More than 30 years after the Dirty War, Argentina is struggling to address an identity crisis, explained anthropologist Lindsay Smith, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies on Friday afternoon. Children kidnapped during the war, now young adults, are forced to confront their biological reality with mandatory DNA tests.
“Young adults raised in military families completely rejected the genetic rhetoric of identity,” Smith said. They consider public DNA banks an invasion of privacy and have no interest in reuniting with biological family.
Smith spoke to an audience of 32 graduate students, faculty and Evanston residents as part of the Faculty & Fellows Colloquium.
More than 30,000 Argentinians disappeared in paramilitary operations from 1976 to 1983. Left-wing parents were killed and the children were raised by loyal military families.
The Argentine government recently made DNA testing compulsory in the spirit of reunifying families. However, young adults would prefer to remain blissfully ignorant of their biological roots.
“They love their adoptive families,” Smith said. This is true even when adoptive parents committed violent crimes against biological parents. “There is still a huge stigma associated with subversives.”
Smith gave the example of Victoria, a happily married 20-year-old, who was subjected to DNA testing. Victoria’s identification as a “daughter of the subversion” changed her life. Her children were ostracized at school, her husband lost his job, and her appropriated parents were charged with war crimes.
“The moment the biological family is revealed, the appropriating parents are arrested,” Smith said. “The child has no say.” A press conference is then held to announce the findings.
“The individuals are forced to reconcile within themselves,” Smith said of the DNA test results. “That’s a lot to put on these young adults.”
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo lead the push for compulsory DNA testing. The civil rights group wants to reunite families and seek justice against kidnappers. Parents and grandparents who lost children during the war believe they have a right to find their children.
However, with the current policy nobody wins. Victoria refused to ever meet her biological family and the majority of young adults tested make the same choice.
“It becomes one group’s rights versus another group’s rights,” Smith said. She spent two years in Argentina doing field work where she interviewed countless young adults who have undergone DNA testing. Smith has also spoken to the Grandmothers and government officials and she is writing a book about her research.
“It sounds like a terrible national policy,” said Evanstonian Mike Dunn, 64. “The government should strengthen the family unit, not break it apart.” Others agreed that the currently policy exacerbates a delicate situation.
“It should be more private,” said Marissa Brookes, 26, a political science postgraduate student. Without all of the negative consequences, more young adults would likely reach out to their biological families.
“They would like to know, but don’t want to face all of the ramifications,” Smith said. Along with the social stigma and criminal prosecution of the adoptive family, passports are taken away for correction. It often takes years to get them back.
Smith suggested an anonymous DNA bank to replace the existing state national bank, so that individuals have the option but are not forced to submit DNA.
“We should be looking for a way that everyone’s rights can be met.”