F., 2004, En los Confines del Cuerpo. Nueva Visión, Buenos Aires.
  19. Saulquin, S., 2006, Historia de la Moda Argentina. Del Miriñaque al Diseño de Autor. Emecé, Buenos Aires.
  20. Senatore, M., 2004, Discursos Ilustrados y Sociedad Moderna en las Colonias Españolas de Patagonia (Siglo XVIII). In Arqueología Histórica Sudamericana; Los Desafíos del Siglo XXI, edited by P. Funari and A. Zarankin, pp. 31–56. Uniandes, Bogotá.
  21. Squicciarino, N., 1990, El Vestido Habla: Consideraciones Psico-Sociológicas sobre la Indumentaria. Cátedra, Barcelona.
  22. Stewart, S., 1999, Prologue: From the Museum of Touch. In Material Memories, edited by M. Kwint, C. Brewer and J. Aynsley, pp. 17–36. Berg, Oxford.
  23. Turner, V., 1988, El Proceso Ritual. Taurus, Madrid.
  24. Vigarello, G., 2005, Corregir el Cuerpo. Historia de un Poder Pedagógico. Nueva Visión, Buenos Aires.

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Metadata

Authors
Salerno, M. A.
Affiliations
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR)
Corresponding author
Salerno, Melisa A.
Venue
Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology
Published
2009
Pages
81-103
ISSN
1574-0439 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W257734749
Cited by
3
References
43
Citations by year
2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2017: 1
FWCI
0.00
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology/Contributions to global historical archaeology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Memory, violence, and history
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Argentine historical studies
Keywords
subversion, Argentine military dictatorship, stigmatization, disappearance, political repression, body and clothing, embodiment, material culture, clandestine detention centers, forensic anthropology, survivor testimony, identity construction

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: “They Must Have Done Something Wrong…”: The Construction of “Subversion” as a Social Category and the Reshaping of Identities Through Body and Dress (Argentina, 1976–1983). https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1007/978-1-4419-0679-3_7
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Salerno, M. A. (2009). “They Must Have Done Something Wrong…”: The Construction of “Subversion” as a Social Category and the Reshaping of Identities Through Body and Dress (Argentina, 1976–1983). Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0679-3_7