Mourning and melancholia: An analysis of the Mothers of the Plaza De Mayo

Abstract

This paper links the notion of melancholia as endless mourning with the political actions of the Mothers of the Plaza De Mayo, a human rights group in Argentina. These mothers, grandmothers and other protestors refused to accept the death of their children and family members who were taken by the government and disappeared without a trace. The victims were known as “the missing” or “desaparecidos” (“the disappeared”). The Mothers refused to accept that they were dead, thus entering a state of melancholia and endless mourning. This refusal of death is a powerful notion and one that was used politically to protest against the state sponsored violence of the Junta regime in Argentina. This paper first explores the history of Argentina, looking at how that state and military turned on its own citizens in an act of violence and state sponsored terrorism. Second, this paper looks at how mourning functions in a society and what melancholia is by looking at Freudian interpretations. The paper concludes with a discussion of Jean Améry and how important it is not to forget what someone has endured or to be forced to forgive against their will. This leads into a discussion of the signifi-cance of mourning in our society, and how important it is to honour victims of state sponsored violence, whose lives were unjustly taken by the state that was meant to protect them.