Divine Violence: Spectacle, Psychosexuality, And Radical Christianity In The Argentine ""Dirty War""

A fascinating account of political repression in Argentina, this book takes as its thematic locus the intersection of religion, violence, and psychosexuality as they relate to the desire for power and to the myths and rituals manifesting that desire. Graziano's inquiry into the source of political violence is culturally grounded, focusing on psychological, historical, anthropological, and religious phenomena--often dismissed as "insignificant peculiarities" in traditional investigations.The author traces the messianic mythology ratifying the Junta's "dirty war" to the medieval Christian paradigm on which it is based, providing a historical and ideological context for understanding contemporary perceptions of torture and execution as necessary, holy acts. The study also explores the relation of Argentine political atrocity to rituals of human sacrifice in Aztec and other preindustrial cultures, to medieval and early-modern practices of torture, to eighteenth-century public executions in Europe, and to sexual murders. "Disappearance" and torture as political strategies, the social roles imposed by repressive regimes, and symbolic constructs of the "invisible enemy" are also treated in depth.Divine Violence is based on analysis of victim testimony, formal and informal military discourse, trial transcripts, detention center vernacular, and torturer statements, substantiated by a vast multidisciplinary body of secondary literature. The result is a book that not only offers astonishing insights into state terror in Argentina but also elucidates the historical development of violent repression as a social rite and as a political practice in Western culture.