On April 15, I shared a presentation with my colleague Mireia Pérez-Carretero on the challenges for the representation of disappeared individuals in press and literature. We explored the ways in which a community puts forward their bodies as proxies for their missing loved ones can make visible the injustice of the disappearances, provide affective means to deal with trauma, and position the crimes within a system of multi-leveled oppressions. We discussed the treatment of the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa as our case study.
Our presentation was part of a fantastic and quite daring seminar that explored the theme of the body from many different contemporary approaches. It was beautifully organized by the Leiden University Center for the Arts and Sciences. Unfortunately, it wasn’t recorded, but there are talks of compiling an edited volume. Let’s hope that the project blooms.
Jordi Serrano-Muñoz 