Captive Women

Captive Women

Oblivion and Memory in Argentina

Susana Rotker
Translated by Jennifer French
Foreword by Jean Franco

$19.50 Paper
ISBN: 0-8166-4030-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4030-0

$58.50 Cloth
ISBN: 0-8166-4029-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4029-4

An exposé of Argentina's attempts to whitewash its national history.

Argentina is the only country in the Americas that has successfully erased the presence of Indians, Africans, and mestizos from its national story. Official documents, reports, and censuses have largely omitted any references to the country's non-European inhabitants, mirroring official policies that once included the extermination of indigenous peoples and continued to encourage Europeanization well into the twentieth century. In Captive Women, Susana Rotker exposes this concerted act of forgetting by looking at a historical phenomenon that has been expunged from the national record: the widespread kidnapping of white women by Argentine Indians in the nineteenth century.

Captivity narratives form a major part of the early colonial literature of the United States, but Argentina has no such tradition. These narratives contradict Argentina's carefully shaped self-image, one historically based on the absence of aboriginal peoples and the impossibility of miscegenation. Captive Women uses close and imaginative readings of military documents, government treaties, travel journals, essays, and memoirs to explore the foundations of Argentina's strategies of silence and its negation of uncomfortable historical realities.

“Argentina is the only country in the Americas that has successfully erased the presence of Indians, Africans, and Mestizos from its national story in order to encourage Europeoanization—well into the twentieth century. Susan Roker exposes this concerted act of forgetting by looking at a historical phenomenon that has been omitted from Argentine records, the widespread kidnapping of Argentine Indians in the nineteenth century.” —Hispanic Outlook

Susana Rotker (1954-2000) was professor of Spanish at Rutgers University.

Jennifer French is assistant professor of Spanish and comparative literature at Williams College.

256 pages | 5 7/8 x 9 | 2002
Cultural Studies of the Americas Series, volume 10



Captive Women *Oblivion and Memory in Argentina* Susana Rotker Translated by Jennifer French Foreword by Jean Franco		$19.50 Paper ISBN: 0-8166-4030-0 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4030-0 $58.50 Cloth ISBN: 0-8166-4029-7 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4029-4
An exposé of Argentina's attempts to whitewash its national history. Argentina is the only country in the Americas that has successfully erased the presence of Indians, Africans, and mestizos from its national story. Official documents, reports, and censuses have largely omitted any references to the country's non-European inhabitants, mirroring official policies that once included the extermination of indigenous peoples and continued to encourage Europeanization well into the twentieth century. In Captive Women, Susana Rotker exposes this concerted act of forgetting by looking at a historical phenomenon that has been expunged from the national record: the widespread kidnapping of white women by Argentine Indians in the nineteenth century. Captivity narratives form a major part of the early colonial literature of the United States, but Argentina has no such tradition. These narratives contradict Argentina's carefully shaped self-image, one historically based on the absence of aboriginal peoples and the impossibility of miscegenation. Captive Women uses close and imaginative readings of military documents, government treaties, travel journals, essays, and memoirs to explore the foundations of Argentina's strategies of silence and its negation of uncomfortable historical realities. “Argentina is the only country in the Americas that has successfully erased the presence of Indians, Africans, and Mestizos from its national story in order to encourage Europeoanization—well into the twentieth century. Susan Roker exposes this concerted act of forgetting by looking at a historical phenomenon that has been omitted from Argentine records, the widespread kidnapping of Argentine Indians in the nineteenth century.” —Hispanic Outlook Susana Rotker (1954-2000) was professor of Spanish at Rutgers University. Jennifer French is assistant professor of Spanish and comparative literature at Williams College. 256 pages \| 5 7/8 x 9 \| 2002 Cultural Studies of the Americas Series, volume 10