In Search of the Lost Decade: Everyday Rights in Post-Dictatorship Argentina

204 Pages·2019·4.663 MB·English

by  Jennifer Adair

In Search of the Lost Decade

In Search of the
Lost Decade
Everyday Rights in Post-Dictatorship Argentina
Jennifer Adair
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing
scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic
contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information,
visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2020 by Jennifer Adair
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Adair, Jennifer, 1977– author.
Title: In search of the lost decade : everyday rights in post-dictatorship
Argentina / Jennifer Adair.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2020] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2019019904 (print) | lccn 2019980965 (ebook) |
isbn 9780520305175 (cloth) | isbn 9780520305182 (paperback) |
isbn 9780520973282 (ebook)
Subjects: lcsh: Argentina—Politics and government—1983–2002. |
Argentina—Economic conditions—1983– | Argentina—Social
conditions—1983–
Classification: lcc f2849.2 .a29 2020 (print) | lcc f2849.2 (ebook) |
ddc 982.06—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019019904
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019980965
Manufactured in the United States of America
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Julián and Elio

contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The Breakdown of Authoritarian Rule 15
2. The Campaign for a Democratic Argentina 29
3. “With Democracy One Eats”: The Programa Alimentario Nacional 46
4. “Chernobyl Chickens”: Economic Planning and the Caso Mazzorín 68
5. “Dear Mr. President”: The Transition in Letters 88
6. Democratic Pasts, Neoliberal Futures: Hyperinflation and the
Road to Austerity 107
Epilogue: Carrying Forward the Promise of 1983 127
Notes 133
Bibliography 165
Index 183

acknowledgments
In historical terms, this book examines a brief period: the roughly six-year govern-
ment of Raúl Alfonsín following Argentina’s return to democracy in 1983. The
making of this book took much longer, with many people and institutions to thank
along the way. I am grateful to them all.
I first arrived in Buenos Aires in 2004, when the study of Argentina’s recent
history had opened in new ways after the 2001 economic crisis and the mass popu-
lar protests that ensued. Among other outcomes, the uprisings forced a reassess-
ment of the nation’s authoritarian past and its lingering effects on the democratic
present. I had the privilege to witness these debates up close while working with
the organization Memoria Abierta, an alliance of human rights groups dedicated
to preserving the memory of the dictatorship that ruled from 1976 to 1983. My time
at Memoria Abierta gave me a crash course in Argentine history. Through their
labor and activism, the inspiring archivists, historians, and artists who worked
there demonstrated how history and memory operate in daily life, along with the
firm conviction that engaging the past can make change. This book began there,
through the friendships and projects cultivated over the years.
As the ideas that inform this book took shape, I was fortunate to be mentored
by a generous group of scholars and teachers. Katie Hite, Leslie Offutt, and Matilde
Zimmermann first sparked my interest in Latin American history and politics at
Vassar College. Their courses, scholarship, and one formative trip to Cuba con-
vinced me to study history, while their guidance continues to light the way. The
Department of History at New York University was an ideal academic home for
many years, due above all to the unwavering encouragement of my advisers and
their intellectual example. Greg Grandin supported this project from the begin-
ix