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El teatro documental en Latinoamérica : un escenario para la presencia simbólica y emotiva de comunidades y personas desaparecidas

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In this dissertation I argue that Latin American Theatre and Performance explore human rights violations of the latter part of the XX Century by staging and questioning the role of the absent body....

In this dissertation I argue that Latin American Theatre and Performance explore human rights violations of the latter part of the XX Century by staging and questioning the role of the absent body. I investigate three theatre and performance groups (Yuyachkani in Peru, Teatroxlaidentidad in Argentina and Mapa Teatro in Colombia) that proactively appropriate Documentary Theatre from the 1960s in order to disseminate the memory of eradicated communities as well as thousands of people who were persecuted, arrested and disappeared. This Documentary Theatre meshes historical events occurred in Argentina (1976-1983), Peru (1992-2000) and Colombia (1960-present). In Latin America, at the beginning of the 21st Century, Documentary Theatre calls for an interdisciplinary approach that brings together theories from social work, psychology, performance and cultural criticism. Through the study of psychology theories, including Lauren Berlant’s concept of ‘intimacy’ and Teresa Brennan’s process of ‘transmission of affect,’ I contend that these artists create moments of intimacy that not only advocate the transmission of affect among all those involved (victims, actors, directors, and spectators), but that also expand the notion of what Documentary Theatre of the XX Century can do. From its origins in the 1960s, I remark that the artistic process of Documentary Theatre in these three theatrical groups differs in the way actors, witnesses and spectators are living the testimonies and official documents. As a result, the staging of the absent body—the disappeared victims and eradicated communities — takes place when the emotion of all those involved, transmitted via effective moments of intimacy, change their bodies biologically and physically. At the end of my argument, I demonstrate that Documentary Theatre of the XX Century breaks the boundaries between victims, actors and the audience to transform the stage into a living space for memory. The social commitment by these theatrical groups with the Documentary Theatre has been the trigger for social changes in Latin America today. This is the motive of this dissertation. In the case of Yuyachkani, many victims overcame their fear of testifying. Meanwhile, Teatroxlaidentidad had the opportunity to identify around one hundred children seized during the Dirty War in Argentina.

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