Bodies that transgress, words that resist: a debate on gender and testemony

The purpose of this article is to emphasize the importance of gender studies to the debates on trauma and testimony. Based on the discussion about the demand for an ‘other’ who may truly listen to the ruined words of the testimonies, we point out to the body as the place of memory for individual and...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Tega, Danielle
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2021
Country:Brasil
Institution:Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL)
Repository:Mediações - Revista de Ciências Sociais
Language:Portuguese
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/42400
Online Access:https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/mediacoes/article/view/42400
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Gender
Memory
Testimony
Trauma
Gênero
Memória
Testemunho
Description
Summary:The purpose of this article is to emphasize the importance of gender studies to the debates on trauma and testimony. Based on the discussion about the demand for an ‘other’ who may truly listen to the ruined words of the testimonies, we point out to the body as the place of memory for individual and collective traumatic experiences. The methodological procedures adopted in this research consist, in a first moment, of a bibliographic review on trauma and testimony. Next, we analyze testimonies of women who were detained during the military dictatorships in Argentina and Brazil. Our results suggest that the debate on gender offers new possibilities to work with reinterpretations present in the testimonies, especially when problematizing femininity and masculinity conventions. We conclude that the testimonies are potential destabilizers of hierarchical discourses and hegemonic practices when examined from the intrinsic connection between body, memory and gender.